HOME SWEET HOME: Ashton Hagans turned Georgia home coming into domain and performance for Kentucky

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HOME SWEET HOME: Ashton Hagans turned Georgia homecoming into dominant performance for Kentucky

Kentucky's Ashton Hagans dishes a pass during the second half of the 12th-ranked Wildcats' 69-49 win over Georgia. Hagans scored a career-high 23 points in the win. -photo by Gabriel Stovall

“You know, coach has just been putting me in the role, letting me have the ball more to find the open guys,” he said. “I’m going back to playing my game like in high school. Finding my shooters, attacking the basket, looking for my bigs. But I’m just loving how things have gone these last couple of games, and I just want to keep it going.” 

He attributed his recent tear to his ability to finally start adjusting to the differences of the college game from high school. 

“The biggest adjustment is just knowing that you’re on the court with a lot of good guys that’s got the same game as you,” he said. “They can shoot, they can drive, they can find the open guys. But really, it’s just the pace of the game, knowing everything and being in the right spots on the court. But other than that, that’s it.” 

Hagans has played, and now talks, as if he has no regrets about where his collegiate career has taken him so far — and there have been many twists and turns in the journey. 

It started with his commitment to UGA back in December 2017, right before Christmas, and just as the temperature on then-coach Mark Fox’s hot seat started turning up. The warmer it got, the colder Hagans’ commit to Georgia seemed. And sure enough, in February not long after Fox’s dismissal, Hagans decommitted. 

Current Georgia coach, Tom Crean made his pitch, Hagans said. And Hagans had some history with Crean from the AAU circuit. 

Hagans said Crean made many visits to Newton High once he was hired as Fox’s successor, and while Hagans showed the new coach respect, his decision came down to one thing. 

“I was up here every time my cousin played, because my cousin used to play for (Fox),” Hagans said. “So when Fox left, it was like a loyalty thing for me. It was loyalty over everything, so that’s why I (decommitted).”

When asked after Tuesday’s game if Hagans would’ve still considered Kentucky had Fox not been fired, Hagans answered it about as matter-of-factly as possible. 

“If coach Fox would’ve stayed, I would’ve been here,” he said. 

Nevertheless, Hagans says all the recruiting stuff is water under the bridge now. He said he’s happy where he is and has built a brotherhood bond with his current teammates. He also said he has respect for the Georgia team he would’ve been a part of. 

“They’ve got some really good guys on that team,” he said. “They played us hard at first and we were in a dogfight. They’ll be fine.” 

So there’s no need for Hagans to look back on his days in Georgia — except when it comes to his high school alma mater.  

“I talk to Tyrease (Brown), Armani (Harris) and Tre (Clark) too — and congrats to Tre for committing to VCU,” Hagans said. “I was joking with them, you know, telling them they’re gonna be trash. So after they’ve gotten off to a good start, they call me saying, ‘Oh, I thought we were gonna be trash this year.’ But they’re still having a good season, and I’m watching them and I hope they continue to do well.” 

Newton gave coach Rick Rasmussen his 300th win last Saturday in a win against Eastside. The Rams are currently sitting in second place in Region 8-AAAAAAA and poised for another deep state tournament run. 

But if Hagans wouldn’t have reclassified to graduate a year early, does he believe he would’ve led Newton to a state crown? 

He heard the question, paused, laughed, and then said what anyone who knows him would’ve expected. 

“Of course.”