Walker: Cats need a more assertive Morris

After the way Randolph Morris has struggled the last three games, I would suggest that he go back and look at some old tapes of Jamal Mashburn, Tayshaun Prince, Jack Givens or even myself. Look at guys who played, and scored, inside and had to keep working against aggressive defenses. That’s what it is all about.

You know teams are going to make adjustments. If Kentucky is not banging away from outside and making shots, his job is going to become more difficult and that’s the time you have to fight the hardest because you are not going to get that direct entry pass so you can just turn around and score. You have to go get it off the glass. You have to beat your man down the floor.

Randolph has the ability to outrun most centers when he is energetic and playing well. He has to get to the foul line. Those are the ways you can still score.

When he is scoring, he is energized and plays well in other facets of the game. I thought he was beyond the point of letting a team shut him down. He has grown up a lot from last year and made strides. You don’t want to get to alarmed over three games, but a lot of things that have caused his problems are in the effort department.

I think if he had played harder in those last three games, he could still have willed himself to good games. But the fact he didn’t play as hard as he could and reverted back to the old Randolph Morris a little bit is alarming.

This is a guy who has ambitions of playing at the next level and the pro people are going to look whether you bring that intensity every night, especially when you are a marked guy. That is something he is constantly going to have to work on.

For this team to be good, he has to be the guy that plays well. He gives them more hope than living and dying by your guards and letting them shoot jumpers. He is shooting almost 60 percent from the field. He is a good foul shooter. He is rebounding better than he has his entire career.

The meanness and toughness we have seen in guys like Winston Bennett and Jamaal Magloire, we wish we could put that inside Randolph. You would absolutely have a beast on hand if you could. But that is not his mentality. He is kind of laid back like Tayshaun or Tim Duncan. That’s his game, but he needs to be more assertive at his game for this team to really be good.