Brandon Knight Names SEC Freshman of the Week 2/28/11

SEC Freshman Of The Week
Brandon Knight
Kentucky
G • 6-3 • 185 • Fr. • Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Kentucky’s Brandon Knight was named SEC Freshman of the Week after averaging 21.0 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds in games against Arkansas and Florida. Knight recorded his UK freshman record 12th 20-point game with a career-high 26 points at Arkansas while also pulling down a career-best eight rebounds. He averaged 5.5 assists on the week and is averaging 6.8 over the last four games. His three 3-pointers on the week put him one-shy of the UK freshman record for 3-pointers in a season with 67.

Season Stats
PPG | RPG | APG | BPG | SPG
17.7 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 0.3 | 0.6

Kentucky vs Vanderbilt....A Preview Rd 2

Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Vanderbilt….3/1/11 Tuesday 9PM-EST/8PM-CST (ESPN)
UK leads series 133-44

Location: Nashville, TN
Enrollment: 6,794
Arena: 14,316

Head Coach: Kevin Stallings
Career Record: 336-200 (62.7%) 17 seasons
At Vanderbilt: 213-137 (60.9%) 11 seasons

2009-10 Record: 24-9
2009-10 SEC Record: 12-4
2009-10 Postseason: 0-1 (NCAA 1ST round)

2010-11 Record: 21-7
2010-11 SEC Record: 9-5

Vanderbilt 88 Presbyterian 47
Vanderbilt 59 Nebraska 49
West Virginia 74 Vanderbilt 71
Vanderbilt 72 North Carolina 65
Vanderbilt 92 Grambling State 59
Vanderbilt 86 Appalachian State 73
Vanderbilt 82 Western Ky. 62
Vanderbilt 85 Belmont 76
Missouri 85 Vanderbilt 82 (OT)
Vanderbilt 85 Southeastern Louisiana 52
Vanderbilt 72 Middle Tennessee 53
Vanderbilt 77 Marquette 76
Vanderbilt 80 Davidson 52
South Carolina 83 Vanderbilt 75
Vanderbilt 73 Georgia 66
Tennessee 67 Vanderbilt 64
Vanderbilt 84 Mississippi 74
Vanderbilt 89 Saint Mary’s 70
Vanderbilt 81 Mississippi State 74
Arkansas 89 Vanderbilt 78
Florida 65 Vanderbilt 61 (OT)
Vanderbilt 78 South Carolina 60
Vanderbilt 81 Alabama 77
Vanderbilt 81 Kentucky 77
Vanderbilt 64 Georgia 56
Vanderbilt 77 Auburn 66
Tennessee 60 Vanderbilt 51
Tennessee 90 LSU 69

PPG-77
FG%-45.8%
3PT%-38.9%
FT%-74.5%
RPG-38.5
TO’s-14.1
APG-14
SPG-5.3
BPG-5.0

Probable Starting Lineup

Lance Goulbourne F 6’8” Jr…………..…6.9
Jeffery Taylor F 6’ 7” Jr…………..…....14.5
Festus Ezeli C 6’11” Jr………………....12.4
Brad Tinsley G 6’3” Jr………..………..10.9
John Jenkins G 6’4” Soph……………...19.5

Other Key Players

Steve Tchiengang F 6’9” Jr………..….…5.3
Kyle Fuller G 6’1” Fr……………………2.0
Rod Odom 6’9” Fr……………………….4.3

Vanderbilt comes into Lexington winners of 6 of their last 7 SEC games…... and of course, among those victories was an 81-77 win over UK in Nashville. Vandy starts 4 juniors and 9 players average over 14 minutes PG so they are experienced and deep.

The Dores are an excellent perimeter shooting team hitting 39%....with Jenkins hitting 41%..... and has made 84 perimeter shots this season. Tinsley leads the team in assists with 122 thus far this season. Goulbourne, Ezeli and Taylor are all solid rebounders and are tough in the paint. In addition, Vandy is an excellent FT shooting team with leading scorer Jenkins hitting 89% from the charity line.

The Dores, always tough in Nashville, where they hit a smoking hot 11-20 perimeter shots in their win over UK and 20-23 FT’s. Now, Vandy must play the Cats in Rupp arena where they are undefeated at home over the past two years.

Importantly, UK, after a heartbreaking OT loss to Arkansas, returned to Rupp Arena and played arguably their very best total game of the season in defeating a very good Florida team.
The Cats got solid performances from everyone, but game ball goes to Darius Miller who played the best game of his career.

UK is hoping to finish the regular season in a strong fashion by defeating both Vandy and Tennessee….and hope to possibly get a bye for the SEC tourney as well as improving their NCAA seed. The Dores are always tough, but this time the Cats get to play Vandy before the great home crowd at Rupp Arena and on “Senior Night”. Also, UK will want to made senior night very special for Josh Harrellson who has played his heart out this season while overachieving in an amazing fashion.

The terrific performance that UK displayed in taking down the Gators is hopefully a “coming out party” that this young very talented UK team has now learned the hard lessons of growing as team….and playing with great intensity and heart in each and every game.

I see a determined UK team ready to payback Vandy for their earlier loss at Nashville. Cats defeat the Dores by 10 points. GO CATS!

SEC Mens BB Standings/Schedule 2/27/11

Eastern - Conf | All Games Remaining
Florida 11-3 22-6 UA, @VU
Vanderbilt 9-5 21-7 @UK, UF
Kentucky 8-6 20-8 VU, @UT
Georgia 8-6 19-9 LSU, @UA
Tennessee 7-7 17-12 @SC, UK
South Carolina 5-9 14-13 UT, @MSU

Western - Conf | All Games Remaining
Alabama 11-3 | 19-9 | @UF, UG
Arkansas 7-7 | 18-10 | MSU, @UM
Mississippi St. 7-7 | 15-13 | @AR, SC
Mississippi 6-8 | 18-11 | @AU, AR
LSU 3-11 | 11-18 | @UG, AU
Auburn 2-12 | 9-19 | UM, @LSU

Photos: UK Basketball vs Florida 2/26/11

Congrats to Coach Calipari 500th Win

Coach Calipari gets his 500th career win Feb. 26, 2011 in Rupp Arena as Kentucky beats Florida 76-68. UK's Daruis Miller lead all scorer with 24 points.

SEC Men's Basketball Schedule 2/26/11

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26		All Times Eastern
Sport	Event	Time	TV	Stream	XM	Sirius
M BKB	Vanderbilt at LSU	1:30 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Arkansas at Auburn	1:30 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Florida at Kentucky	4:00 PM	CBS
M BKB	Alabama at Ole Miss	4:00 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Mississippi St at Tennessee	6:00 PM	ESPN	ESPN3
M BKB	South Carolina at Georgia	7:00 PM	FSN	ESPN3

Kentucky vs Florida....A Preview Rd 2

Kentucky vs. Florida

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Florida 2/26/11 Saturday 4PM-EST/3PM-CST (CBS)
UK leads series 88-33

Location: Gainesville
Enrollment: 52,112
Arena: 12,000

Head Coach: Billy Donovan
Career Record: 366-159 (69.7%) 16 Seasons
At Florida: 331-139 (70.4%) 14 Seasons

2009-10 Record: 21-13
2009-10 SEC Record: 9-7
2009-10 Postseason: NCAA 0-1

2010-11 Record: 22-5
2010-11 SEC Record: 11-2

Florida 77 UNC Wilmington 60
Ohio State 93 Florida 75
Florida 105 North Carolina A&T 55
Florida 61 Morehead St. 55
Florida 79 Florida Atlantic 66
Florida 55 Florida St. 51
UCF 57 Florida 54
Florida 67 American 48
Florida 65 Kent St. 52
Florida 57 Kansas St. 44
Jacksonville 71 Florida 68 (ot)
Florida 66 Radford 55
Florida 71 Xavier 67
Florida 84 Rhode Island 59
Florida 77 Ole Miss 71
Florida 81 Tennessee 75 (ot)
South Carolina 72 Florida 69
Florida 45 Auburn 40
Florida 75 Arkansas 43
Florida 104 Georgia 91 (2ot)
Mississippi St. 71 Florida 64
Florida 65 Vanderbilt 61 (ot)
Florida 70 Kentucky 68
Florida 79 South Carolina 60
Florida 61 Tennessee 60
Florida 68 LSU 61
Florida 71 Georgia 62


PPG-70.8
FG%-45.7%
3 PT%-34.0%
FT%-66.2%
RPG-38.3
APG-13.7
TO’s-12.9
SPG-6.3
BPG-3.8

Probable Starting Lineup

Erving Walker G 5’8” Jr…………..…14.8
Kenny Boynton G 6’2” Jr……………13.1
Vernon Macklin F/C 6’10” Sr……….11.5
Chandler Parsons F 6’9” Sr………….10.8
Alex Tyus F 6’8” Sr………………….8.8

Florida has already defeated the Cats in Gainesville and comes into Lexington with 6 straight victories and winners of 9 of their last 10 SEC games. The Gators start 3 seniors and 2 juniors…..while having 8 players averaging over 12 minutes PG.

Walker may be only 5’8”, but he plays with a lot of heart and moxie….and leads the Gators in perimeter shooting hitting 38.5%. In addition, Walker does a great job of getting to the basket and drawing fouls….thus far this season he has hit 110-141 FT’s for 78%.....plus he leads the team in assists and steals. Parsons and Macklin lead the Gators in rebounds and Macklin leads in blocks.

The Gators are experienced….have good height in the paint….and have an effective bench….plus solid talent…..the result is that Florida sits atop the SEC!

Kentucky welcomes SEC leading Florida to Rupp arena after the Cats lose yet again on the road…..a heartbreaker this time to Arkansas As has been the case in most road losses, UK doesn’t match it’s opponent in intensity….doesn’t play great defense….fails to execute in the closing minutes of the game with TO’s and poor decisions. This time we can add fouling an Arkansas player on a 3 point shot and then committing a technical foul. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly apparent that this UK team has simply not improved over the season as all of us had hoped. Yes, the Cats have some serious flaws regarding being weak in the paint and having virtually no bench…..however, the fact is that this team continues to make the same mistakes over and over and has lost to teams that they should have beaten.

At this late date in the season, UK is 19-8 and has 3 very tough remaining SEC regular season games left against Florida, Vandy and Tennessee. While UK could win all 3 games….it is entirely possible that UK could lose all 3 remaining games. Winning the SEC has long vanished and a bye in the SEC tourney is not likely. In addition, UK has likely dropped out of the top 25. Earlier this season UK was projected as a high NCAA seed….between 2-4. Now, UK’s NCAA seed could potentially drop to a 6 or 7 or worse depending on how the Cats finish the season.

This UK team obviously lacks a leader and toughness. Coach Cal appears to be at his wits end with this team……they simply aren’t improving as road games have become a sad version of “Groundhog Day”. One wonders what the most recent loss to the Hogs will do to this team’s mental state and team cohesion? Road loss after road loss doesn’t build confidence! What is difficult to understand is this team’s overall lack of intensity and tough defense in nearly all the road losses.

Despite all this and these road losses, this UK team has talent and I still believe in them. On the plus side, UK is undefeated at Rupp arena and fortunately two of the remaining three games are at Rupp. Until the fat lady sings, I am not giving up on the Cats and I still believe that UK could still finish on a high note. UK continues their home winning streak with a solid win over Florida…..UK wins by 9 points! GO CATS!

SEC Men's Basketball Standings 2/25/11

Southeastern Conf All East Florida (13) 11-2 22-5 Vanderbilt (18) 8-5 20-7 Kentucky (22) 7-6 19-8 Georgia 7-6 18-9 Tennessee 7-6 17-11 South Carolina 5-8 14-12 West Alabama 11-2 19-8 Arkansas 6-7 17-10 Mississippi St. 6-7 14-13 Mississippi 5-8 17-11 LSU 3-10 11-17 Auburn 2-11 9-18

SEC Women's Basketball Standings 2/25/11

Southeastern	Conf	All
Tennessee (4)	15-0	27-2
Kentucky (20)	10-5	21-7
Georgia (22)	10-5	20-8
Vanderbilt	9-5	18-9
LSU	8-7	18-11
South Carolina	8-7	16-12
Auburn	8-7	15-13
Arkansas	6-9	18-9
Florida	5-9	15-13
Alabama	4-11	15-13
Mississippi St.	3-12	11-16
Mississippi	3-12	10-17

Video: UK Hoops Senior Night

E'town Wildcat
WT Executive Moderator

Kentucky vs Arkansas....A Preview

Kentucky vs. Arkansas

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Arkansas 2/23/11 Wednesday 8PM
SEC Network/ESPN 3
UK leads series 24-7

Location- Fayetteville, Ark.
Enrollment-19,849
Arena-19,200

Head Coach-John Pelphrey
Career Record-131-113 (53.7%) 8 seasons
At Arkansas-51-46 (52.6%) 3 seasons

2009-10 Record-14-18
2009-10 SEC Record-7-9
2009-10-Postseason- None

2010-11 Record-16-10
2010-11 SEC Record-5-7

Arkansas 75 Grambling St. 52
Arkansas 90 Florida Gulf Coast 47
Arkansas 66 SE Missouri St. 56
UAB 70 Arkansas 65 (OT)
Arkansas 84 Oklahoma 74
Arkansas 75 Troy 60
Arkansas 71 Seton Hall 62
Arkansas 87 Miss. Valley St. 64
Texas A&M 71 Arkansas 62 (OT)
Arkansas 67 Texas Southern 59
Arkansas 87 North Carolina A&T 59
Arkansas 87 Texas-Arlington 74
Texas 79 Arkansas 46
Arkansas 68 Tennessee 65
LSU 56 Arkansas 53
Arkansas 70 Alabama 65
South Carolina 81 Arkansas 74 (OT)
Florida 75 Arkansas 43
Arkansas 73 Auburn 64
Arkansas 89 Vanderbilt 78
Georgia 60 Arkansas 59
Mississippi 69 Arkansas 60
Mississippi St. 67 Arkansas 56
Arkansas 80 LSU 61
Arkansas 94 Florida A&M 55
Alabama 69 Arkansas 56

PPG-71.2
FG%-43.9%
3PT%-35.1%
FT%-69.1%
RPG-34.6
APG-12.4
TO’s-13.3
SPG-8.2
BPG-6.3

Probable Starting Lineup

Delvon Johnson F 6’9” Sr…………….…9.7
Marshawn Powell F 6’7” Soph………...10.7
Jeff Peterson G 6’0” Jr……………..…….6.7
Julysses Nobles G 6’1” Soph…………....8.4
Rotnei Clarke G 6’0” Jr…………………13.8

Coach John Pelphrey’s first season in Fayetteville was very successful as the Hogs won 23 games and went to the NCAA. However, since that first season, Arkansas has an overall record of 32-42 and an SEC record of 14-30….that includes this season thus far. Obviously, that is not the record that Arkansas fans or Pelphrey wanted and Hog fans are growing very restless regarding Pelphrey as coach. Bud Walton arena seats 19,200 and they have averaged around 6,000-7,000 empty seats….that has to be a serious concern to the Arkansas administration.

Arkansas is lead in scoring by 3 point whiz…Rotnei Clarke who is one of the best perimeter shooters in college basketball. This season Clarke is shooting 44% from the 3 point line hitting 73-166. Devon Johnson leads the Hogs in rebounds with 192 (7.4 PG) and blocks with 86. Julysses Nobles leads the team in assists with 79 and steals with 34.
Coach Pelphrey has used his bench a lot this season with 11 players averaging 11 plus minutes PG. Although, overall this has been a disappointing season for the Razorbacks….they are capable of winning tough games….as they demonstrated in defeating Vandy by 11 points in Nashville and had nice wins over Tennessee and Alabama at home.

There is no question that UK fans have always had a special place in their heart for John Pelphrey, a former starter on UK’s Unforgettables, and wish him well…..but, not when he plays the Cats. Despite the overall poor fan support this season, look for the biggest crowd of the year when UK visits Fayetteville.

Kentucky is coming off what is arguably their best game of the year as they soundly defeated South Carolina 90-59. UK played with intensity and their defense was terrific for most of the game. Offensively, the Cats had 5 players scoring in double figures as the team hit 50% from the field…55% from the perimeter….77.8% from the FT line….won the battle of the boards 42-34…..and handed out 15 assists while committing only 10 TO’s.

Game ball to Darius Miller who played his greatest game as a Cat….22 points….6-8 from the perimeter….9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Jones had another solid game, especially on defense, as he scored 19 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. Brandon Knight had a career high 9 assists and only one TO. All in all, everyone played well…..a terrific win for the Cats.

UK has 4 remaining regular season SEC games and none are easy. It all starts with Arkansas on the road….where UK has struggled….so, the game in Fayetteville will be a real test as to whether UK’ offense and defense are now coming together and these young Cats are ready for prime time. UK needs to win as many remaining games as possible to obtain the highest NCAA seed possible. I see a Kentucky team that will finally shake off the “on the road blues” and take down Arkansas by 9 points. GO BIG BLUE!

Terrence Jones: SEC Freshman of the Week 2/21/11

SEC Freshman Of The Week

Terrence Jones Kentucky

F • 6-8 • 244 • Fr. • Portland, Ore.

Kentucky’s Terrence Jones was named SEC Freshman of the Week after averaging 18.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists in wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina. Jones recorded back-to-back double-doubles in helping lead the Cats to a 2-0 record on the week. He has tallied four double-doubles in last six games. Jones tied a career high with five assists against Mississippi State and with five offensive rebounds against South Carolina. His 10 defensive rebounds against Mississippi State was most since pulling down 15 against Notre Dame on Dec. 8

Season Stats PPG RPG APG BPG SPG 17.9 9.1 1.8 1.9 1.2

SEC Men's Basketball Schedule 2/21/11-2/26/11

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22		All Times Eastern
Sport	Event	Time	TV	Stream	XM	Sirius
M BKB	Ole Miss at South Carolina	7:00 PM	ESPNU
M BKB	Tennessee at Vanderbilt	9:00 PM	ESPN	ESPN3
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23		All Times Eastern
Sport	Event	Time	TV	Stream	XM	Sirius
M BKB	Kentucky at Arkansas	8:00 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Auburn at Alabama	8:00 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	LSU at Mississippi St	9:00 PM	CSS	ESPN3
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24		All Times Eastern
Sport	Event	Time	TV	Stream	XM	Sirius
M BKB	Georgia at Florida	7:00 PM	ESPN2	ESPN3
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26		All Times Eastern
Sport	Event	Time	TV	Stream	XM	Sirius
M BKB	Arkansas at Auburn	1:30 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Vanderbilt at LSU	1:30 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Florida at Kentucky	4:00 PM	CBS
M BKB	Alabama at Ole Miss	4:00 PM	SEC Network	ESPN3
M BKB	Mississippi St at Tennessee	6:00 PM	ESPN	ESPN3
M BKB	South Carolina at Georgia	7:00 PM	FSN	ESPN3