Humphries opens up on tech in A&M game

In his first time speaking with the media since receiving a technical foul for spiking the ball after gathering what seemed like the game-winning rebound late in overtime against Texas A&M, Isaac Humphries said his reaction was simply excitement.

“I was so pumped up,” Humphries said on Friday afternoon. “Tyler (Ulis) came over and was so happy too. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know why I did it, but I was just so happy. It was just the first thing I thought of really.”

Kentucky was leading 76-75 at the time of the technical. Texas A&M’s Danuel House stepped to the line and hit both free-throw attempts to give the Aggies the lead, but Skal Labissiere, Humphries’ replacement, hit one of two free throws to tie the game. On the final possession, Tyler Davis hit a putback layup as time expired to give the Aggies the 79-77 victory.

Humphries said the technical foul was “surreal.”

“Like I had no idea what was going on, I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Humphries said. “I was just in shock.”

While Americans who watch college basketball understand that spiking the ball will likely result in a technical foul, Australian born Humphries said that action is not an automatic technical foul in the country he grew up in.

“Yeah, that’s definitely not a thing,” Humphries said. “Like I didn’t know you couldn’t not do that because it’s not an automatic tech-foul if you throw the ball in Australia. If you’re swearing and all that sort of stuff and you throw it, then yeah it’s a tech-foul. But I don’t know, I didn’t know that was a rule.”

Humphries said it took a solid-24 hours to get over the loss, but good news was on the horizon for the freshman. After grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring six points against the Aggies, Humphries started his first career game in place of injured Derek Willis.

“It was one of those moments where I just thought a lot of my hard work had paid off for this season, and I was lucky enough to have that opportunity,” Humphries said of the start.

It’s unclear whether Humphries will start on Saturday against Vanderbilt. Alex Poythress returned from a knee injury in dominant fashion by scoring 14 points in 17 minutes against Alabama and is likely to return to the starting lineup in the near future.

Regardless, John Calipari’s decision to start Humphries against Alabama gave the 7-footer reassurance that he’s doing the right things on the court.

“It just reassures me that he has my back especially at like a time like that,” Humphries said. “It was also cool to know that he trusted in me to start a game.”