Kentucky Basketball

Updated Tournament Projections

... by a matchup against either TCU or USC in the second round. Kentucky’s Sweet 16 matchup would then likely be either Notre Dame (4) or Wisconsin (5). The bottom half of the region has Florida State as the 2 seed and Butler as the 3 seed. Just having the Badgers and Irish make this a tough region, but the surging Noles as the 2 seed would be very dangerous as well. Must Reads. New College Basketball Top 25 Polls UK now favorite to win 2017 NCAA Tournament. Kansas, Villanova, and Baylor join Kentucky as 1 seeds. Florida State, North Carolina, Gonzaga, and Arizona make up the 2 seed line. Florida (6), South Carolina (7), and Arkansas (9) join Kentucky as teams from the SEC to make the tournament. Georgia is among Lunardi’s First Four Out. The ACC is the conference with the most projected bids, with 10 total. The Big Ten is not far behind with eight projected bids. Over at CBS Sports , Jerry Palm’s latest projection may be the toughest of them all. He has UK as a 2 seed with Villanova (1), Oregon (3), North Carolina (4), and West Virginia (6) also in this region. That would be considered the Group of Death ...

No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas And No. 4 Kentucky Lose In Night Of College Basketball Upsets

... Virginia to an 85-69 victory over No. 2 Kansas on Tuesday night in Morgantown, W. Va. The Mountaineers (16-4, 5-3 Big 12 ) beat Kansas (18-2, 7-1) for the fourth straight time in Morgantown and snapped the Jayhawks' 18-game winning streak. Ahmad led West Virginia in scoring over the first two months of the season but entered Tuesday's game with four straight games in single digits. He scored West Virginia's first eight points against Kansas and finished 10 of 17 from the field. West Virginia blew a double-digit lead after halftime for the third straight game. Svi Mykhailiuk's 3-pointer put the Jayhawks ahead 59-58 midway through the second half. But that was their last lead. Kansas then went nearly 3 minutes between field goals. Ahmad started and finished a 12-1 run with baskets to put the Mountaineers ahead 70-61 with 4:55 left. Coach Bob Huggins had two stipulations for success for the ...

3 Things To Know From The Loss To Tennessee

... of the toughest venues in the SEC. Here are three takeaways from the game. De’Aaron Fox seems healthy. His stats weren’t amazing, but Fox started and played more minutes than the bench rotation despite having foul trouble. De'Aaron Fox up and under in midair. #BBN __link__/cf OG 93 u Yh W. — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) January 25, 2017. He was also able to put together some great athletic moves, which is a great sign for Kentucky going into the Kansas game. He ended the game with 17 points, going 4-9 from the field and 2-2 from 3-point range; he also had 4 assists. Points and efficiency combined, Fox was easily Kentucky’s best offensive player. Kentucky had more inconsistency from the 4 spot. After a few good games from Wenyen Gabriel , Kentucky looked as though they had some consistency at that position. Unfortunately, that was not the case tonight. Gabriel struggled mightily, going just 1-6 from the field, 0-3 from 3-point range, and 0-2 from the free throw line. He did produce on the defensive end, recording 2 blocks and 9 rebounds, all of them defensive. Derek ...

Kentucky Calls For Bam Adebayo To Find His Inner Demarcus Cousins

... a play being called” specifically for him,” Payne said. “Demand the ball when it’s not the play. We don’t have to force-feed you.”. I think if he had a little of De Marcus Cousins’ mentality, he changes the dynamic of the team. Every game I’m telling him to take over the game for us. Dominate the game for us. Don’t sit back, and five or six minutes (go by and) you don’t touch the ball and don’t say a word. That’s not who you are. Kenny Payne, UK associate coach. Envisioning the Adebayo he’d like to see, Payne harked back to a former UK big man who was anything but shy about wanting the ball, and making sure everyone knew it. “I think if he had a little of De Marcus Cousins’ mentality, he changes the dynamic of the team,” Payne said. “Every game, I’m telling him to take over the game for us. Dominate the game for us. Don’t sit back, and five or six minutes (go by and) you don’t touch the ball and don’t say a word. That’s not who you are.”. Wenyen Gabriel, Adebayo’s roommate, confirmed that Payne preaches this message repeatedly. “K. P. tells Bam that every day,” Gabriel said. “Whether in a game or ...

Calipari Asks Pointed Question About The Many Fouls Called

... one team is fouling and the other team is not, that’s when you have those kind of fouls called. Because you’re feeling like, I can’t call them all against the other team. But why not if they’re fouling every play?”. Of course, one man’s foul is another man’s display of competitive zeal. Kentucky forward Derek Willis talks about how he and Wenyen Gabriel played in win at Mississippi State on Tuesday. UK plays host to South Carolina on Saturday. “This is another team that will be scrappy,” Calipari said. “They’re not backing down. They’re coming in with expectations (of winning).”. Derek Willis, one of the heroes of Kentucky’s victory at scrappy Mississippi State on Tuesday, suggested that opponents try to narrow the talent gap against Kentucky through — depending on your viewpoint — fouling or physical effort. South Carolina Coach Frank Martin did not object to the suggestion that physical play through greater effort can be a means of defeating superior talent. “I think that’s a talent in itself,” he said Thursday. “Some people are gifted in how they think. Some people are ...

Kentucky Working On Three-point Plan To Solidify Offense

... from seven different spots each day after practice. Getting those percentages up might be a test against the Rebels, who are the conference’s fourth-best team at defending the three, holding foes to just 27 percent. But those numbers have taken a turn in SEC play, with Ole Miss permitting 38.1 percent three-point shooting from long range, worst in the league. After allowing just 36 three-pointers in non-conference play, the Rebels have given up 37 in the last seven games. Tourney talk in January. This week, Kentucky was announced as one of the top 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament by the women’s selection committee, which puts out up-to-date rankings several times before the tournament. It’s a benefit to be one of the top four seeds because they can play host to the first two rounds, as UK has in the past. Even though UK has lost six games this season, the Cats came in at No. 15 overall. A strong strength of schedule (third nationally) and high ratings percentage index (No. 14) might be the reason. While ...

Kentucky Basketball Previews Tennessee

... Say a word. That’s not who you are. That’s not how good you are. You’re a special basketball player. Go and dominate the game.’ ”. On Adebayo beginning to develop that mentality…. “No question about it. No question about it. But, again it is an adjustment. It’s an adjustment.”. On how often he has seen someone improve like Briscoe …. “Very rare. Very rare. Some people will say you are what you are. I’ll say to you that for a kid to not believe the ball is going in the hole, a year ago, from the free throw line, from the 3-point line. To going from that to, ‘You can leave me if you want to. I’m going to shoot it and I’m shooting it with confidence.’ Whether the ball goes in the hole or not, he believes that it is going in. The reason that he believes is because he put in the work.”. On Isaiah Briscoe’s 3-point shooting …. “He takes pride in I’m not going to be the weak link from the 3-point line. The pressure is on him to continue to get better shooting it. We know that the scouting report from other teams is going to be. You’ve got to back off of somebody, let it be Briscoe. I encourage it. I think it’s good for him to prove to people that you’re ...

Fox Injury ‘discombobulated’ Kentucky; Timing Of Return Unclear

... sign of a good team.”. Earlier in the day, Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes, whose team plays Kentucky on Tuesday, spoke of UK being formidable even if Fox is sidelined. “Whether he plays or not,” Barnes said, “I still know that their program is built on an attitude that if a guy goes down, somebody else is going to step in and ‘we’re going to keep rolling.’”. Payne did not say definitively if Fox would play at Tennessee. “I think he’s day-to-day,” Payne said. Fox is UK’s second-leading scorer (16.2 points per game). He’s also shot the second-most free throws (107), so he gets to the foul line. He leads the Cats in steals (30). But maybe most importantly, he leads the team’s trademark fast-paced style. “De’Aaron kind of controls the game because he’s really a threat with his quickness,” Wenyen Gabriel said. Other point guards like Isaiah Briscoe and Dominique Hawkins make for a slower pace. “It’s just a different style of play, and we have to adjust to it,” Isaac Humphries said. “That’s fine. We adjust on the run, and it’s all ...

Kansas May Be Kentucky’s Last Chance To Wow Tournament Committee

... to a team that was 3-4 in the SEC. UK allowed the Vols to shoot 53 percent from the floor in the second half. The Cats made careless errors on offense and failed to make big stops on defense. “We can’t play the way we’re playing right now and win,” Calipari said. Let this be said about the Kentucky coach: He warned us this was coming. Even as his team tallied victories over inferior competition, Calipari’s postgame comments fell well below unconditional praise. He freely voiced concerns about his young team’s lapses into “AAU mode” on offense, its failure to focus on defense and its inability to always follow directions. Road signs pointed toward danger. Vanderbilt is hardly a juggernaut this season yet the Commodores pushed the Cats to the final horn before falling 87-81 in Nashville. Ben Howland’s young Mississippi State team stormed back from a large deficit before losing 88-81 to ...

Kentucky's Dominance Over Kansas Has Resulted In Record-setting Games

... against each other for the first time. Rupp got the best of his old coach in a season where UK went on to win a national championship. It was the only head-to-head meeting between Rupp and Allen. The two coached a combined 78 seasons at their respective schools. 3. April 2, 2012: Kentucky 67, Kansas 59. Kentucky and Kansas had met twice before in the NCAA tournament, but this was the first in a national championship game. The Wildcats were vying for title No. 8, with the Jayhawks in search of their fourth. It was Calipari’s crew that prevailed behind Doron Lamb’s 22 points and Anthony Davis’ 16 rebounds, 6 blocks, 5 assists and 3 steals. The win capped a 38-2 season and Kentucky’s first national championship since 1998. 2. March 14, 1999: Kentucky 92, Kansas 88 (OT). The first NCAA tournament meeting between the two programs was a classic — courtesy of a clutch Scott Padgett shot. The Cats had beaten the Jayhawks by ...