He had eight points, 10 boards and three blocks in 29 minutes at Missouri and snagged 12 rebounds in 35 minutes at Mississippi State as a freshman. Now a junior, he was a coveted high school recruit - Michigan and Ohio State were among his other options - whose extrapolated averages with the Wildcats hint at the potential for more in a larger role: 9.5 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks per 40 minutes last season. The most impressive thing about Ware is that he’s stayed so positive.
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He knows how to go in there and create a certain energy, which is what you need coming off the bench.” “That speaks to his emotional intelligence,” Antigua said.
Without explicitly endorsing Ware’s rage-inducing tactics, Kentucky’s coaches seem to at least appreciate their effectiveness. They just really respect him and want to be around him.” As Chin (Coleman) likes to say, it’s his yank in the locker room. And you might say, ‘Really?’ if you just look at the production,” Antigua said. Talk to any of them long enough about Ware and they’ll all eventually say some version of this: Every championship team needs a guy like Lance. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound Ware, a top-40 recruit in high school who finds himself stuck behind star center Oscar Tshiebwe in Lexington, is beloved by his teammates and coaches alike. That’s how a guy makes himself matter on a loaded team when his career averages (1.5 points, 2.3 rebounds) and even his production in the Bahamas (ninth on the team in scoring, 10th in minutes) don’t suggest a significant impact. Lance Ware: “These are gonna give you super powers.” /fOuHnmsyag That’s the whole secret to sports, right? Stay calm when everyone else is out of control.” Because I got you that mad in like two minutes. But if I can get you to take a swing at me - or even think about taking a swing at me - then I’ve already won. If I wanted to fight in front of a crowd, I’d go be a boxer. If I really wanted to fight you, we could just go in the back and fight. “I’m not going to fight you right here in the middle of the court. “It’s so funny that people think I want to fight them,” Ware said. Assistant coach Orlando Antigua bear-hugged him, just in case, but Ware quickly retreated to the baseline to bask in the chaos he’d created. When another Florida player came rushing in to shove Ware in the back, Ware wheeled around with a devilish grin on his face. Ware stood over him for just a beat, mean-mugged for a moment, then turned to walk away. When he tried to rip it away, the other guy went flying.
You can do it to me, too, if you want.”ĭuring the Florida game at Rupp last season, Ware got tangled up with a Gator as they battled for a loose ball. You can be pissed off, but there’s nothing dirty about it. Nobody enjoys that, but that’s just basketball. If we’re face-to-face, I might hit them in their chest or their stomach and knock the wind out of them. “If they’re not looking, I might hit them in the back. “The truth is I just box out really hard and that makes people mad,” Ware said. Kentucky outscored them 16-5 to close the half and won comfortably.
All that drama and an absurdly long stoppage in play slammed the brakes on the Tide’s considerable momentum. Officials didn’t see it, but Ware made sure they checked the monitor, which led to a technical foul for Miles. He put a body on Alabama’s Darius Miles every chance he got, jawing all the way, until Miles snapped and took a swipe at Ware’s face. The Tide were rolling, on pace to hang 100-plus on the Wildcats, until Ware checked in and did his thing. Late last season, Kentucky trailed Alabama by 10 points at home with under five minutes to play in the first half. Ware is quite good at that, burrowing under an opponent’s skin, poking and provoking until they lose their cool. He succeeded on opening night of Kentucky’s recent exhibition trip, when something he said to the Dominican Republic Select team on its way into the halftime locker room nearly led to a brawl in the well-appointed foyer of a luxury resort. Most of the time, I’m just trying to get people to want to fight me. Fighting can be fun, but it’s really not that serious. “We’re in the Bahamas, right? This is probably not the place to fight. He’s lucky I was in a good mood and just walked away,” said Ware as he unleashed a cartoonish guffaw earlier this month during the team’s foreign trip. His is the face of somebody who loves a fight. The way he sees it, life is both difficult and wonderful, and sometimes wonderful because it’s difficult. That’s just his face most days: slightly battered and totally amused. He was explaining how he got those two stitches under his left eye.
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