LEXINGTON, Ky. _ After a star turn at Georgia that figures to find a place in Kentucky basketball lore, Ashton Hagans made a telling comment.
"I'm getting comfortable," he said Tuesday night. "But I've got to keep it going."
Kentucky probably needs Hagans to keep it going, if not improve upon his celebrated performances of late.
It does not figure to get easier for UK and Hagans, whose career-high 23 points and four assists at Georgia served as an encore after being named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the previous week.
Hagans next faces Auburn point guard Jared Harper, who came into this week's play leading the SEC in assists and ranked third in assist-to-turnover ratio.
"Jared's like a quarterback on a football team," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said on Monday's SEC teleconference. "Point guard play is key. Quarterback play is key. Jared has done a great job for us. He can impact the game offensively and defensively."
Harper, whom the coaches and media voted to their All-SEC second teams last season, is averaging 15.1 points and 6.7 assists. Plus he owns an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 3-to-1 (107 assists, 35 turnovers). He's also made 40.2 percent of his 3-point shots (45 of 112).
In working Auburn's game at Texas A&M on Wednesday night, SEC Network analyst Dan Dakich summed up Harper's importance to Auburn by saying, "He makes everything go."
Pearl needed several sentences to explain why Harper has been so effective as Auburn's floor leader.
"He is a great communicator," Pearl said. "He's got experience in our league. And he plays with a chip on his shoulder for a couple of reasons. No. 1, he's under-sized."
Harper is 5-foot-11 and weighs 175 pounds.
"No. 2, he was under-recruited," Pearl added. "I think he goes out every night with something to prove."
Harper came out of Mapleton, Ga., as a four-star prospect rated outside the top 50 by Rivals (No. 56), ESPN (No. 96) and 247Sports (No. 87).
Three nights after the game at Auburn, Kentucky plays Mississippi State. State's point guard, Lamar Peters, who ranks among the top five SEC players in assists (fourth) and assist-to-turnover ratio (fifth).
Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis, whose team faced Harper, Peters and LSU sophomore Tremont Waters in an eight-day period, said those three point guards were "such dynamic players."
The contrast between the ball-handlers Kentucky has faced in league play and what's in the immediate future is stark.
Of UK's first four league opponents, two (Vanderbilt and Georgia) do not have an established point guard. Texas A&M's point guard, TJ Starks, has more turnovers (61) than assists (53) and must play without the help of veteran guard Admon Gilder, who is lost for the season because of a blood clot.
UK opened league play against Alabama, whose freshman point guard, Kira Lewis, is the second-youngest player in Division. I. "He's got a long way to go," Alabama coach Avery Johnson said as SEC play began.
The learning curve lengthened when Lewis missed summer workouts because he had to complete school work in order to re-classify and enter college in the 2018 fall semester. As a result, Lewis has been learning to play point guard at the college level "on the fly," Johnson said.
Three of Kentucky's first four SEC opponents have more turnovers than assists: Georgia (256 turnovers, 231 assists), Alabama (216-204) and Texas A&M (208-193). Vandy, which is improvising since a season-ending injury to heralded freshman point guard Darius Garland, has five more assists (210) than turnovers (205).
By contrast, UK's next two opponents have similarly positive assist-to-turnover ratios: Auburn (263-213) and Mississippi State (259-214).
So does Kansas (249-222), which plays at Kentucky on Jan. 26.
Each of the first four league opponents had more turnovers than assists against Kentucky. The total is 40 assists, 62 turnovers.
So far, only one UK opponent has had more assists than turnovers. Duke had 22 assists and only four turnovers.
