A lot of notes and smaller stories from Friday’s men’s and women’s basketball availability, so instead of a traditional day-before-story, I thought I’d put together 10 notes from the news conferences, Title IX style (five for the men, five for the women), for those of you that prefer the written word over watching a video. Men’s basketball
1. Cal concerned with late-game situations: Men’s coach John Calipari hears your complaints about the late-game slumps, and he’s doing everything in his power to correct it. Asked about seeding for the NCAA and Southeastern Conference tournaments, Calipari said he isn’t concerned about those at this point. “We’re worried about the last five minutes of the game right now,” Calipari said. “We’re not worried about anything else. If we get that right, the other stuff will take care of itself.” Late in the games, Calipari said Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb are his primary options to take late foul shots, but he said he’d have no problem with the ball being in the hands of Darius Miller, Terrence Jones or DeAndre Liggins either. The problem right now, as Calipari told us, is they’re not getting the ball to the player who’s the hottest at the line.
2. Guarding the 3: As Guy Ramsey pointed out Thursday, UK has given up a lot of 3-pointers. Over the last eight games, opponents are shooting 41.7 percent from behind the arc, and it isn’t like the Cats’ opponents are doing this on a regular basis. Take for instance Mississippi State. Coming into the game, the Bulldogs were averaging 34 percent from behind the arc. Naturally, what do they do against Kentucky? Hit 12-of-22 shots (54.5 percent) from long range. Calipari said it isn’t a major concern, explaining that teams are simply making tough shots with defenders in their face. “They’re going to shoot 30 3s,” Calipari said. “If they make 20 of them with us hanging on them, then you go onto the next game. It just seems like guys who never make shots make contested shots falling down against us. Some of them bank in, some of them hit the scoreboard and come down and go in. That’s just how it is when you play us.” The troubling news for UK is South Carolina, Saturday’s opponent, is averaging 24.5 3-point attempts over its last four games.
3. Ellington struggling? Speaking of South Carolina, the Gamecocks’ leading scorer, Bruce Ellington, has hit a little bit of a freshman wall. Ellington is averaging 13.9 points per game this year, but he’s made only 17 of his last 68 shots (25 percent) over the last four games, all Gamecock losses. Calipari refused to give into thinking Ellington was in a slump. “It doesn’t matter who it is,” Calipari said. “You’ve got guys coming into Rupp Arena or playing Kentucky, and it’s the game they zero in on. They play better than stats. You don’t need to look at tape. Tape is not going to tell how they’re going to play.”
4. Knight trying to be more vocal: Knight is a quiet kid by nature, but he’s being asked by Calipari to assume the reins of this team and become more vocal. From my courtside seat at Rupp Arena, it’s pretty obvious that Knight is talking more than he was at the beginning of the season, which could be especially important for a team trying to figure out some late-game kinks. That role of getting in players’ faces wasn’t always a responsibility Knight was comfortable with. “I wasn’t a big talker,” Knight said. “Sometimes I still don’t talk as much as I should, but I’ve been getting at it. (Coach) told me it was a part of my description, a part of what I had to do. Over time I’ve kind of grown into a player that talks to his teammates. I’m a lot more comfortable with it now.”
5. Miller’s groin OK: Just in case there was any lingering concern over the health of Darius Miller’s groin after a 13-point outing against Mississippi State, Miller reassured reporters Friday that it’s “a lot better,” although he isn’t sure he could “throw one down” right now if he had to. With that said, Miller did practice Thursday and Friday and is expected to play Saturday.
Women’s basketball
1. Now is not the time to panic: This time last week, women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell sounded as if he could use a couple of anti-depressants after back-to-back losses to Tennessee and South Carolina. The coach was in much better spirits this Friday despite suffering a 69-51 drubbing at Georgia Thursday night. “I think it’s very important right now to have some perspective,” Mitchell said. “The sky is not falling. We are, as bad as I feel, we are in fourth place with a chance to finish higher.”
2. Another big game: As for those SEC standings, UK is one game behind Vanderbilt for third place in the SEC and two games behind Georgia for second place. With Georgia owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over UK, the second seed in the SEC Tournament appears to be out of the picture. Still, Sunday’s game at Vanderbilt will be very important if UK hopes to earn a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament. South Carolina, LSU and Auburn all trail the Cats by just a game for the fourth seed. The top four teams in the SEC receive first-round byes in the tournament. “We played great against Vanderbilt (the first time) and there’s no doubt we can beat Vanderbilt (again),” Mitchell said of Sunday’s matchup in Nashville. “It’s not a question of do we have the talent. I think it’s our mindset. We need to try and get as good as we can have it going to Nashville.”
3. Shooting woes can be contagious: For as much as turnovers correlate to UK’s victories, you’re not going to win a lot if you can’t put the ball in the basket. Over the last two games, a narrow win over LSU and a beating at Georgia, the Cats have struggled to score. UK is shooting 30 percent (36 of 120) over those last two games, including just 4 of 34 from behind the 3-point line. Shot selection usually has a lot to do with shooting percentages, but Mitchell has been pretty pleased with the looks his team is getting. “A game like last night where you’re not making shots, everything gets magnified; everything seems worse than it is,” Mitchell said. The coach admitted some of their slow starts have put pressure on them to make shots. “When Victoria (Dunlap) and A’dia (Mathies) aren’t having a great start, I think that can affect a couple others to where a little panic sets in,” Mitchell said. “We have to work our way through it because there isn’t some magic pill we can give them to work that situation out.”
4. Mathies banged up: Mathies, UK’s second leading scorer and starting point guard, was tested for a concussion during Thursday night’s game after taking an elbow to the head. Mathies did not suffer a concussion, but Mitchell said she did tweak her wrist when she fell to the floor. The UK training staff doesn’t think it’s a serious injury but Mathies was scheduled to undergo an X-ray later Friday.
5. Breaking through a wall: Mitchell was asked if players tend to hit a wall right before the postseason. After skirting around the question just a bit, Mitchell tended to agree. “It is very possible that right now we are a little down and were a little mentally and emotionally fatigued,” Mitchell said. “They’re not going to cancel these last three games for us. We have to fight through it but I would be pretty out of reality if I didn’t recognize that as a possibility.”
