Wildcats Thunder Blog

UK's Marquis Teague named SEC Freshman of the Week

2012-02-13T12:46:00.000-06:00

Kentucky’s Marquis Teague, a 6-foot-2, 189-pound freshman guard from Indianapolis, Ind., was named SEC Freshman of the Week after averaging 12.5 points, 9.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds in wins over 8th-ranked Florida and at Vanderbilt. Teague tallied his first-career double-double in the win against Florida scoring 12 points and dishing out a game-high 10 assists. He followed that performance with a 13-point, eight assist, one turnover game on the road at Vanderbilt. Over the last eight games, Teague has dished out 46 assists against just 17 turnovers.

AP/Coaches Poll 2/13/12

2012-02-13T12:38:00.000-06:00

AP Top 25

1. Kentucky (63)
2. Syracuse (2)
3. Missouri
4. Kansas
5. Duke
6. Ohio St.
7. Michigan St.
8. North Carolina
9. Baylor
10. Georgetown
11. UNLV
12. Marquette
13. San Diego St.
14. Florida
15. Wisconsin
16. Murray St.
17. Michigan
18. Indiana
19. Louisville
20. Florida St.
21. St. Mary's
22. Virginia
23. Notre Dame
24. Wichita St.
24. Gonzaga

Dropped Out:No. 17 Creighton, No. 20 Mississippi St., No. 25 Harvard

Others Receiving Votes:Temple 122, Mississippi St. 108, Creighton 20, New Mexico 12, Long Beach St. 12, BYU 12, Iowa St. 10, Southern Miss 7, Harvard 6, Saint Louis 5, California 3, Vanderbilt 2, VCU 2, Memphis 1

USA Today/ESPN

1. Kentucky (31)
2. Syracuse
3. Missouri
4. Duke
5. Kansas
6. Ohio St.
7. North Carolina
8. Michigan St.
9. Georgetown
10. Baylor
11. UNLV
12. Florida
13. Marquette
14. Murray St.
15. San Diego St.
16. St. Mary's
17. Wisconsin
18. Louisville
19. Michigan
20. Indiana
21. Florida St.
22. Virginia
23. Mississippi St.
24. Gonzaga
25. Notre Dame

Dropped Out:No. 15 Creighton, No. 21 Harvard

Others Receiving Votes:Wichita St. 63, Temple 48, Creighton 30, Harvard 22, Nevada 21, Long Beach St. 17, New Mexico 17, California 15, Southern Miss 12, Drexel 11, Middle Tenn. St. 8, Iowa St. 7, Saint Louis 4, VCU 3, TX Arlington 1

SEC Basketball Games for 2/14/12-2/19/12

2012-02-13T12:36:00.000-06:00

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH

Florida at Alabama 7:00 PM ESPN
Mississippi St. at LSU 9:00 PM ESPNU

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH

Georgia at South Carolina 7:00 PM CSS
Arkansas at Tennessee 8:00 PM SEC Network

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH

Vanderbilt at Ole Miss 9:00 PM ESPN2

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18TH

LSU at South Carolina 1:30 PM SEC Network
Tennessee at Alabama 1:30 PM SEC Network
Ole Miss at Kentucky 4:00 PM SEC Network
Florida at Arkansas 6:00 PM ESPN2
Mississippi St. at Auburn 8:00 PM FSN

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH

Vanderbilt at Georgia 1:00 PM FSN

SEC Women's BB Games for 2/13/12-2/19/12

2012-02-13T12:33:00.001-06:00

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH

Kentucky at Tennessee 7:00 PM ESPN2

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH

Georgia at South Carolina 7:00 PM FSN
Kentucky at Alabama 7:30 PM
LSU at Arkansas 8:00 PM CST
Florida at Vanderbilt 9:00 PM FSN
Tennessee at Mississippi St. 9:00 PM CSS

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH

Tennessee at Ole Miss 2:00 PM SEC Network
Auburn at LSU 3:00 PM
Mississippi St. at Arkansas 3:00 PM
South Carolina at Alabama 3:00 PM FSN
Georgia at Florida 3:30 PM ESPNU

SEC Men's Basketball Standings 2/13/12

2012-02-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

Southeastern	Conf	All
Kentucky (1)	11-0	25-1

Florida (8)	7-3	19-6

Mississippi St. (20)	6-4	19-6

Vanderbilt	6-4	17-8

Arkansas	5-5	17-8

Alabama	5-5	16-8

Mississippi	5-5	15-9

Tennessee	5-5	13-12

LSU	4-6	14-10

Georgia	3-7	12-12

Auburn	3-8	13-12

South Carolina	1-9	9-15

SEC Women's Basketball Standings 2/13/12

2012-02-13T12:23:00.003-06:00

Southeastern	Conf	All
Kentucky (7)	10-1	21-3

Tennessee (11)	8-3	17-7

Arkansas	8-4	19-5

Georgia (21)	8-4	19-6

South Carolina (24)	8-4	19-6

Vanderbilt	7-5	19-6

LSU	7-5	17-8

Florida	6-6	16-9

Mississippi St.	4-8	14-11

Auburn	3-10	11-15

Mississippi	2-11	12-14

Alabama	1-11	11-15

Video: UK Coach John Calipari on UK's thrilling 69-63 win at Vandy

2012-02-12T12:04:00.002-06:00

UK coach John Calipari on UK's thrilling 69-63 win at Vandy. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari

Opening Comments:

"This was two teams slugging it out, it really was. [Vanderbilt] wasn't going away and we weren't going away. We made some shots; they missed some shots; we won the game. Hats off to Vanderbilt fans. It was a great environment. It is why we do what we do, both players and coaches."

On the Play of Kentucky's Marquis Teague:

"It was great. He did great. He broke down defensively twice, but kept playing."

On Playing a Close Game after Several Big Wins:

"We need all of this. In every huddle, I kept saying this is great for us. It is what we need. To be honest, I would rather we be up 23 points. They are an execution team, a veteran team, seniors. They played like that. We got better today."

On the Play of Darius Miller Down the Stretch:

"I told him the three he made was the play that got us going again... I tell my guys that it doesn't matter how they play the whole game, it is the last three or four minutes...and he did that."

On Kentucky's Play:

"It was a good win in a hard-fought game... Hats off to Vanderbilt. Basically, they beat us in the second half... They caught up with threes. In the huddle, I kept telling my team to make them beat us with twos."

On Vanderbilt Missing Their Last Nine Shots:

"I will have to watch the tape. We are good defensively, but it may have been them [missing shots] too... Lots of people had this as a [loss] for us."

On Having a Week Off Before Playing Again:

"It will be a little different than last time we had a week off before playing Indiana... We will do tape work on Sunday, practice Monday, take off Tuesday, on Wednesday we will doing something special, practice Thursday and Friday so we will be ready for Saturday's game. It is late in the season, so they don't need two days off... We will change it up and doing something special on Wednesday."

On How Kentucky's Players Handled the Unusual Bench Configuration:

"It was hard to communicate. I knew it would be. I told Marquis Teague that anytime he was confused to just pick and roll, so that is what he did."

On Vanderbilt Being a Tough Environment to Play in:

"Every game we play is like walking into this... We get the other team's best shot and after the game, there are 25 cameras... Any of the places we have been end up being like this. We handled this game like we have other and will handle future games the same way. On our board, I tell the team to love the road, love this, relish this."

Video: Davis, Teague, Lamb on UK's 69-63 thrilling win at Vandy

2012-02-12T11:54:00.000-06:00

Kentucky basketball players Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb talk about the No. 1 Wildcats' exciting 69-63 road will against Vanderbilt - Feb. 11, 2012. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: Coach Calipari previews Saturday night's ESPN College Gameday game at Vanderbilt

2012-02-10T17:30:00.002-06:00

University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari previews Saturday night's ESPN College Gameday game at Vanderbilt and comments on his birthday.Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.

Pre-Vanderbilt Media Opportunity - Feb. 10, 2012

Head Coach John Calipari

On turning 53 and being three years into the job …
“Two years got vacated so I’m 51. You know what, when you enjoy what you are doing, there are bumps in the road and this thing is all over you, you need to step away from it and I haven’t had a whole lot of time to do that but I’m enjoying myself. I’m enjoying our players, I enjoy our fans. I think we as a program have connected as well as you can and have been as transparent as we can for everybody because everybody wants to be a part of it. They want in, they want knowledge of what is happening, they love seeing us practice and those kinds of things. This is one of those programs where you can’t go in the office and hide; it’s just not what you can do here.”

On the team …
“I’m excited for our team; today I just spent the day thinking. I like adding things, tweaking the offense and tweaking the defense because it makes them think. I don’t want them to walk into practice because it is monotonous in that we do the same things throughout the year in some cases, so I like changing things up to just make them really focus and concentrate.”

On the team’s routine …
“We handle every game the same way. The format of our practice is exactly the same even though some of the drills are different. We go on the road, we do exactly the same things when we go into town, when we meet and what we do on game day. Part of it is that you want them to understand that every game has an importance and no game is more important than another. The other thing, in practice, is there are certain things we do from day one ‘til the season ends to let them understand that those things are important, so there are some fundamental things that we do when we start that first day and we’re still doing today. Some of the practice is monotonous but you want those guys to really zero in on a few things. You can’t be great at everything. You can’t be a great pressing team, a great zone team, a great man team, a great motion team, a great play calling team; you can’t be great at everything. You have to do decide as a coach, what does this team need to be great at? Let’s just focus on those things and let’s get real good at those things.”

On playing at Vanderbilt …
“This is a great challenge for Marquis Teague and I think he’ll do fine. This is one where you give him a couple play calls and this is all you are going to run the next sets. He’ll be fine; this will be a great test. We were just talking, every one of these teams give us something different. We’ve never played Vandy with this team. Just like Tennessee is totally different than Vandy, who is totally different than Florida, who is totally different from Mississippi State. You have teams, for us, it is important to see how we will respond. Every experience is new for us and we’re learning.”

On keys that this team focuses on …
“I think one of the things you are seeing is we zero in on defense. This is a team that should be a great defensive team which I believe I said on day one. We are long enough, we are athletic enough, and we can really play the ball pretty good; we should be great defensively. Offensively we are still trying to figure each other out, we are trying to zero in on what do we do, when do we do it. You see that we grind it out pretty good late in games; we do a good job of that. Maybe in the guts of the game there are some things we are still trying to figure out. Like I said, I tweaked some things for tomorrow just to get them to think a little bit out on the basketball court.”

On guarding Vanderbilt …
“They are a terrific team, they are big, their guard play is good, and point guard play is good. Obviously they shoot the ball; (Jeffery) Taylor is way better than what he was and what I mean by that is he is consistently making 3s which he didn’t before. Now, you have to go out there and play him which makes him better off the bounce. They still have those three or four guys that always come in and hurt us. They are a veteran team; they are a team that has played us three times now, it’s the same guys that have played us for three years minus one or two guys. I imagine they are ready for this, their fans are ready for this, Nashville is ready for this, their administration is ready for this, their parents are ready for this. They have probably been ready for two weeks. We have to go up there and say, ‘let’s see where we are right now, let’s play as well as we can play and let’s see if we are getting better.’”

On comparing Vanderbilt and Florida …
“They’re just different. They are two totally different teams and like I said, that is what’s good for us. With (Festus) Ezeli they can throw it to the post, which they did a year ago on us and he dunked like four or five balls and they can do that. He is very physical. I just watched them beat Tennessee by about 25 and (Jarnell) Stokes could not handle, physically, Ezeli. Now you think about what I’m saying, we couldn’t handle Stokes physically. It is a tough matchup for us. What if (John) Jenkins goes 12-12 from the 3? It’s been a nice start to our season, when’s the next game? You could be all over him and he still does that. We’re trying to learn about our team, we’re trying to get better. I would imagine, watching the tape, I think they are going to try to be a little more patient with the ball against us. I think they are going to go back to the other way of playing which is, let’s give them (fewer) possessions, let’s make either a post-up or a 3 or a drive and let’s do it later in the clock. I don’t know, I’ve been wrong before.”

On the challenges of playing at Memorial Gym …
“We won there two years ago. You are in the end zone coaching; you are on a raised floor. It’s no different. Whether we win or lose will be based on how we play and how they play. There isn’t going to be anything about a building or fans. We play on the road, we’ve had tough environments. We’ve won in tough environments; we’ve lost in a tough environment. It’s how your team plays and how their team plays.”

Video: UK players Darius Miller, Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague previews UK-Vandy ESPN College Gameday

2012-02-10T17:21:00.002-06:00

UK players Darius Miller, Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague previews UK-Vandy ESPN College Gameday. Video's courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.

Kentucky vs Vanderbilt(ESPN College Gameday).....A Preview

2012-02-09T12:46:00.007-06:00

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Vanderbilt….2/11/12
Saturday 9PM..(ESPN)
Kentucky leads the series 134-44

College Gameday 11:00am at Vandy-
Rece Davis, Hubert Dais, Jay Bilas and Digger Phillips
Game will be called by Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale

Vanderbilt Commodores

Location: Nashville
Enrollment: 6,750
Arena: 14,316

Head Coach: Kevin Stallings
Career Record: 359-211 (63.0%) 18 seasons
At Vandy: 236-148 (61.5%) 12 seasons

2010-11 Record: 23-11
2010-11 SEC Record: 9-7
2010-11 Postseason: NCAA 0-1

2011-12 Record: 17-7
2011-12 SEC Record: 6-3

Vandy 78 Oregon 64
Cleveland St. 71 Vandy 58
Vandy 80 Bucknell 68
Vandy 86 N.C. St. 79
Vandy 64 Oregon St. 62
Vandy 95 Monmonth 73
Xavier 82 Vandy 70 (OT)
Louisville 62 Vandy 60 (OT)
Vandy 87 Davidson 83
Indiana St. 61 Vandy 55
Vandy 99 Longwood 71
Vandy 89 Lafayette 58
Vandy 74 Marquette 57
Vandy 69 Miami, OH 62
Vandy 65 Auburn 35
Vandy 67 South Carolina 57
Vandy 77 Georgia 66
Vandy 69 Alabama 59
Mississippi St. 78 Vandy 77 (OT)
Vandy 65 Tennessee 47
Vandy 84 Middle Tennessee St. 77
Arkansas 82 Vandy 74
Florida 73 Vandy 65
Vandy 76 LSU 61

Probable Starting Lineup

Lance Goulbourne-F 6’8” Sr………………….…9.3 PPG
Jeffery Taylor-F 6’7” Sr…………………………17.8 PPG
Festus Ezeli-C 6’11” Sr………………………….10.0 PPG
Brad Tinsley-G 6’3” Sr…………………………..9.1 PPG
John Jenkins-G 6’4” Jr………………………...…19.7 PPG

Vandy Stats

PPG-74.3
FG%-46.8%
3 PT%-39.3% (8.9 PG)
FT%-68.9%
RPG-35.0 (+1.8)
APG-13.2
TO’s-14.0
SPG-6.3
BPG-4.2

UK Stats

PPG-78.2
FG%-48.8%
3 PT%-37.9% (5.7 PG)
FT%-72.1%
RPG-39.8 (+7.8)
APG-13.5
TO’s-12.2
SPG-6.6
BPG-9.2

Vanderbilt was a preseason top 10 team because they returned a senior laden lineup and a previous NCAA team However, a 17-7 record has dropped them out of the top 25.
In evaluating Vandy this season you must look at the first 10 games when 6’’11”Festus Ezeli wasn’t playing….in those games the Dores went 6-4 with bad losses at home to Cleveland St. and Indiana St. After Ezeli returned to the lineup, Vandy is 10-3. All 3 losses have come in the SEC with only one at home….an OT loss to Mississippi St.
In reviewing the Dores season, you see a solid win at Marquette plus 3 of Vandy’s losses were in overtime.

While Vandy has been a disappointment this season, they are now playing like a top 25 team. Vandy is led in scoring by John Jenkins who has hit 89-201 perimeter shots for an excellent 44.3%. Jeffery Taylor is 2nd in scoring and is also a terrific perimeter shooter hitting an eyepopping 47.8% while leading the team in steals. In addition, Taylor joins Goulbourne and Ezeli in leading the Dores in rebounds. Brad Tinsley also is a solid 3 point shooter and leads the team in assists with 109 for 4.5 PG. There is no question that the return of Ezeli to the Vandy lineup has been a huge plus in the paint both offensively and defensively as Ezeli leads the team in blocks.

Vanderbilt has always been very difficult to defeat in Nashville and with Gameday you can bet the Dores will be more than ready to defend their home court. Any team that shoots a lot of perimeter shots and makes a good percentage as Vandy does is always dangerous….and especially when you are playing in a very different arena that has the teams under the baskets as opposed to being on the sides of the court. It makes it very difficult for coaches to have verbal contact with their team during play. You can bet that Vandy and their fans will be at a fever pitch as the #1 Cats come to Nashville!

UK will arrive in Nashville coming off another great performance in defeating a very good Florida team by 20 points. The Cats played great defense….while Teague ran the offense very effectively and handed out a season high 10 assists. Davis continues to leave fans in awe with his incredible performances….especially defensively where he is the favorite to be defensive player of the year. MKG had another great game with 13 points…13 rebounds….3 assists and only 1 turnover in 39 minutes. Lamb shot very well hitting 4-5 perimeter shots and scoring 18 points. Miller and Wiltjer also played very well.

The game in Nashville is always tough for UK….last season a UK team that made it to the Final Four still lost to the Dores in Nashville 81-77. This is a big test for the Cats and I look for this UK team to pass the test with a 7 point win over Vandy. GO CATS!

Video: UK players Anthony Davis, Doron Lamb, Marquis Teague on win over Florida

2012-02-08T13:39:00.001-06:00

UK players Anthony Davis, Doron Lamb and Marquis Teague on UK's 78-58 rout of Florida. Video's courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Photos: UK vs Florida

2012-02-08T11:02:00.000-06:00

Video: Billy Donovan talks about the UK basketball team

2012-02-08T10:12:00.000-06:00

After losing to Kentucky 78-58 at Rupp Arena on Feb. 7, 2012, Florida coach Billy Donovan spoke about the Wildcats basketball team and who he feels they stack up to other teams in the Top 10 and to past UK squads. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: UK Coach John Calipari speaks after defeating Florida 78-58

2012-02-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

UK Coach John Calipari speaks after defeating No. 7 Florida 78-58 in Rupp Arena. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

NCAA Women's AP/USA Today Top 25 Basketball Poll 2/7/12

2012-02-07T13:21:00.003-06:00

AP Top 25

1. Baylor (40)
2. Notre Dame
3. Connecticut
4. Stanford
5. Duke
6. Miami (FL)
7. Kentucky
8. Maryland
9. Green Bay
10. Ohio St.
11. Tennessee
12. Delaware
13. Nebraska
14. Georgetown
15. Texas A&M
16. Purdue
17. Rutgers
18. Penn St.
19. Gonzaga
20. Louisville
21. Georgia
22. North Carolina
22. Georgia Tech
24. South Carolina
25. St. Bonaventure

Dropped Out:No. 22 BYU, No. 25 Texas Tech

Others Receiving Votes:DePaul 38, BYU 28, California 25, Texas Tech 24, Oklahoma 18, Arkansas 14, St. John's 12, Princeton 12, Fla Gulf Coast 8, UTEP 7, Kansas St. 7, Fresno St. 6, West Virginia 1, Bowling Green 1

USA Today/ESPN

1. Baylor (31)
2. Notre Dame
3. Connecticut
4. Stanford
5. Duke
6. Miami (FL)
7. Kentucky
8. Maryland
9. Green Bay
10. Ohio St.
11. Tennessee
12. Delaware
13. Georgetown
14. Texas A&M
15. Nebraska
16. Rutgers
17. Louisville
18. Gonzaga
19. Purdue
20. Georgia
21. Penn St.
22. DePaul
23. Georgia Tech
24. South Carolina
25. Vanderbilt

Dropped Out:No. 24 North Carolina, No. 25 Kansas

Others Receiving Votes:St. Bonaventure 34, North Carolina 19, California 18, Fla Gulf Coast 16, Middle Tenn. St. 15, UTEP 8, Texas Tech 5, Fresno St. 4, St. John's 4, BYU 4, Princeton 3, West Virginia 2, Oklahoma 2, Kansas St. 1

UK to pass out Anthony Davis poster before the UK-UF game Tuesday

2012-02-07T09:19:00.000-06:00

Posters of Anthony Davis will be placed on every seat in Rupp Arena before Tuesday’s game against Florida, head coach John Calipari tweeted Monday.

The posters bill Davis as a “national defensive player of the year candidate” and feature the 6-10 forward with his long arms outstretched.

SEC Basketball Games for 2/7/12-2/11/12

2012-02-07T08:30:00.001-06:00

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH

Florida at Kentucky 7:00 PM ESPN
Alabama at Auburn 9:00 PM ESPNU

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH

Arkansas at Georgia 8:00 PM SEC Network
South Carolina at Tennessee 8:00 PM CSS
LSU at Vanderbilt 9:00 PM CSS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH

Ole Miss at Mississippi St. 7:00 PM ESPN/2

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH

Georgia at Mississippi St. 1:30 PM SEC Network
South Carolina at Arkansas 1:30 PM SEC Network
Tennessee at Florida 4:00 PM SEC Network
Alabama at LSU 7:00 PM ESPN2
Auburn at Ole Miss 7:00 PM FSN

SEC Women's BB Games for 2/9/12-2/12/12

2012-02-07T08:24:00.001-06:00

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH

Auburn at Florida 7:00 PM FSFL/SUN ESPN3
Mississippi St. at LSU 7:00 PM CST
Alabama at Ole Miss 8:00 PM
South Carolina at Arkansas 8:00 PM
Tennessee at Vanderbilt 9:00 PM CSS ESPN3

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH

LSU at Alabama 2:00 PM CSS
Vanderbilt at Georgia 2:00 PM SEC Network
Arkansas at Auburn 2:30 PM ESPN2
Ole Miss at Mississippi St. 3:30 PM FSN
Florida at South Carolina 5:00 PM ESPN2

Video: UK Coach John Calipari on peaking too soon, previewing UK-Florida

2012-02-06T15:59:00.001-06:00

UK Coach John Calipari on peaking too soon, previewing UK-Florida. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

UK Head Coach John Calipari

On what the team will work on in practice today …
“Just getting them ready. We’re going to meet a little and talk and show just a clip of tape and then just work at doing what we do. We want to worry about our team, zero in on a few things, but really we just have to keep getting better. Looking at areas that we need to keep improving.”

On whether he will tweak anything knowing that Florida is a strong 3-point shooting team …
“You just know that they’re going to take 30 (3s) however you guard it. My guess would be, let’s make sure they’re guarded and if they still make 20, we’ve had a heck of start, who do we play next? They’re going to take 30, what if they make 20? They may take 35, what if they make 25? We play good all year and all of the sudden they’re banking shots and they will shoot them deep without any reservation coming off the break. But they also have their inside people that are playing well and the other thing that’s spread out the court now is, (Eric) Murphy is playing well. They put him in pick and rolls and they get him in 3s. They’re good. They’re a very good team.”

On whether he did or didn’t like how the team defended the 3-pointer against South Carolina and Indiana …
“South Carolina made 45 percent of their 3s against us last time and, you know, if you guarded and they’re still making them, and your hands are up, there’s nothing you can do. You cannot stop a team from shooting 3s. You can stop them from shooting layups and doing different things if they’re trying to post you every time. But to say, ‘Alright, we’re stopping the 3-point shot,’ you’re not. They’re going to get them. You just want to make sure they’re guarded. The second point of that is, if they’re not making them, where does that ball go? Where does it miss to? It’s going to the elbows. It’s going to be out that way. So it’s over our big peoples’ heads and one of our issues has been our guard-rebounding, whether it’s Marquis Teague or Doron Lamb, we haven’t rebounded the ball well from that position. Their best rebounder, other than a big, is probably Brad Beal and he’s playing like a two or three (position). He goes after every ball.”

On whether his team is building swagger or leaning towards arrogance …
“They’re good but what you want to do is address it and we’ll talk about it today. You have to understand, what’s happened in the last two weeks? Why have we changed? Well let’s not get away from that. Then you talk about the (New York football) Giants. Mid-season, what were they talking about for the Giants? Fire the coach; fire the coordinators; fire everybody. They just won the Super Bowl, biggest game, halftime show, how did they do it? They win the game because they were the best team at this time of the year. They were the best football team. Last year I felt my team was the best basketball team. We weren’t at this time. We were talking about firing the coach here at this point last year. We lost six road games. What I’m trying to tell you is, it’s February, what’s the date, the sixth. We got three, four more weeks where we have to keep peaking now. This can’t be it because if this is it, you start going down the wrong way.”

On whether he believes a team can peak too early …
“Yeah. I’ve seen teams in November, December play so well that I’m thinking, ‘I’m glad he’s coaching that team and not me.’ Sometimes I’ll pull the reins back. I won’t give them as much stuff offensively. I just want them to get in shape and play hard. I’ve seen teams come out of the gate like, whoa. I’m like, ‘There’s no way they can sustain this.’ It’s too much road between now and the end of the season. So we didn’t exactly want to lose six road games, even though they were like one-point games and buzzer beaters. We didn’t want to, but my team was getting better each day, each week, and that’s what we’re trying to do with this team.”

On whether he’s worried his team is peaking too early now …
“What you had last game was seven guys played and that’s when you have that kind of score. But when I watched the tape, there were still breakdowns. Guys stopped playing at times and they shouldn’t have been in the game and they should have taken themselves out or I should have recognized it. But we’re passing the ball to each other. We’re being stronger. Terrence Jones is giving us a physical presence now that we didn’t have three weeks ago, four weeks ago. Our freshmen are just getting better. Doron Lamb should be, in my opinion, a lottery pick. Well, play like one, play like one. Don’t look at me or anybody else, play like one. That’s what I think he is and so last game he played like one. He can play point, he can score, he got to the rim, he got fouled. It’s what he is. You can’t jog up and down the court and act like this stuff doesn’t matter and be a lottery pick. You have to motor. You have to battle and he did that. It shows. Darius (Miller) played well. We all played well last game. Now we’re going against a team that is similar to us in that they went through that stretch where they weren’t physical enough and (Billy Donovan) had those killer practices and now all of the sudden it’s changed the dynamic of their team. They’re playing more physical. Just like we went up to Tennessee, they did exactly the same thing to us that they did to Florida. Exactly. And now, it was good for us. This game is good for our team. People ask, ‘Why do you say?’ Because every opponent we play, especially as they get better, this team will experience it for the first time. You’re starting three freshmen and two sophomores. It’s all new.”

Video: UK players Terrence Jones, Anthony Davis previews UK-Florida

2012-02-06T15:51:00.001-06:00

UK players Terrence Jones and Anthony Davis previews Tuesday's UK-Florida game on ESPN at 7PMEST/6PMCST. Video's courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Anthony Davis Named SEC Player Of The Week

2012-02-06T13:48:00.001-06:00

Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-10, 222-pound freshman forward from Chicago, Ill., was named SEC Player of the Week after averaging 20 points, eight rebounds, 7.5 blocks and two assists in wins over Tennessee and at South Carolina. Davis posted 15 blocks on the week, including eight blocks against South Carolina. He pushed his season total to 116, breaking Shaquille O’Neal’s SEC freshman record for blocks in a season. He how ranks ninth on the league’s single-season blocks list. Davis leads the nation in blocks and has more blocks than eight other schools in the league. He missed only two shots on the week, shooting 88.2 percent from the field.

AP/Coaches Poll 2/6/12

2012-02-06T13:40:00.000-06:00

AP Top 25

1. Kentucky (63)
2. Syracuse (2)
3. Ohio St.
4. Missouri
5. North Carolina
6. Baylor
7. Kansas
8. Florida
9. Murray St.
10. Duke
11. Michigan St.
12. Georgetown
13. San Diego St.
14. UNLV
15. Florida St.
16. St. Mary's
17. Creighton
18. Marquette
19. Virginia
20. Mississippi St.
21. Wisconsin
22. Michigan
23. Indiana
24. Louisville
25. Harvard

Dropped Out:No. 24 Gonzaga, No. 25 Vanderbilt

Others Receiving Votes:Notre Dame 83, Iowa St. 71, Southern Miss 51, Temple 41, Gonzaga 35, Wichita St. 31, Long Beach St. 6, New Mexico 5, Kansas St. 3, Vanderbilt 2, Cleveland St. 2, Iona 2, Miami (FL) 1, BYU 1

USA Today/ESPN

1. Kentucky (31)
2. Syracuse
3. Ohio St.
4. Missouri
5. North Carolina
6. Baylor
7. Murray St.
7. Florida
9. Duke
10. Kansas
11. Georgetown
12. Michigan St.
13. St. Mary's
14. San Diego St.
15. Creighton
16. UNLV
17. Florida St.
18. Mississippi St.
19. Marquette
20. Virginia
21. Harvard
22. Wisconsin
23. Louisville
24. Indiana
25. Michigan

Dropped Out:None

Others Receiving Votes:Notre Dame 19, Gonzaga 14, New Mexico 13, Iowa St. 10, Southern Miss 9, Nevada 9, Long Beach St. 8, Temple 6, Middle Tenn. St. 6, Connecticut 6, Wichita St. 5, Vanderbilt 5, California 5, VCU 2, Saint Louis 2, Drexel 1, Cleveland St. 1

SEC Men's Basketball Standings 2/6/12

2012-02-06T11:36:00.000-06:00

Southeastern	Conf	All
Kentucky (1)	9-0	23-1

Florida (8)	7-1	19-4

Mississippi St. (20)	5-3	18-5

Vanderbilt	5-3	16-7

Arkansas	4-4	16-7

Alabama	4-4	15-7

Mississippi	4-4	14-8

LSU	3-5	13-9

Tennessee	3-5	11-12

Auburn	3-6	13-10

Georgia	1-7	10-12

South Carolina	1-7	9-13

SEC Women's Basketball Standings 2/6/12

2012-02-06T11:32:00.000-06:00

Southeastern	Conf	All
Kentucky (7)	10-1	21-3

Tennessee (11)	8-2	17-6

South Carolina (24)	7-3	18-5

Georgia (21)	7-4	18-6

Vanderbilt	6-4	18-5

Arkansas	6-4	17-5

LSU	5-5	15-8

Florida	5-5	15-8

Mississippi St.	3-7	13-10

Auburn	3-8	11-13

Mississippi	2-9	12-12

Alabama	0-10	10-14

Kentucky vs Florida....A Preview

2012-02-06T00:28:00.002-06:00

Lwcat
Administrator

Kentucky vs Florida….2/7/12 Tuesday 7PMEST/6PMCST (ESPN)
Kentucky leads the series 90-33

Location: Gainsville
Enrollment: 52,271
Arena: 12,000

Florida

Head Coach: Billy Donovan

Career Record: 395-167 (70.3%) 17 seasons
At Florida: 360-147 (71.0%) 15 seasons

2010-11 Record: 29-8
2010-11 SEC Record: 13-3
2010-11 Postseason: 3-1 (Lost in NCAA Elite 8)

2011-12 Record: 19-4
2011-12 SEC Record: 7-1

Florida 99 Jackson St. 59
Ohio St. 81 Florida 74
Florida 91 North Florida 55
Florida 78 Wright St. 65
Florida 96 Stetson 70
Syracuse 72 Florida 68
Florida 78 Arizona 72 (OT)
Florida 90 Rider 69
Florida 84 Texas A&M 64
Florida 82 Mississippi Valley St. 54
Florida 82 Florida St. 64
Rutgers 85 Florida 83 (OT)
Florida 90 Yale 70
Florida 79 UAB 61
Tennessee 67 Florida 56
Florida 70 Georgia 48
Florida 79 South Carolina 65
Florida 76 LSU 64
Florida 64 Ole Miss 60
Florida 69 Mississippi St. 57
Florida 74 South Carolina 66
Florida 73 Vanderbilt 65

Florida Stats

PPG-80.1
FG%-47.2%
3 PT%-40.2% (10.5 PG)
FT%-68.4%
RPG-36.6 (+3.0)
APG-16.3
TO’s-11.0
SPG-7.2
BPG-3.5

UK Stats

PPG-78.2
FG%-48.6%
3 PT%-36.9% (5.5 PG)
FT%-71.6%
RPG-39.9% (+7.8)
APG-13.3
TO’s-12.1
SPG-6.7
BPG-9.4

Probable Starting Lineup

Patric Young-F/C 6’9” Soph……………………….10.7 PPG
Erik Murphy-C 6’10” Jr…………………………….10.2 PPG
Kenny Boynton-G 6’2” Jr…………………………..17.6 PPG
Bradley Beal-G 6’3” Fr……………………………..14.3 PPG
Erving Walker-G 5’8” Sr……………………………12.6 PPG

Other Key Players

Will Yeguete-F 6’7” Soph………………………….4.7 PPG
Mike Rosario-G 6’3” Jr…………………………….8.2 PPG

The Florida Gators arrive in Lexington with a solid 19-4 record overall and 7-1 in the SEC. The Gators have not lost at home all season and two of their 4 losses were to top 5 ranked teams….losing to Ohio St. and Syracuse. Make no mistake, this is a very talented Gator team that shoots the ball very well…..especially from the perimeter….where they are hitting 40.2%. In fact, there is no question that Florida is a perimeter oriented team as they average 26 long range shots PG and averages nearly 11 made 3 point shots PG. The Gators are hard to guard from the perimeter because they have several players who shoot very well from long range….Murphy shoots 46.1%…..Boynton shoots 43.8%…..Walker shoots 39.3%…..Rosario, transfer from Rutgers, shoots 39.0%……and Beal hits 34.5%.

Florida is led in scoring by their three very talented guards….Boynton….Beal….and Walker. However, the Gators also get good scoring from their two starting big men with Young and Murphy averaging in double figures. Patric Young, a 6’9” very athletic sophomore, is a force in the paint and leads in rebounds….but, he gets help from several Gators on the boards….and surprisingly, 6’3” Bradley Beal is a terrific rebounder.
Walker leads in team assists with 118 or 5.1 PG.

The Gators arrive in Lexington after an important win over Vandy and have won 9 out of their last 10 games with only a bad loss to Tennessee at Knoxville.

UK has taken a huge step forward in their last 3 games in their overall play….both offensively and defensively….with very impressive wins over LSU, Tennessee and South Carolina. Unquestionably, Teague has significantly improved his running of the Cats offense by finding open players and shooting less….plus Teague is making less TO’s with better decision making. Also, importantly, Terrence Jones has taken his overall player to a much higher level….both offensively and defensively.

UK’s defense has been solid through most of the year, but has now taken their defense to a higher level. However, Florida will present a challenge to the Cat’s perimeter defense because the Gators have so many good perimeter shooters. The Gators will be among the most talented teams that UK has faced all season.

I see UK’s height and length presenting problems for Florida’s small guards in finding open shots….and Davis and Jones controlling the paint….to give the Cats an important advantage over Florida. Still, this should be a very competitive game, but I see UK prevailing over the Gators by 8 points. GO CATS!

Video: UK Coach Calipari, players speaks after 86-52 win at USC

2012-02-04T23:10:00.004-06:00

UK Coach John Calipari, Terrence Jones and Anthony Davis speak after UK beats South Carolina, 86-52 on Saturday, 2/4/12. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Photos: UK vs. South Carolina

2012-02-04T20:46:00.000-06:00

UK beats USC 86-52 on home turf. Davis lead the Cats with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 8 blocks. Davis also broke Shaquille O'Neal's SEC freshman shot block record giving Davis a 116 on the season.

Video: UK Coach Calipari previews UK-South Carolina Interview-Rd 2

2012-02-03T17:16:00.000-06:00

UK Coach Calipari talks about the Gamecocks, where is his team is and what lies ahead for the Cats. Video's courtesy of uksportsinfo.

Pre-South Carolina Media Opportunity - Feb. 3

UK Head Coach John Calipari

On whether or not the freshmen have hit the wall at all …
“I think all four of them are doing great. They’re getting better, learning, attentive, focused. I think they’re all the first ones in there because they’re excited about playing. So no, I don’t believe so. They may in February somewhere with the schedule of games we have coming up. We could get hit in the mouth.”

On what he has seen defensively most recently from his players …
“One of the things that’s happening when we’ve got a pretty good lead so we’re grinding it out at the end and that gives that other team, probably, six less possessions which is what we’re trying to do. That’s helping us. I always say, teams that lead the nation in defensive least amount of point, when you watch them offensively they hold the ball. So that other team has way less opportunity. What’s happened to us is seven minutes to go, six minutes to go, we’re pulling it back and grinding out the ball.”

On making sure the team doesn’t overlook any opponents coming up …
“We approach every game the same and I’m going to go in there today like we played North Carolina or anybody else. We’re going on the road. It’s going to be a hard game. I watched their game last night with Florida. They shouldn’t have been in the game and then all of the sudden you turn around and they’ve got the ball and it’s a five-point game. I watched their game with Alabama. They beat Alabama. I watched their game with Mississippi. They had Mississippi beat. If you watch the end of the game, you thought they won. If you didn’t see the score, you said, ‘South Carolina won.’ And they lost and it was the same thing. They’re good enough to beat us and if we don’t come and play one of our better games, we get beat.”

On how South Carolina is better now versus when Kentucky played them last …
“They’ve got two or three guys that are really playing well. Whether it’s [Anthony] Gill who can really get it going offensively, or obviously their point guard, (Bruce Ellington), he can get it going. They have the other wing player who is really scoring baskets, their leading scorer, or their leading rebounder. And then the one kid blocks shots. They have a little bit of everything. I’m a little bit surprised at their record but I’m telling you, when you see they beat Alabama, had Mississippi beat, played Florida on the road and had their chances to win the game, and now have us, I think you see them moving in the right direction and I think you’re going to see them start knocking people off. I just hope it’s not us and that we’re not the first.”

On whether (Bruce) Ellington looks different from last time …
“Yes, when he missed a few it led him to miss another one, another one, another one. He’s not doing that now. He’ll miss two shots and come back and make a shot or two. He’s playing physical, he’s better with the ball, his decision making is better than it was then. He’ll be an issue for us.”

On his thoughts on his team bonding on the road …
“The best thing about when school ends and we have that time together and we’re going three times a day, including a breakfast meal and an evening meal. Then you go on the road and you’re 24/7 for two days and you’re together at meals, at shoot around, at film sessions. They start coming together and that’s why this time of the year, I like it and I really don’t mind going on the road, especially when you’re just trying to bring your team together.”

On what Darrin Horn has been doing at South Carolina …
“He’s been doing fine. It’s a hard job. He’s set the stage for where he wants this to go, he went from man to zone. He’s not afraid to try things. I think he’s doing a fine job. It’s just, South Carolina is hard. It’s a hard deal to get going and that’s why you have to stick with a guy and give him seven or eight years and give him something to get going. I think the last guy to really do some stuff down there may have been, what, Frank McGuire? It’s a good program. It’s a great school, great facilities. It just takes time to get it going right.”

NOTE: Hood not expected to return this season

With the first month of 2012 already in the books and his knee still healing from reconstructive surgery, it doesn't appear Jon Hood will suit up this season.

"I don't think he'll play this year, not at this late a date," Calipari said. "There's no reason to use up a year of eligibility because of that."

Calipari reported the junior guard from Madisonville, Ky., has only recently begun to run on a treadmill, saying he is still "a ways away" from returning. Since he has not played in a game this season, Hood has the option to apply for a medical redshirt and a fifth year of eligibility.

Video: UK players Doron Lamb and Eloy Vargas Pre-South Carolina comments

2012-02-03T17:04:00.000-06:00

UK sophomore Doron Lamb talks smack about the girls' team, life on the road, playin pranks and more. UK senior Eloy Vargas talks about his progress, the Gamecocks, & next Tuesday vs his old mates at Florida. Video's courtesy of uksportsinfo.

Kentucky vs South Carolina.....A Preview(Round 2) 2012

2012-02-03T00:30:00.011-06:00

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs South Carolina 2/4/12 Saturday 6PM (ESPN)
Kentucky leads the series 45-10

South Carolina Gamecocks

Location: Columbia, SC
Enrollment: 29,957
Arena: 18,000

Head Coach: Darrin Horn
Career Record: 161-90 (64.1%) 8 seasons
At SC: 50-42 (54.3%) 3 seasons

2010-11 Record: 14-16
2010-11 SEC Record: 5-11
2010-11 Postseason: None

2011-12 Record: 9-11
2011-12 SEC Record: 1-5

SC 75 W. Carolina 50
Elon 58 SC 53
Tenn. St. 64 SC 63
SC 61 Miss. Valley St. 57
North Carolina 87 SC 62
Southern Cal 63 SC 60
Providence 76 SC 67
SC 58 Clemson 55
SC 66 Presbyterian 58
Ohio St. 74 SC 66
SC 62 Southern Louisiana 43
SC 57 Woffard 45
SC 72 USC Upstate 66
SC 79 SC St. 51
Kentucky 79 South Carolina 65
Vanderbilt 67 South Carolina 57
Florida 79 South Carolina 65
Auburn 63 South Carolina 52
South Carolina 54 Alabama 52
Ole Miss 66 South Carolina 62

SC Stats

PPG-62.8
FG%-41.7%
3 PT.%-32.8% (6.5)
FT%-70.6%
RPG-32.5 (+0.5)
APG-10.3
TO’s-13.1
SPG-7.4
BPG-4.9

Probable Starting Lineup

Malik Cooke-F 6’6” Sr……………………..12.7 PPG
Anthony Gill-F 6’8” Fr……………………..8.3 PPG
Damontre Harris-F 6’9” So.…………………6.7 PPG
Bruce Ellington-G 5’9” Soph………..……..10.8 PPG
Damien Leonard-G 6’5” Fr…………………6.4 PPG

South Carolina welcomes #1 ranked UK to Columbia hoping to repeat history where they upset a #1 ranked UK team 2 years ago. It is doubtful that even upsetting UK will save coach Darrin Horn’s job who is in his 4th year as coach of the Gamecocks…..as SC is currently 10-11 overall and 1-5 in the SEC.

The Gamecocks are led by senior Malik Cooke who leads the team in scoring, assists and steals….also, along with Damontre Harris leads in rebounds. Cooke is a very complete player. Harris is the leading shot blocker with 42. Certainly, sophomore Bruce Ellington, provides great quickness and ability at the PG position. SC likes shooting from the perimeter averaging 19 PG….unfortunately, they are only hitting a so so 32.8%

Coach Horn has gone deep in his bench this season with 10 players averaging 12 plus minutes a game. Obviously, Horn is looking for the best combination and is now starting 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores along with senior Cooke.

South Carolina lost at home in December by only 8 points to a highly ranked Ohio State team….and just defeated Alabama at home.

Kentucky arrives in Columbia fresh off two excellent games against LSU and Tennessee.

The Cats are playing their best basketball of the year…..Teague has responded positively to coach Cal’s coaching and is now effectively running the offense. Jones is returning to form and has significantly raised his game with solid play on the frontline. MKG continues to play at the highest level and plays with incredible intensity while Anthony Davis has simply become the best player in America. Miller and Lamb are playing solid basketball and their perimeter shooting remains very important. As coach Cal says…..there is still more improvement needed, but obviously Cal is very pleased with how the Cats are now playing.

There is always danger when playing on the road and especially to any team that tosses up a lot of 3’s, but UK’s defense has remained solid most of the year and their offense is now in high gear…..UK should defeat SC by 15 points. GO CATS!

Video: Coach Matthew Mitchell Post-Ole Miss Presser

2012-02-02T22:39:00.000-06:00

UK Hoops Head Coach Matthew Mitchell talks to the media after his team blasted Ole Miss to stay undefeated in the SEC. Video's courtesy of uksportsinfo.com.

Video: UK Hoops Players After Win versus Ole Miss

2012-02-02T22:35:00.000-06:00

UK Hoops stars Bria Goss, Samarie Walker, and Kastine Evans talked to the media after they beat Ole Miss to stay undefeated in the SEC. Video's courtesy of uksportsinfo.com.

Photos: UK Hoops vs. Ole Miss

2012-02-02T22:32:00.000-06:00

UK hoops defeat Lady Rebels 82-41. Kentucky improves to 21-2 overall and 10-0in SEC play.

Video's of UK Prospects Noel, Bennett, Muhammad, and Pollard

2012-02-02T16:50:00.000-06:00

Video: UK Football Coach Phillips comments on UK Signing Day

2012-02-01T16:52:00.001-06:00

UK Football Coach Joker Phillips discusses UK signing day. Video's courtesy of kykernel.com.

UK's 2012 Football Recruiting Class

2012-02-01T16:37:00.000-06:00

Daron Blaylock (***)… DB… 6-1… 215… Marietta, Ga. (Walton)
Shawn Blaylock (***)… DB… 5-10… 166… Lithonia, Ga. (Stephenson)
Zack Blaylock (***)… DB… 6-0… 188… Marietta, Ga. (Walton)
Kory Brown (***)… DB… 6-0… 208… Moncks Corner, S.C. (Berkeley/East Central CC) **
Thomas Chapman (***)… DL… 6-4… 285… Louisville, Ky. (duPont Manual)
Landon Foster (**)… K/P… 6-1… 198… Thompson Station, Tenn. (Independence)
Patrick Graffree (***)… DT… 6-4… 270… Elizabethtown, Ky. (Central Hardin)
Josh Harris (***)… DB… 6-0… 191… Maysville, Ky. (Mason County)
Khalid Henderson (***)… LB… 6-0… 213… Mableton, Ga. (Pebblebrook)
T.J. Jones (***)… OL… 6-6… 290… Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Myrtle Beach)
Dyshawn Mobley (***)… RB… 5-11… 205… Powell, Tenn. (Powell)
Zach Myers (***)… OL… 6-4… 287… Miamisburg, Oh. (Miamisburg)
A.J. Legree (***)…WR…6-1…178… Fort White, Fla. (Fort White)
Langston Newton (***)… DL… 6-4… 254… Carmel, Ind. (Carmel)
Cody Quinn (***)… DB… 5-10… 163… Middletown, Ohio (Middletown)
Jonathan Reed (***)… DB… 5-9… 185… Indianapolis, Ind. (Pike)
DeMarcus Sweat (***)… WR… 6-1… 192… Lithonia, Ga. (Stephenson)
Jordan Swindle (***)… OL… 6-7… 310… St. Johns, Fla. (Creekside)
Justin Taylor (***)… RB… 5-10… 205… Atlanta, Ga. (Washington)
Fred Tiller (***)… DB… 6-0… 180… Homerville, Ga. (Clinch County)
Kadeem Thomas (***)… LB… 6-0… 225… Tallahassee, Fla. (Godby)
Jon Toth (**)… OL… 6-5… 290… Indianapolis, Ind. (Brebeuf Jesuit)
Patrick Towles (****)… QB… 6-5… 242… Ft. Thomas, Ky. (Highlands)
Jordan Watson (***)… OL… 6-4… 315… Fayetteville, Ga. (Whitewater)
Jaylen Whitlow (***)… QB/ATH… 6-3… 200… Prattville, Al. (Prattville)
Sterling Wright (***)… DB… 5-11… 201… Miami, Fla. (Coral Reef/North Carolina Tech)
** Kory Brown is already enrolled at Kentucky

Pronunciation Guide

Daron Blaylock: same as "Darren"
Dyshawn Mobley: DAY-shawn MOBE-lee
Kadeem Thomas: kah-DEEM
Jon Toth: TOETH (long "o" sound)
Patrick Towles: TOLES (long "o" sound)
Khalid Henderson: kah-LEED

Daron Blaylock, DB, 6-1, 215, Fr-HS, Marietta, Ga. (Walton) - Played both safety and linebacker in high school ... Second-team all-state in Class AAAAA by the Georgia Sports Writers Association ... Played at Walton HS in Marietta, Ga. ... Helped Walton to a 14-1 record and state runnerup finish in Class AAAAA ... Ranked as the No. 31 inside linebacker in the nation by 24/7 Sports ... One of the nation's top-100 linebackers by Scout.com ... Posted 75 tackles and an interception during his junior season ... Has been timed in the 4.5-second range in the 40-yard dash, an excellent time for a linebacker ... Coached by Rocky Hidalgo ... Son of Mookie Blaylock, who played 13 years in the NBA with New Jersey, Atlanta and Golden State ... Twin brother of fellow UK signee Zack Blaylock ... Name pronounced same as "Darren."

Shawn Blaylock, DB, 5-10, 166, Fr-HS, Lithonia, Ga. (Stephenson) - Two-way player in high school, seeing action as a wide receiver and cornerback at Stephenson HS in Stone Mountain, Ga. ... Projects as a defensive back as a collegian ... Broke the school record with three interceptions in a game ... Team posted a 9-2 record and advanced to the state playoffs both his seasons at Stephenson ... Also played corner his sophomore season at Shiloh HS in Snellville, Ga. ... The nation's No. 77 corner by Scout.com ... Has been timed under 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash ... Coached at Stephenson by Ron Gartrell ... Teammate of current UK signee DeMarcus Sweat ... Will join former Stephenson products Jabari Johnson, Raymond Sanders and Ronnie Shields at UK.

Zack Blaylock, DB, 6-0, 188, Fr-HS, Marietta, Ga. (Walton) - Big-play performer from his safety position ... Intercepted 11 passes as a senior, returning five for touchdowns ... First-team all-state in Class AAAAA by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Georgia Sports Writers Association ... Played at Walton HS in Marietta, Ga. ... Helped Walton to a 14-1 record and state runnerup finish in Class AAAAA ... Cobb County Defensive Player of the Year ... Rated the No. 34 safety in the nation by Rivals.com ... Rated No. 52 nationally by Scout.com ... One of the top-40 prospects in Georgia by SuperPrep ... Coached by Rocky Hidalgo ... Son of Mookie Blaylock, who played 13 years in the NBA with New Jersey, Atlanta and Golden State ... Twin brother of fellow UK signee Daron Blaylock.

Kory Brown, DB, 6-0, 208, So-JC, Moncks Corner, S.C. (Berkeley/East Central Community College) - Enrolled at UK in January ... Has three years of eligibility at UK after redshirting 2011 while recovering from a knee injury ... Spent the last two years at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss. ... Played four games at safety as a freshman until sustaining the injury ... During those four games he made 26 tackles, caused two fumbles and intercepted a pass ... The nation's No. 69 junior-college player as ranked by 247 Sports, also the No. 11 juco player in Mississippi and the nation's No. 3 juco safety ... Coached by Brian Anderson ... "Kory's physical nature stands out," Anderson said. "He gets off blocks well and is a big hitter. He's also a quality young man of the finest character." ... Played high school football at Berkeley HS in Moncks Corner, S.C. ... Three-year starter who played cornerback and safety ... An all-region pick as a senior ... Helped Berkeley to three strong runs in the state playoffs, including a state semifinal appearance his junior year and quarterfinal berths as a sophomore and senior ... Played for the winning South team in the South Carolina North-South All-Star Game following his senior season ... Coached at Berkeley by Jerry Brown ... Berkeley's defensive coordinator, Ed Moore, said, "Kory was the most instinctive player I've ever coached, always at the right place at the right time. He's a very physical player, very good in run support as well as pass coverage. He's also a great young man." ... In addition to football, participated in basketball, baseball, wrestling and track and field in high school ... Advanced to the state meet in the high jump his senior year and had a best leap of six feet, four inches ... Comes from an athletic family ... An older brother, Omar, played football at Marshall and was a senior in 2011 ... Another brother, Evan McKelvey, currently plays at Marshall ... A cousin J.J. McKelvey, played at Clemson and is now playing arena football ... Kory enjoys community service and has helped coach children in youth league sports.

Thomas Chapman, DL, 6-4, 285, Fr-HS, Louisville, Ky. (duPont Manual) - Highly regarded defensive tackle prospect ... The nation's No. 30 DT and the No. 2 prospect in Kentucky by Rivals.com ... The No. 31 tackle and No. 4 Kentucky prospect by 24/7 Sports ... The No. 32 tackle nationally by Scout.com ... No. 4 in Kentucky by ESPN and SuperPrep ... Selected for the Offense-Defense All-America Game at Cowboys Stadium ... Played at duPont Manual HS in Louisville ... Bounced back to play his senior year after missing most of his junior season because of injury ... Team went 9-3 his senior season and was in the second round of the Class AAAAAA playoffs ... Coached by Dr. Oliver Lucas.

Landon Foster, K/P, 6-1, 198, Fr-HS, Thompson Station, Tenn. (Independence) - Has the ability and versatility to be a punter and kicker on the collegiate level ... Named first-team all-state in Class AAAAAA as a kicker by the Tennessee Sports Writers' Association ... Picked as the punter for the all-state "Dream Team," covering all classifications, by the Nashville Tennesseean ... Made 11 of 16 field goals as a senior with a long of 49 ... Averaged 41.3 yards per punt ... 50 of his 56 kickoffs went for touchbacks and four of the others were on-side kicks ... Named his team's Most Valuable Player, a rare honor for a kicking specialist ... Independence HS went 8-3 his senior year and reached the state playoffs in Class AAAAAA ... Rated the No. 8 kicker in the nation by Scout.com and the No. 12 kicker by 24/7 Sports ... The No. 10 prospect in the state of Tennessee by SuperPrep, which wrote, "Technically strong with good hang times and directional ability. Also performs well under pressure." ... Played for the winning West team in the Tennessee East-West All-Star Game ... Coached by Kevin Dyson ... Has worked with former Tennessee Titans punter Craig Hentrich ... Also played soccer in high school.

Patrick Graffree, DL, 6-4, 270, Fr-HS, Elizabethtown, Ky. (Central Hardin) - Second-team all-state as a senior by The Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal ... Played at Central Hardin HS in Cecilia, Ky. ... Team's best finish was 9-3 as a junior, advancing to the second round of the state playoffs ... Totaled 91 tackles as a junior, featuring 10 tackles for loss, six quarterback sacks and a pass interception ... Participated in a pair of postseason all-star games after his senior year ... Played for the winning Greater Louisville team in the Best of the Bluegrass All-Star Game, defeating a team from the remainder of the state ... Also played in the Kentucky vs. Tennessee Border Bowl ... One of the top-10 prospects in Kentucky by Rivals.com, 24/7 Sports and SuperPrep ... The nation's No. 72 defensive tackle by 24/7 ... Head coaches at Central Hardin were former UK quarterback Mark Perry and Mike Lawson.

Josh Harris, DB, 6-0, 191, Fr-HS, Maysville, Ky. (Mason County) - Versatile athlete ... His multiple skills were displayed at Mason County (Ky.) High School, where he played running back, receiver, linebacker and defensive back ... Rushed for 2,848 yards and 42 touchdowns in his career, despite missing most of his senior season because of injury ... Totaled 582 receiving yards and eight TDs ... Also threw a couple of touchdown passes ... Totaled 287 tackles and six fumble recoveries on defense ... Team went 9-2 his junior season and 10-1 as a sophomore ... One of the nation's top-60 running backs as chosen by Scout.com ... The No. 2 prospect in Kentucky by SuperPrep ... Coached by David Buchanan ... Also played basketball in high school.

Khalid Henderson, LB, 6-0, 213, Fr-HS, Mableton, Ga. (Pebblebrook) - Linebacker combines good size with outstanding athleticism ... Has been timed as fast as 4.57 seconds in the 40-yard dash ... Made 74 tackles with two interceptions as a senior at Pebblebrook HS in Mableton, Ga. ... The No. 19 outside linebacker in the nation by ESPN and the No. 17 prospect in Georgia ... Rated as the No. 51 outside linebacker in the nation by Scout.com ... One of the top-60 prospects in Georgia by 24/7 Sports ... Coached by Randall Smith ... Named is pronounced "kah-LEED."

T.J. Jones, OL, 6-6, 290, Fr-HS, Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Myrtle Beach) - Offensive line prospect who projects as a tackle on the collegiate level ... Played tackle at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) HS ... Helped his team win at least 11 games every season ... Myrtle Beach won the Class AAA state championship his junior year with a 14-1 record ... State quarterfinalist as a senior with an 11-2 mark ... 13-2 record and state runner-up his soph season ... Rated the No. 23 prospect in South Carolina by 24/7 Sports and No. 28 in the state by Rivals.com ... No. 34 in South Carolina by SuperPrep ... One of the nation's top-100 offensive tackles by 24/7 and Scout.com ... Coached by Mickey Wilson.

A.J. Legree, WR, 6-1, 178, Fr-HS, Fort White, Fla. (Fort White) - Gifted wide receiver combines pass-catching skills with the athletic ability of a state-champion high jumper ... Played wide receiver and cornerback at Fort White (Fla.) HS ... As a senior, caught 47 passes for 698 yards and 10 touchdowns ... Made six interceptions on defense, returning two for touchdowns ... First-team all-state in Class AAA by The Associated Press ... Named the Area Player of the Year by the Gainesville Sun ... Helped Fort White to an 8-4 record and second round of the state playoffs ... Turned in a breakout performance in the Florida Athletic Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game ... Was named the No. 2 prospect in the game by Rivals.com and the "Sleeper of the Night" by Scout.com ... Coached by Demetric Jackson ... Won the state high-jump championship as a junior with a leap of six feet, 10 inches.

Dyshawn Mobley, RB, 5-11, 205, Fr-HS, Powell, Tenn. (Powell) - Set Tennessee single-season rushing records with 3,068 yards and 44 touchdowns as a senior ... Averaged 12.2 yards per carry ... Led Powell (Tenn.) to a 14-1 record, reaching the state championship game in Class AAAAA ... Named to the all-state "Dream Team," covering all classifications, selected by the Nashville Tennesseean ... First-team all-state by The Associated Press ... Career totals feature 5,849 rushing yards, averaging more than 10 yards per carry, and 76 touchdowns ... Three-year all-district choice ... Helped Powell to an 11-1 mark and second round of the state playoffs as a junior ... Also excelled as a linebacker on defense ... Rushed for a record 118 yards in the Tennessee East-West All-Star Game and was named the East Offensive Most Valuable Player ... Coached by Matt Lowe ... Name is pronounced "DAY-shawn MOBE-lee."

Zach Myers, OL, 6-3, 285, Fr-HS, Miamisburg, Ohio (Miamisburg) - Combines good athletic ability with offensive line skills ... Played offensive guard at Miamisburg (Ohio) HS ... Could become a center as a collegian ... Rated as the No. 52 offensive guard in the nation by Rivals.com ... Also the No. 79 guard by 24/7 Sports and the No. 85 guard by Scout.com ... One of the top 60 prospects in the talent-rich state of Ohio by Rivals ... Named second-team All-Southwest Ohio ... Coached by Tim Lewis ... Son of Brad Myers, an offensive lineman at UK from 1984-87 ... Brad played one year with Joker Phillips (1984) and blocked for three of the top rushers in Kentucky history - George Adams, Mark Higgs and Marc Logan.

Langston Newton, DL, 6-4, 254, Fr-HS, Carmel, Ind. (Carmel) -First-team all-state as a senior at Carmel (Ind.) HS ... Helped lead Carmel to a 14-1 record and state championship in Class AAAAA ... A disruptive presence in the defensive line, combining good size, strength and athletic ability ... Projected as an end in the collegiate ranks ... The No. 6 prospect in Indiana and the No. 28 strongside defensive end in the nation by 24/7 Sports ... No. 8 in Indiana and the No. 40 strongside end nationally by Rivals.com ... Rated as the No. 69 overall prospect in the six-state Midwest area by SuperPrep ... Helped Carmel to the state finals his soph season ... Coached by Kevin Wright ... Also outstanding in track and field, as he had full scholarship offers in that sport from nationally prominent schools ... Competes in the shot put and discus throw, events that put a premium on quickness and explosion as well as strength ... Brother of current Kentucky quarterback Morgan Newton.

Cody Quinn, DB, 5-10, 163, Fr-HS, Middletown, Ohio (Middletown) - Brings outstanding speed to the cornerback position, having run the 40-yard dash under 4.5 seconds ... Helped Middletown (Ohio) HS to three-consecutive 10-win seasons and berths in the state playoffs ... Third-team All-Ohio by The Associated Press as a senior ... Intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown, and had 10 pass breakups ... His speed also indicated by the fact that he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns as a junior ... The No. 63 prospect in Ohio by ESPN and also the nation's No. 68 cornerback ... The No. 102 prospect in the six-state Midwest area by SuperPrep ... Coached by Troy Everhart.

Jonathan Reed, DB, 5-9, 185, Fr-HS, Indianapolis, Ind. (Pike) - Swift cornerback has been timed as low as 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash ... Played at Pike HS in Indianapolis, Ind. ... Helped Pike to a state playoff berth each season ... Runner-up in the state sectional as a junior with a 9-3 record ... One of the top-10 prospects in Indiana by ESPN ... Also the nation's No. 44 cornerback prospect by ESPN ... Named to the juniors-only all-state team in 2010 by the Indiana Football Coaches Association ... Coached by Derek Moyers.

DeMarcus Sweat, WR, 6-1, 192, Fr-HS, Lithonia, Ga. (Stephenson) - Combines good size with explosive ability ... Has good height for a receiver ... Big-play potential shown by his three punt return touchdowns and three kickoff return touchdowns during his senior season at Stephenson HS in Stone Mountain, Ga. ... Has been timed as fast as 4.43 seconds in the 40-yard dash ... One of the nation's top-100 wide receivers by ESPN ... One of top-80 prospects in Georgia by ESPN and 24/7 Sports ... Team posted a 9-2 record each of his last two seasons at Stephenson ... Coached at Stephenson by Ron Gartrell ... Teammate of current UK signee Shawn Blaylock ... Will join former Stephenson products Jabari Johnson, Raymond Sanders and Ronnie Shields at UK.

Jordan Swindle, OL, 6-7, 310, Fr-HS, St. Johns, Fla. (Creekside) - Second-team all-state as a senior in Florida Class AAAAA by The Associated Press ... Big offensive line prospect ... His height and long reach are ideal for pass protection ... Played at Creekside HS in St. Johns, Fla. ... Helped lead Creekside to an 8-4 record as a senior and the first state playoff win in school history ... Named All-First Coast (all-area) by the Florida Times-Union ... Also named to the Florida Times-Union "Super 24" list of top area prospects ... One of the nation's top-100 offensive tackles as evaluated by ESPN ... Coached by Greg Stanton.

Justin Taylor, RB, 5-10, 200, Fr-HS, Atlanta, Ga. (North Atlanta) - Projected as one of the South's top running backs heading into his senior season ... Committed to Alabama prior to his senior year at North Atlanta HS but incurred a knee injury in September ... Decided to re-open his recruitment after Alabama asked him to grayshirt ... Knee rehabilitation is going well and is expected to be ready to compete when practice begins in August ... Rushed for approximately 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior at Washington HS in Atlanta ... Named All-Atlanta as a junior ... One of the nation's top-40 running backs by ESPN and 24/7 Sports ... Coached by Stanley Pritchett.

Kadeem "Pancho" Thomas, LB, 6-0, 225, Fr-HS, Tallahassee, Fla. (Godby) - A tackling machine at Godby HS in Tallahassee, Fla. ... Racked up 142 tackles as a senior ... Helped team to a 9-3 record and a spot in the second round of the state playoffs ... Totaled 143 stops as a junior, ranking sixth in the state in tackles, and was named the Area Defensive Player of the Year by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club ... One of the nation's top 40 inside linebackers by Rivals.com, 24/7 Sports and ESPN ... Played for the winning North team in the Florida North-South All-Star Game sponsored by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association ... Coached by Ronnie Cottrell ... Name is pronounced "kah-DEEM."

Fred Tiller, DB, 6-0, 180, Fr-HS, Homerville, Ga. (Clinch County) - Outstanding athlete could play either side of the ball in college ... Standout wide receiver and cornerback at Clinch County (Ga.) HS ... First-team all-state by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and Georgia Sports Writers Association as a senior ... Helped Clinch to a perfect 15-0 record and Class A state championship as a junior ... Caught 31 passes for 736 yards and nine touchdowns during that junior year, along with 65 tackles and five interceptions on defense ... Rated the No. 45 athlete in the nation by Rivals.com ... Coached by Jim Dickerson.

Jon Toth, OL, 6-5, 290, Fr-HS, Indianapolis, Ind. (Brebeuf Jesuit) - Big offensive lineman who also is noted for his athleticism ... Could be slotted as a guard or tackle on the collegiate level ... Played at Brebeuf Jesuit in Indianapolis, Ind. ... Helped Brebeuf advance to the state playoffs each year he was on the varsity ... Ranked as the No. 11 player in Indiana and the No. 33 offensive guard in the nation by 24/7 Sports ... Rated the nation's No. 60 offensive tackle by Scout.com ... Coached by Ryan Gallogly ... Name is pronounced "TOETH" with a long "o" sound.

Patrick Towles, QB, 6-5, 242, Fr-HS, Ft. Thomas, Ky. (Highlands) - Named to the Parade magazine All-America team ... "Mr. Football" for the Commonwealth of Kentucky ... Gatorade Player of the Year in Kentucky ... Won the Paul Hornung Award as the Kentucky Player of the Year ... Big, strong-armed quarterback who also has notable running ability ... Led Highlands HS to three consecutive state championships as the starting quarterback, Class AAAA as a senior and Class AAAAA as a sophomore and junior ... Team compiled a three-year record of 44-1, including 38-1 with Towles as the starter ... As a senior completed 171 of 279 passes (61.3 percent) for 3,820 yards with 42 touchdowns and only one interception ... Also rushed for 589 yards and 15 TDs ... Career totals feature 7,429 passing yards and 73 touchdown passes while rushing for 1,718 yards and 38 TDs ... The No. 1 prospect in Kentucky and one of the top-10 pro-style quarterbacks in the country by Rivals.com and 24/7 Sports ... Athleticism is such that ESPN rates his college position as "athlete" instead of quarterback ... Coached by Dale Mueller ... Highlands' quarterbacks coach was former UK QB Jared Lorenzen ... Strong arms are in Towles' heritage as he is the grandson of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning ... Last name is pronounced "TOLES."

Jordan Watson, OL, 6-4, 315, Fr-HS, Fayetteville, Ga. (Whitewater) - Well-regarded offensive lineman ... The No. 39 offensive guard in the nation by Scout.com ... No. 37 nationally by 24/7 Sports ... Rated as the No. 31 prospect in Georgia by SuperPrep ... Earned first-team all-state honors by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ... Played at Whitewater HS in Fayetteville, Ga., and blocked for current Wildcat Josh Clemons ... Earned a spot in the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association North-South All-Star Classic ... Coached by Amos McCreary.

Jalen Whitlow, QB/ATH, 6-2, 210, Fr-HS, Prattville, Ala. (Prattville) - Exciting athlete with multiple skills ... Helped Prattville (Ala.) HS to the Class AAAAAA state championship and a top-25 national ranking ... Split time at quarterback and wide receiver ... Earned honorable-mention all-state honors even though he wasn't the team's full-time quarterback ... Listed as the nation's No. 12 dual-threat QB and the No. 20 prospect in Alabama by 24/7 Sports ... The No. 32 prospect in Alabama by Rivals.com ... Coached by Jamey Dubose.

Sterling Wright, DB, 5-11, 201, Fr-HS, Miami, Fla. (Coral Reef/North Carolina Tech) - Played prep school football at North Carolina Tech in Charlotte, the same school that produced current Wildcat Farrington Huguenin ... Known as a hard hitter with good range ... Coached at N.C. Tech by Tim Newman ... Played his high school football at Coral Reef HS in Miami, Fla. ... Helped team to a 6-4 record senior year ... Totaled 55 tackles and caused eight fumbles ... Coached at Coral Reef by Chevas Clements.

Video: John Calipari Post-Tennessee Press Conference 1/31/12

2012-01-31T21:59:00.001-06:00

Video courtesy of uknationofblue

Post-Game Quotes -- vs. Tennessee
UK Head Coach John Calipari

Q. On a scale of 1-to-10, 10 being the highest, how good was the defense?

COACH CALIPARI: We were really good defensively. We were really good. You know, the way we scored the ball in the first half, we were able to create a gap. But (Renaldo) Woolridge came out and makes five 3s, and I'm looking at guys, after he made two, and then he made the third, you're like, ‘Are you not watching the game?’ But they were tough shots, and he made them.

Again, I thought we were good, and we played good in a rough game. It was a rough game. I mean, we played good in it. But again, you go back to Terrence Jones playing like he played physically, it makes us better.

Q. Coach (Cuonzo) Martin talked about Anthony Davis for a second, called him one of the best, if not the best players in the country and said a player like him comes along once in a lifetime. Your thoughts about the way he played tonight and putting that in perspective?

COACH CALIPARI: Well, I had one already. I had Marcus Camby, so that's twice in a lifetime now, and I'm hoping for three and four in a lifetime. But he doesn't command the ball. I mean, he's just playing. If you pass him up, he doesn't get mad about it. He rebounds, he blocks shots. Today (he had) three assists, one turn(over). He's a special player.

And mainly because he's about his teammates. It's not just what he does. Look, there are players out there (who are) really good players and all that, but their teammates don't want to play with them, don't like them. This kid let me just say this: He whistles and skips going to class he's so happy. I heard him the other day. I said, ‘Who's that whistling?’ and it was him going to class, just skipping like he's having fun, he's enjoying himself, he's not putting any pressure on himself, he's just playing.

Q. When you look at Terrence (Jones’) numbers tonight, not like they were Saturday. What things did you see that you liked just as much as you did Saturday?

COACH CALIPARI: The biggest thing is he's being physical. See, you can't negate how we're being played. Hopefully people watched tonight and know that kind of game plan even if it's not coach wise, it's player wise watching us, looking at this and saying, ‘You know, it's hard to play them that way.’ But Terrence gives us a physical presence. He can score the ball. He's a skilled player. He's got to compete and battle, and that's what he's doing now.

Q. I'm wondering with (Anthony) Davis hitting a couple of face the basket shots, blocking (Jarnell) Stokes early on, how much credit should he get for setting the tone early?

COACH CALIPARI: Well, he should get a lot, but again, we're a team, and I thought a lot of guys did a lot of stuff. We're not even talking about Michael (Kidd-)Gilchrist; he goes 16 (points), 8 (rebounds), and again, two steals, and he defends and gets a steal late. I mean, he's just he's playing. You know, you can go right down the line. Darius (Miller) and Doron (Lamb) didn't play great, but they played good defense. And it's not like they played bad.

We're not going to be pitching shutouts now, so I'm happy with the team. We've got to get better. We've got to keep improving. You know, we're not turning it over that much.

We play and you saw us at the end of the game, we love to play fast. We want to play fast. But if we have to grind it out, we can, and we did at the end. The last seven (to) eight minutes, we just grind it out. We want to grind it, we're going to grind it, so we can play both ways if we have to.

Q. It looks like this team is really starting to come together and create some continuity among each other. Talk about that. These guys have only known each other six months.

COACH CALIPARI: Well, and really it's less than that. But they have they want to win above how they're playing. So a guy like Marquis Teague, who scored 28 a game in high school, is running our team, not scoring as many points. A Michael (Kidd-)Gilchrist who scored 25 a game. We're not running one play for Michael Gilchrist, not one play. Well, we ran a slice cut twice, so I ran two plays for him. Whether it's Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones or Darius Miller, veterans, quote, two sophomores and a senior, and they're accepting that these freshmen are really good, yet they're still stepping up and playing. So there's a good thing going because they want to win. They like each other. They really do like each other.

The one thing I like that happens during that we call it Camp Cal where we're together, they just get together and they get with one another, and I love road trips. I love going on the road because it's just us. You know, you've got 11 players and our staff and that's it, and we're together for two, three days. So that kind of stuff helps this team because we are four freshmen, two sophomores and a senior playing most of the minutes.

Q. You may have answered my question with that right there, but do you feel like just in the last couple of weeks this team has made a lot of strides, and if so, what's been the key to that?

COACH CALIPARI: Marquis Teague. The guy that has the ball, if he's playing well, you've got a chance. If he's not playing well, you have no chance. Now, he can play well and you still lose because everybody else is playing bad, but they can all play well and if he's playing poorly and you can't win. He is really listening. He's playing the way we need him to play. Again, we go 1-for-10 from the 3 point line, and he found guys, they just didn't make shots. So his four assists could have been eight. They were wide open, they just missed them.

So he's playing (and) that's helping us. Michael (Kidd-Gilchrist) is getting better, Anthony (Davis) is getting better, Terrence (Jones) is finally more physical, Doron (Lamb) and Darius (Miller) are doing things to help us. Kyle Wiltjer is way better than he was. Today Kyle Wiltjer got five rebounds. Come on now, we're use to him shooting 3s. So they're all getting better. But it's kind of like having a quarterback and that guy has to get us all in tune, and he is. He's doing really well.

Q. Off the beaten path a little bit, you guys both have your teams to worry about, but do you have a chance to chat and compare notes with Matthew Mitchell, both being highly ranked teams?

COACH CALIPARI: Well, he and I talk twice a week. I'll stop in the office, he'll stop in my office. I'll stop in his practice, he'll stop in my practice. You know, he has done such a fabulous (job). He's selling out Memorial. We played Alabama, sellout; Valerie Still was back. And they're really good, like they're really good. They're fun to watch. My players love watching them play. Coach, why don't we play a little like them, let us go a little bit. So it's been a unique experience in that there are other programs that have had teams like this, but I just don't know if they've gotten along like our two teams have.

Q. You said a few times throughout the early part of the season, different times you said if this or that happens, when this or that happens, this will be scary. These last two games when you watch this team, is that in your mind's eye when you would say if this or that happens this will be scary, are these last two games sort of what you saw?

COACH CALIPARI: I would. I would tell you, they're different games. Now, LSU was rougher than this game, and it was allowed to be rougher. This game was not allowed to be rougher, but we didn't make any 3s. Last game we were 7-of-14 or 15 from the 3 point line. This game we missed them all. Lucky we made one. What was the streak? We have knocked down the streak there. How many games have we made a three? It almost went down the drain today. Who's the one guy that made it? Doron Lamb. I know it wasn't Darius (Miller).

Q. Is it overstating it to say that your guys are starting to relish that physical play you've talked about, or are they getting much closer to where you were

COACH CALIPARI: We had our guards at times. Doron (Lamb) went in there, Darius (Miller), there's still plays you've got one where Terrence (Jones) went baseline and (Skylar) McBee kind of pushed him and he never got to the rim. Come on now, that's got to be a dunk. Just go dunk the ball. So we're still not there.

What they did to Anthony Davis is absolutely when he caught the ball at the top of the key, mushed it, and again, that means toughness, and he just got rid of the ball a couple times. He wasn't ready to really be physical. So we've got a long way to go with that. But we've made strides.

Q. Earlier today the task force recommended a renovation rather than a new (Rupp) Arena. What was your thoughts on that and the tentative plans for the renovation?

COACH CALIPARI: I just heard about it on the way to the game. DeWayne (Peevy) called me and told me. I'm fine. Look, whatever is good for our city is good for our university, and whatever is good for the university is good for the city. That being said, we need to rebuild our campus, too, so I would encourage all the state legislators. This is the flagship campus. We have 500 new beds out of 6,000, 50 year old dorms, 60 year old dorms. We need new classrooms. They need to rebuild the campus, and they need to do it over a four or five year period ASAP. And now they build a place down there? If that's what they choose to do, rebuild Rupp, I'm fine, because it's good for our city. But whatever is good for our university is also good for our city.

Again, I'm not in the middle of it. What do they say, ‘My name is Bennett, and I ain't in it’, so I'm good.

Video: UK Players Davis, Jones, Kidd-Gilchrist, Teague Post-Tennessee Interview 1/31/12

2012-01-31T21:52:00.007-06:00

UK Players Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague talk about UK's 69-44 win over Tennessee at Rupp Arena on 1/31/12. Video's courtesy of uknationofblue

Photos: UK Basketball vs Tennessee 1/31/12

2012-01-31T21:00:00.000-06:00

Video: One2one: John Calipari

2012-01-31T12:54:00.002-06:00

Kentucky head coach John Calipari sits down with CBS Sports Network's Jon Rothstein to discuss the Wildcats program.

NCAA Women's AP/USA Today Top 25 Basketball Poll 1/31/12

2012-01-31T11:45:00.004-06:00

AP Top 25

1. Baylor (40)
2. Notre Dame
3. Connecticut
4. Stanford
5. Duke
6. Kentucky
7. Miami (FL)
8. Tennessee
9. Maryland
10. Green Bay
11. Ohio St.
12. Delaware
13. Rutgers
14. Louisville
15. Purdue
16. Nebraska
17. Georgetown
18. Texas A&M
19. Penn St.
20. Gonzaga
21. Georgia
22. BYU
23. North Carolina
24. Georgia Tech
25. Texas Tech

Dropped Out:No. 23 DePaul

Others Receiving Votes:St. Bonaventure 61, DePaul 53, South Carolina 48, California 18, Kansas St. 13, Arkansas 12, Princeton 11, St. John's 9, Fla Gulf Coast 8, Oklahoma 6, San Diego St. 5, Kansas 5, Fresno St. 4, UTEP 4, Vanderbilt 2, Michigan St. 1

USA Today/ESPN

1. Baylor (31)
2. Notre Dame
3. Connecticut
4. Stanford
5. Kentucky
6. Duke
7. Miami (FL)
8. Tennessee
9. Green Bay
10. Maryland
11. Ohio St.
12. Louisville
13. Delaware
14. Rutgers
15. Georgetown
16. Texas A&M
17. Purdue
18. Nebraska
19. Gonzaga
20. Georgia
21. Penn St.
22. Georgia Tech
23. DePaul
24. North Carolina
25. Kansas

Dropped Out:No. 23 Texas Tech

Others Receiving Votes:Texas Tech 30, Vanderbilt 23, St. Bonaventure 19, Middle Tenn. St. 15, Fla Gulf Coast 14, South Carolina 13, California 12, BYU 8, Michigan St. 6, UNLV 3, UTEP 3, Princeton 3, St. John's 2, Kansas St. 2, Fresno St. 2, South Florida 1

Video: UK Coach Calipari on Tuesday's Tennessee game at Rupp

2012-01-30T17:30:00.000-06:00

UK Coach Calipari talks about Tuesday’s game against Tennessee on ESPNU at Rupp Arena. Video couryest of uksportsinfo

Pre-Tennessee Media Opportunity - Jan. 30, 2012

Head Coach John Calipari

On (LSU head coach) Trent Johnson apologizing for the fouls …
“We talked. I know Trent well enough. My whole point is that if you don’t call rough play, that’s what it goes to. Have to call rough play. On a post-up, if you move a guy three feet, that’s a foul offensively. If you move him two steps, that’s a foul. If that’s all let go, it leads to grabbing. Well I’m allowed to smash this guy in the face because that’s how the game’s going. That’s all I say is call the game the way it should be officiated. Then there are no issues. You don’t get to that. Just call the fouls.”

On how much Tennessee has improved since UK faced them earlier in the season…
“They’re better. All of them, they’re all better. (Jarnell) Stokes is getting more comfortable, but they’re all better. (Jeronne) Maymon is physical. He’s good. He scores. (Their) guard play is good. (Skylar) McBee is really playing as well as he’s played since I’ve seen him. Their other guards are playing good. They’re a good team. The only team that really got them was Vanderbilt. Every other game they could have won. Vanderbilt made shots. If they make shots against us they’ll beat us the same way they beat them. So Vanderbilt is really good.”

On the challenges of the rematches as they face a team for the second time in a season …
“I’m glad it’s at home, I can tell you. I don’t know if it’ll matter but you know, we’re playing them again. We’ve got a bunch of other games. We’ll have to play a team twice and in all likelihood, you go into a tournament and you have a chance of playing someone three times.”

On how even keeled (Michael) Kidd-Gilchrist is …
“I think it’s all he knows. He’s just doing what he does naturally. He’s just playing. I was a little worried when he ran down to protect Anthony because I didn’t want to see anything. Again, I’m preaching that we’re not fouling. We’re playing not to foul. We want six fouls at half. We don’t want it to be a rough house, win in the weight room kind of game. That’s not how we play. If I’m preaching that, then you have to stay in control. When that other stuff happens and they make the call, there’s no reason for anything else to happen. They made the call. Back up and go. The reality is that’s just what he knows. He doesn’t know anything different.”

On whether his early statements that his team needed to be physical have prepared him for what he sees now …
“It’s prepared you all to watch it a little different too see what’s going on and now you can visually see it. The second thing I’ll tell you is that Terrence (Jones) played different down at Louisiana and that’s why we had some toughness. Michael is not going to change how he plays. He does what he does. Terrence has to give us that physical presence. If he gives us the physical presence, the other guys can do what they do. You can’t ask Kyle (Wiltjer) to do it and you can’t ask Eloy (Vargas) to do it. Unless you’re asking Anthony (Davis) to do everything, get rebounds, block shots, dunk, score and be tough, which you can’t ask him to do it. So, if Terrence battles, I’m going to tell you, this (Tennessee game) will be, to (play tough) will wear you out. This is going to be like the hand-to-hand kind of deal where running around, like I jog on the treadmill, that’s one thing. You go outside and play basketball and get bumped and grinded and all of the sudden you hurt in muscles you didn’t even know you had. This is going to be a body-to-body kind of play that’s going to wear people out.”

On Trent’s comment that if Terrence (Jones) continues to play well then UK should win the national championship …
“I don’t know if it’s that much but let me just say this. We were all happy in that locker room. The team was ecstatic. It wasn’t scoring. He was tough. He came up with balls. He posted physically strong even though the guy battled him. He battled back. The four jumps for a ball, we haven’t seen that all year. Well that’s now what we’re all looking for. Everybody will be saying that if he’s capable of doing that then let’s do it every game. Now, it’s hard because they’re not machines. They’re not computers. But, it’s what you strive for. It’s what you prepare for.”

On Doron Lamb’s play …
“He’s OK. I still think he’s better than he’s playing and again the rough house game. (Skylar) McBee is going to get up in him, now are you going to fade from that or are you going to create the contact, go to the line and make two free-throws? Are you going to get to the rim and draw fouls or are you going to run and avoid the contact and throw it and hope it goes in? The way we are being played it is very important. What has happened, Darius Miller is playing really aggressive offensively. He’s getting in the middle, he’s making that little floater, he’s making his shots, he’s going strong to the rim, and he’s dunking balls when he can. He, offensively, is playing like he did at the end of the year, last year.”

On Anthony Davis remaining calm after hard fouls …
“Well when you get knocked to the floor like that and he got hit in the face really hard one time about four plays later. He kind of went back and down and was like, ‘are you kidding me? I thought we were playing basketball?’ And then he runs back, or he smiles. He’s on his back, he gets up and he smiles and shakes his head. Again, in the rule book, if I leave my feet and you slide under me it is a block 100 percent of the time. If I have my position and you move me two feet out of my position that is a foul, offensively or defensively. I have a right to that spot, if you move me out of that spot it is a foul. When Naismith invented the game it was a foul and it’s a foul today. With him, as he gets pushed around that is just what you are saying, they can’t do that. He has a right to the spot. I know they want to be physical, they just can’t move him. They can lean on him, but the minute they start moving him two feet those are fouls. He has been great, he hasn’t said one word and let me just tell you, the best thing for our team is all this happening. It’s going to be just as physical Tuesday and it’s good for us because it’s the one way, I told you two years ago, everybody said you have to hope they miss shots and we did, we went 0-20 (in NCAA tournament against West Virginia). This team they are saying you better get into their bodies and be physical, one coach said, ‘hit them and be real physical,’ that was according to one of their players, anyway. If you can negate that like I’ve been saying for three weeks then you have a chance of doing something.”

On Marquis Teague finally hitting his stride …
“He is running the team better. Right now, he is doing a better job running the team. That is all I am asking him to do. Defend, stay on that court, and if you’re tired come off and run our team. It is hard for our guys. These guys want to score, including Eloy (Vargas). If Eloy grabs the ball at half court, he may try to shoot a hook (shot) out there. They are used to scoring 25 a game. It kills them. Seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals, what a game he had. No, I could have scored 15 more points. What? You don’t have to. Michael (Kidd-Gilchrist) had one point (against LSU); played great. It doesn’t matter. That is not how you are being judged on this team. This team is about how you are doing your job, how you are playing, and like I said, we are hopefully getting better. These will be some tough challenges. (Tennessee head coach Cuonzo) Martin has created a team every year that has a chance to win a championship because they defend in the half court, they play tough, hard-nosed, aggressive basketball, they will post the ball, to make you do stuff to create 3s, they are running good stuff. I am just telling you he is doing a fabulous job with this team.”

On if this team is playing its best basketball of the year …
“We are just trying to get better day-to-day. We missed all of those free throws. We missed about six layups in that game. But, we played good. We played as well as we have all year. But, now let’s see how we do in practice, let’s see how we do tomorrow. Let’s see how we build on that tomorrow.”

On what Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has to do to become a better player …
“He has to start defending. We can’t just start the game and let them do what they want. I can put him on anybody I want to put him on. I can put him on a one, a two, a three or a four if that guy is hurting us, and that’s why he is so vital. I said this after the (LSU) game. Terrence (Jones) really played well. Michael (Kidd-Gilchrist) still might have been the best player and he got one point. There is not many. You can’t say ‘I am going to have my best player come off the bench.’ The guy that is doing the things that he is doing, he has to be on that court. Now, what makes me mad about him is that he fouls, like 30 feet from the basket, and he gets a body foul. Then he gets two fouls, and I am trying to tell him he doesn’t need to block any shots, just body guys up and let them block it. He is doing fine, and the other guys are doing fine. We’ve got six starters, and even when Kyle (Wiltjer) is playing the way he is, and I think he is playing really well also, we have seven starters. That’s why we are where we are right now. The other thing is that when people watch us, they say ‘Man, they are unselfish. All of these All-Americans pass it to one another, and they make the extra pass, they have seven guys.’ That’s why we are where we are, or we wouldn’t be here. I mean, trying to get that challenge across to them is the most important thing. Everybody has to sacrifice and ‘do less’ so you are ‘doing more’ for us.”

Video: UK players Darius Miller and Terrence Jones Pre-Tennessee Interview

2012-01-30T17:16:00.000-06:00

UK players Darius Miller and Terrence Jones Pre-Tennessee Interview as the Cats take on Tennessee Tuesday at Rupp Arena on ESPNU at 7pm. Video's courtesy of uknationofblue

AP/Coaches Poll 1/30/12

2012-01-30T13:34:00.007-06:00

AP Top 25

1. Kentucky (63)
2. Syracuse (2)
3. Ohio St.
4. Missouri
5. North Carolina
6. Baylor
7. Duke
8. Kansas
9. Michigan St.
10. Murray St.
11. UNLV
12. Florida
13. Creighton
14. Georgetown
15. Marquette
16. Virginia
17. San Diego St.
18. St. Mary's
19. Wisconsin
20. Indiana
21. Florida St.
22. Mississippi St.
23. Michigan
24. Gonzaga
25. Vanderbilt

Dropped Out:No. 22 Kansas St., No. 24 Connecticut

Others Receiving Votes:Harvard 69, Louisville 65, Kansas St. 40, West Virginia 12, Wichita St. 9, Notre Dame 6, Nevada 6, Southern Miss 5, Long Beach St. 3, Iowa St. 3, Iona 2, Connecticut 2, Illinois 1

USA Today/ESPN

1. Kentucky (31)
2. Syracuse
3. Ohio St.
4. Missouri
5. Duke
6. Baylor
7. North Carolina
8. Kansas
9. Murray St.
10. Michigan St.
11. Florida
12. Creighton
13. UNLV
14. Georgetown
15. Marquette
16. St. Mary's
17. San Diego St.
18. Virginia
19. Mississippi St.
20. Wisconsin
21. Indiana
22. Michigan
23. Harvard
24. Florida St.
25. Louisville

Dropped Out:No. 19 Connecticut, No. 24 Kansas St.

Others Receiving Votes:Gonzaga 65, Vanderbilt 36, Connecticut 21, Nevada 18, Kansas St. 15, Middle Tenn. St. 9, Iowa St. 9, Wichita St. 7, West Virginia 6, New Mexico 6, Southern Miss 4, Long Beach St. 3, Temple 2, California 2, Notre Dame 1

Photo: UK senior Vargas in new uniform

2012-01-30T13:00:00.001-06:00

Special uniforms for game: Photo Gallery

Photos: UK Hoops vs. Alabama

2012-01-30T10:55:00.000-06:00

SEC Women's BB Games for 2/2/12-2/5/12

2012-01-30T09:48:00.003-06:00

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND

Florida at LSU 7:00 PM CST
Ole Miss at Kentucky 7:00 PM
Mississippi St. at Georgia 7:00 PM
South Carolina at Tennessee 7:00 PM CSS
Vanderbilt at Auburn 7:00 PM
Alabama at Arkansas 8:00 PM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH

Auburn at Tennessee 2:00 PM SEC Network
Ole Miss at Florida 2:00 PM
Georgia at Alabama 3:00 PM FSN
Kentucky at LSU 3:00 PM CST
Vanderbilt at Mississippi St. 3:00 PM

SEC Men's Basketball Games for 1/31/12-2/4/12

2012-01-30T09:41:00.004-06:00

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31ST

Tennessee at Kentucky 7:00 PM ESPNU
Vanderbilt at Arkansas 9:00 PM ESPN

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST

Georgia at Auburn 8:00 PM SEC Network

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND

South Carolina at Florida 9:00 PM ESPN/2

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH

Vanderbilt at Florida 1:00 PM CBS Sports
Arkansas at LSU 1:30 PM SEC Network
Auburn at Mississippi St. 4:00 PM SEC Network
Kentucky at South Carolina 6:00 PM ESPN/2
Georgia at Tennessee 8:00 PM FSN
Ole Miss at Alabama 8:00 PM ESPN2

SEC Men's Basketball Standings 1/30/12

2012-01-30T08:17:00.006-06:00

Southeastern	Conf	All
Kentucky (1)	7-0	21-1

Florida (14)	5-1	17-4

Vanderbilt	5-1	16-5

Mississippi St. (18)	4-3	17-5

Mississippi	4-3	14-7

Arkansas	3-3	15-6

Alabama	3-4	14-7

Tennessee	2-4	10-11

LSU	2-5	12-9

Auburn	2-5	12-9

Georgia	1-5	10-10

South Carolina	1-5	9-11

SEC Women's Basketball Standings 1/30/12

2012-01-30T08:14:00.000-06:00

Southeastern	Conf	All
Kentucky (6)	9-0	20-2

Tennessee (7)	7-1	16-5

South Carolina	6-3	17-5

Arkansas	5-4	16-5

Georgia (17)	5-4	16-6

Vanderbilt	4-4	16-5

LSU	4-4	14-7

Florida	3-5	13-8

Mississippi St.	3-5	13-8

Auburn	3-6	11-11

Mississippi	2-7	12-10

Alabama	0-8	10-12

Kentucky vs Tennessee....A Preview Rd 2 - 2012

2012-01-30T00:09:00.002-06:00

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Tennessee 1/31/12 Tuesday 7PM-EST/6PPM-CST(ESPNU)
Kentucky leads the series 147-66

Tennessee Vols

Location: Knoxville, Tenn
Enrollment: 27,523
Arena: 21,678

Head Coach: Cuonzo Martin
Career Record: 61-41 (59.8%) 3 seasons
At Tennessee-First season

2010-11 Record: 19-15
2010-11 SEC Record: 8-8
Postseason: 0-1 NCAA

2011-12 Record: 10-11
2011-12 SEC Record: 2-4

Tennessee 92 UNC Greensboro 63
Tennessee 85 Louisiana Monroe 62
Duke 77 Tennessee 67
Memphis 99 Tennessee 97
Tennessee 86 Chaminade 60
Oakland 89 Tennessee 81
Pittsburgh 61 Tennessee 56
Austin Peay 74 Tennessee 70
College of Charleston 71 Tennessee 65
Tennessee 72 UNC Ashville 68
Tennessee 66 ESTU 63
Tennessee 86 Citadel 55
Tennessee 76 Chattanooga 63
Memphis 69 Tennessee 51
Tennessee 67 Florida 56
Mississippi St. 62 Tennessee 58
Kentucky 65 Tennessee 62
Georgia 57 Tennessee 53 (OT)
Tennessee 60 U Conn 57
Vanderbilt 65 Tennessee 47
Tennessee 64 Auburn 49

Tennessee Stats

PPG-69.6
FG%-44.5%
3 PT%-35.3% (7.1PG)
FT%-68.5%
RPG-37.2 (+3.7)
APG-13.1
TO’s-14.1
SPG-5.9
BPG-4.8

Probable Starting Lineup

Trae Golden-G 6’1” Soph………………………….13.1 PPG
Jeronne Maymon-F 6’7” Jr……………………..….11.7 PPG
Josh Richardson-G 6’6” Fr..…………………….…..3.0 PPG
Cameron Tatum-G 6’7” Sr……………………….…8.7 PPG
Jarnell Stokes-F 6’8” Fr…………………………….10.6 PPG

Other Key Players

Sylar McBee-G 6’3” Jr………………………………6.5 PPG
Jordan McRae-F 6’5” Soph………………………….8.7 PPG
Kenny Hall-F 6’9” Jr…………………………………6.6 PPG

Tennessee now has a new coach in Cuonzo Martin after Bruce Pearl was fired. Martin played at Purdue from 91-95 under Gene Keady….Martin was then an assistant under both Keady and Matt Painter from 2000-2008 so he garnered great experience from two very good coaches. For the past 3 years, Martin has been a successful coach at Missouri St where he greatly improved their program.

Coach Martin inherited a Tennessee team that lost 4 solid starters in Scotty Hopson, Tobias Harris, Melvin Goins and John Fields plus 4 other players including Brian Williams. Despite those losses, Martin has the Vols playing much better than anyone expected. While Pearl’s Vols were more upbeat offensively, Martin has focused on playing tough hardnose defense….which was evident in the Vols win over Florida and U Conn.

Unquestionably, the addition of freshman Jarnell Stokes has been a huge plus for the Vols frontline. Stokes is averaging 10.6 PPG shooting 57.9% plus garnering 8 rebounds PG. Stokes is already becoming a force in the SEC despite joining the Vols at mid-season.

McBee, Tatum and Golden are shooting well from the perimeter with Golden leading the team in assists with 101. Maymon and Stokes are both averaging 8 rebounds PG giving the Vols a solid inside game on the boards. Golden remains the leading scorer.

UK welcomes Tennessee to Rupp arena after a great win at LSU where the Cats arguably played their best game of the year. Coach Cal was pleased with all the players and their performance. It was especially great to see Terrence Jones have a tremendous game with 27 points. Anthony Davis, who was mauled during much of the game….including an ugly and totally uncalled for mugging which took Davis to the floor on a breakaway….still maintained his cool and delivered another superb game.

Certainly, UK will remember a tough 65-62 win at Knoxville just a little over 2 weeks ago and should be better prepared to handle the Vols at Rupp arena.

I see a 14 point win over Tennessee! GO CATS!

Video: UK Hoops Coach Mitchell & UK players post-Alabama Interviews

2012-01-29T17:07:00.000-06:00

UK Hoops head coach Mitchell and UK players Snowden, Goss & Mathies after the Cats 82-68 win over the Tide. Video's courtesy of uksportsinfo

Video: UK Coach John Calipari says UK played "best game" vs. LSU

2012-01-28T18:43:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: UK player Terrence Jones on his huge day vs. LSU

2012-01-28T18:40:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: UK Players Darius Miller, Marquis Teague on win over LSU

2012-01-28T18:38:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: UK Coach John Calipari previews UK-LSU

2012-01-27T17:34:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Kentucky Men’s Basketball
January 27, 2012
Pre-LSU Media Opportunity

UK Head Coach John Calipari

On LSU holding teams under 60…
“They’re big and their guards are good. (Anthony) Hickey is outstanding, tough, hard-nosed, they have two of him. They have their leading scorer, who is 6-5, back. Johnny O’Bryant who is a McDonald’s All-American, they have the kid from Iowa State that is 7-foot, he’s good. They have two other big kids; they are a very good team. The good news is, for preparation, they play a lot like Georgia, Mark (Fox) worked for coach (LSU head coach Trent Johnson). A lot of the stuff when we go over it we will have seen it. That’s why yesterday I didn’t use any time in our practice, usually I would say let’s hit their stuff a little bit, we did a few of the drills that match it but none of the walk-through stuff.”

On recruiting in-state product Anthony Hickey …
“It’s not about that, he’s good enough, there is no question but we took Marquis Teague. When you do that, unless you just want to load up on kids, here’s what happens, what if he comes here, maybe he is better than Marquis, maybe he’s not, and if he’s not and he’s not playing, is that fair to him? Maybe he would be good enough to beat out Marquis Teague, is that fair to Marquis Teague? I just think that when you go through this process of recruiting, I’ve made mistakes before. I remember when we played Connecticut and when I saw my man out of high school, I said he was too small, I’m not sure he is good enough. Guess what, he was good enough. Hickey is really good. I’ll same the thing, the other side of it is you take a guy that should be going to Western (Kentucky University) or Murray (State) and you just take him to take him when he could go there and be a starter and do x-y-z and you take him because you want to have a Kentucky kid on your team. I’m not doing that, I just refuse to do that. I’ll take walk-ons that way but I’m not taking a player that way, I don’t feel comfortable with that. Hickey is good enough, he is an SEC player and a starting point guard, I just saw him against Mississippi State make four 3s in a row to end the game. He’s not afraid, he could play here, there isn’t any question, he’s not afraid, he’s a battler, he is good.”

On Marquis Teague making the balance of the team work …
“Important but the one thing, this is a hard one for you all to understand, we have to keep working on making the extra pass. You say, ‘well Cal you have seven guys that have over 100 shots. There is no team in the country that has seven guys with over 100 shots.’ There isn’t one and here is what I would say, what happens is, because guys are only taking 10-9-8-11 shots, the extra pass becomes a little bit harder than it would if four or three guys are taking all your shots. We just have to continue to work on that, make that extra pass. The balance we have does make it difficult. Darius (Miller), offensively, he could go for 30, Kyle Wiltjer could go for 30, Doron Lamb could go for (30), you have a bunch of guys that could bust out for 30. Terrence Jones could go for 30, we just have to keep playing the game and whoever has it going, go to him, last game it was Darius and the guys found him and got him shot.”

On Marquis Teague carrying himself better than he was earlier in the year…
“What happens to these young people, if they don’t let you define them, let us kind of present you, define how you are going to play, when they are arguing the point they think they can play like they did in high school and when it doesn’t work it rattles them. Then they don’t know if they are if they are good enough, then they start questioning if they can play, well you can play but just not the way you are playing. That’s the hard thing, most guys have to get hit in the mouth and they say, ‘alright it ain’t working the way I want to do this, let me do this.’ Let me say this, every once in a while they will go back and check it to make sure they are right or wrong. They’ll go and have their kind of game and they’ll look bad again and you’ll say, ‘why did they do that?’ Because they just have to check and see if they can do it their way. Most of these players, they are letting us present them and define their games for them. All we try to do is play to our strengths, play to your strengths; we’ll work on your weaknesses in here but right now let’s do what we do. The biggest thing with Marquis Teague that he is doing better is he is defending and rebound, you all want to look at his offense, he is defending and rebounding. He’s not stopping, he is going in and getting balls, he had seven rebounds. He has seven rebounds we’ll outrebound the other team by double digits. But there are games he gets no rebounds and doesn’t even attempt, that is the old high school, I’m not going in there because if I go in there and they miss then I can’t get a lay-up so I’m going to just take off. It’s not just him; there are a lot of high school guys doing that.”

On being 3-0 in SEC road games …
“They have all been good games. Georgia came out and made six out of eight whatever they did. Tennessee came out and we were down in that game, Auburn came out and we were down in that game. They all come at us, they are all big games and the teams are going to play well. It’s good for us, it makes us better. I expect LSU to play a great game, I expect them to come out and play better than they have all year. (They will) be physical, run their stuff, execute, they’ll play fast but they want it to be, a lot of times you say they are holding people under 60, it’s because they are scoring a little bit over 60. A team that holds it can keep the other team from scoring more. If you are playing faster the other team is going to score more because they are going to get more opportunities. But they do a good job of controlling the games, similar to Georgia.”

On Kentucky being on its own level …
“You always want to be on your own playing field. One of the reasons we don’t have to talk about another program or I don’t even have to worry about who is recruiting a guy is because I don’t care. I tell the family when we come in, ‘you will not hear me or my staff talk about another program and if we do talk about another program it will be positive about that coach or that program.’ We don’t worry about anybody else, if the kid wants something like this then we will get him and if they look at this and say it is too much then they aren’t coming here. What you try to do in all that you are doing is separate so that you are on a playing field where you present yourself and ask the kid if it is something he’d like or not. In everything you do, whether it’s facilities, academics, in the community, social media, connecting your fans. I’ve said that since I’ve been here, you’re at Kentucky, let’s get this separated. Why are we on all these TV games? Because we rate so high, we rate highest in the country. Everybody wants to watch us.

Kentucky vs LSU.....A Preview

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-06:00

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs LSU 1/28/12 Saturday 4PM (SEC Network)
Kentucky leads the series 80-24

LSU

Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Enrollment: 27,992
Arena: 13,215

Head Coach: Trent Johnson
Career Record: 208-170 (55.0%) 12 seasons
At LSU: 49-49 (50%) 3 seasons

2010-11 Record: 11-21
2010-11 SEC Record: 3-13
Postseason: None

2011-12 Record: 12-8
2011-12 SEC Record: 2-4

LSU 96 Nicholls 74
Coastal Carolina 71 LSU 63
Northeastern 88 LSU 82
LSU 76 Western Kentucky 57
LSU 59 Georgia Tech 50
South Alabama 79 LSU 75 (OT)
LSU 59 Houston 58
LSU 55 Rutgers 50
LSU 64 Boise St. 45
LSU 66 UC Irvine 59
LSU 67 Marquette 59
LSU 67 N.Texas 58
LSU 69 Grambling 37
Virginia 57 LSU 52
LSU 81 Ole Miss 55
Alabama 69 LSU 53
Arkansas 69 LSU 60
LSU 65 Auburn 58 (OT)
Florida 76 LSU 64
Mississippi St. 76 LSU 71

LSU Stats

PPG-67.0
FG%-40.6%
3 PT.%-33.4% (5.5)
FT%-70.7%
RPG-38.6 (+2.1)
APG-12.6
TO’s-13.2
SPG-7.7
BPG-3.7

Probable Starting Lineup

Justin Hamilton-C 7’0” Jr……………………………..14.1 PPG
Andre Stringer-G 5’9” Soph…………………………...10.4 PPG
Anthony Hickey-G 5’11” Fr……………………………9.6 PPG
Ralston Turner-F 6’6” Soph……………………………8.8 PPG
Storm Warren-F 6’7” Sr………………………………..8.2 PPG

Coach Trent Johnson first year at LSU was highly successful…..as he won 27 games….won the SEC championship….and made the NCAA. However, the past two seasons have been a disaster….LSU is 22-41 and 5-27 in the SEC. As expected, LSU fans are not happy and this season is important to coach Johnson.

LSU added transfer 7’0” Justin Hamilton from Iowa St. along with Anthony Hickey, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and they both have been a huge plus for the Tigers. Hamilton is the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker. In a recent game against Florida, Hamilton scored 27 points against the Gators. Hickey is off to a solid start as a freshman starter leading the team in assists and steals while scoring at nearly 10 points PG. Andre Stringer leads LSU in perimeter shooting hitting 36.6%.

Although LSU stumbled early this season with a bad loss to Coastal Carolina, the Tigers have played much better with wins over Georgia Tech, Rutgers and Marquette. Already, in SEC conference play, LSU has shown to be a much more competitive team than the past two years and have won both home SEC games.

Importantly, LSU has recently opened a new beautiful basketball practice facility revealing the schools determination to be a top level SEC team. This season, LSU will not be the pushover that UK found last season, but still lack the talent to defeat the Cats even in home friendly Pete Maravich arena.

Kentucky arrives in Baton Rouge fresh off a win over Georgia in Athens. The Cats played very well in the 1st half hitting 56% from the field and 60% from the perimeter.
Unfortunately, UK’s offense stumbled in the 2nd half scoring only 19 points….while shooting a pitiful 30% from the field.

Still, there were a number of positives in the Georgia game. It was great to see Miller, Lamb and Wiltjer shooting very well from the perimeter. In fact, kudos to Darius Miller who had a terrific offensive game scoring 19 points. Davis and MKG were both solid on the boards snaring 11 rebounds apiece….as UK dominated the boards. Teague did a nice job running the offense with zero TO’s.

Hopefully, the Cats can get Anthony Davis more involved in the offense…..as Davis played 39 minutes and had only two shots. Also, UK needs Teague to improve his shooting as he continues to struggle from the perimeter. Importantly,Terrence Jones is giving good effort on the defensive end and rebounding well, however, he still has work to do on improving his offense.

All in all, any road win is a positive, but UK still needs improvement on both offense and defense. The Cats should defeat LSU by 12 points.
GO CATS!

Photo of New UK Uniforms

2012-01-25T12:38:00.000-06:00

Here's a better picture from the Nike web site, I still don't like it with the gray. Nike should have stuck with the traditional BLUE and WHITE..

New UK basketball uniforms

2012-01-25T11:51:00.003-06:00

Mr.Nezzer
WT Executive Moderator

OK, from the picture I sure as heck hope they are not gray with just blue trim......I know the color is probably called platinum but no matter how shiny it is, it will still look gray. Sorry, UK's uniforms should be Blue and White.....period. They can make the uniforms out of recycled puppies for all I care just as long as the colors are Blue and White, the trademark of UK sports.

Another thing, why do they come out with new uniforms, mid-season, why not the start of the season??? I understand all of the elite PR crap but UK is already an elite team, they don't need super duper uper hyper charged fuel injected uniforms that are gray with just a hint of blue. Below is the release info on the new uniforms. Below is the release info on the new uniforms.

UK is one of nine schools who will get New Nike Hyper Elite Platinum jerseys, according to a release. UK will debut the jerseys at home against Tennessee on Jan. 31.

From the release:

The fabric of the Nike Hyper Elite Platinum shorts are made from 100 percent recycled polyester while the jersey fabric is made from at least 96% recycled polyester. Both short and jersey are tailored for the optimal efficiency of movement and are five percent lighter than the previous Nike Hyper Elite uniform. Featuring laser-cut bonded logos, a sharp platinum design as well as prominent accent colors, the Nike Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms are sure to shine on the court.

Video: UK Coach John Calipari on UK's win at UGA

2012-01-25T09:34:00.001-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: UK Darius Miller on his big night at UGA

2012-01-25T09:33:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: Anthony Davis on UK's win at UGA

2012-01-25T09:29:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on UK's win at UGA

2012-01-25T09:26:00.000-06:00

Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Photos: UK Hoops vs Florida

2012-01-24T07:26:00.002-06:00

Video: John Calipari on UK's No. 1 ranking, trip to Georgia

2012-01-23T14:45:00.000-06:00

Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari talked about the Wildcats being ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USAToday college basketball polls as well as previewing the team's trip to Georgia. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com

Video: UK Players Jones, Kidd-Gilchrist, Wiltjer pre-Georgia game Interviews

2012-01-23T14:08:00.001-06:00

UK players Terrence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kyle Wiltjer talks about upcoming game at Georgia. Video's courtesy of uknationofblue

UK Hoops Bria Goss named SEC Freshman of the Week

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000-06:00

SEC Freshman of the Week
Bria Goss • Kentucky
Guard • Indianapolis, Ind.

• Scored a career-high 22 points, including a career-high tying three 3-pointers, in UK’s 69-64 road win at No. 15/14 Georgia. It marked UK’s first win in Stegeman Coliseum since 2008.
• Scored 17 of her team- and career-high 22 points at Georgia in the second half, rallying the Wildcats from a 10-point second half deficit.
• While her shot wasn’t falling vs. Florida, Goss relied on her defense to help push UK to victory, taking a team-high three charges and grabbing a team- and career-high nine rebounds.
• Hit both of her free throws with 22.8 seconds left to help preserve UK’s victory over Florida.
• Averaged a team-high 14.0 points per game in UK’s two wins which helped the Cats tie the best start in program history through the first 20 games.