Kellan Grady, Davion Mintz doing everything that is being asked of them

Over the last two games — both Kentucky wins — Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz have combined to play a total of 155 minutes out of a possible 160. Grady didn’t take a single break during UK’s 71-66 victory over the LSU Tigers on Wednesday night, clocking all 40 minutes of action as the team’s de-facto point guard. With both of Kentucky’s traditional ball handlers sidelined due to different injuries, the ‘Cats needed every second out of those two to seal hard-fought and well-deserved wins — and that’s exactly what the team got.

Grady, a fifth-year senior, has been especially important on the offensive end. Not perfect by any means, but reliable and sound. He exploded for a season-high 25 points on 7-9 shooting from distance while playing 39 minutes in Saturday’s win over Alabama. His performance on Wednesday was slightly different, though. He missed all five of his 3-point attempts, but still finished with 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists without leaving the floor once.

*Side note: Grady has played at least 36 minutes in all of Kentucky’s 10 previous outings, including three of at least 40. He leads the SEC in percentage of minutes played (91.9%) by a considerable margin, per KenPom.*

Grady was dealing with constant pressure from the LSU defense, which he mostly met with grace outside of a forgetful final 90 seconds. Without his jumper, he made his presence felt through several floaters and shots at the rim. Part of John Calipari’s halftime tweak was to generate more shots at the rim. Grady listened. Kentucky outscored LSU 22-10 when it came to points in the paint in the second half.

But Davion Mintz has quietly been just as important for Kentucky during this short-handed stretch, mainly on the other end of the floor. The graduate student has embraced his role as the team’s top on-ball guard defender without TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler. Mintz played 38 minutes against both Alabama and LSU. His 6-19 shooting clip has left some to be desired, but he’s been timely with transition buckets. The intensity he’s brought against the opposing team’s top scorer has been invaluable.

By the time Wednesday night’s 2.5-hour marathon finally reached the final buzzer, Grady and Mintz were clearly exhausted, both mentally and physically. But if they had to, they could have easily played an overtime period.

“Doing it for 40 minutes, not subbing them, think about that,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said of the veteran duo during the postgame press conference. “But they played good. I mean, you talk about both of them. They have five turnovers together and they play how many minutes? 38 and 40? Come on. And Davion defended the whole game. He could have played another 10 minutes. Defended the whole game.”

In years past, Calipari has never had this sort of luxury with his backcourt, even with some of his most talented rosters. But part of that has been due to the lack of veterans. Now, he can replace point guards with combo guards because the backups know exactly what to do without trying to do too much. Grady and Mintz possess the composure that comes with years and years of college basketball experience. They know exactly how to impact the game without putting the ball in the bucket.

“Kellan was 0 for 5 (from 3-point range). Davion was 1 for (4) — did they hang their head? Just keep playing,” Calipari added. “I’m not making shots today but I’m going to do everything else.“

No one knows for sure if Kentucky will be without one of Washington or Wheeler, or even both once again, when the ‘Cats travel down to Fayetteville for a highly-anticipated matchup against Arkansas this Saturday. Kentucky needs those two to make a deep NCAA Tournament run, but Grady and Mintz have made for terrific fill-ins. If anything, this extra experience at point guard will only help Kentucky as it hunts for title No. 9 next month.