Five games into a new season, it looks like John Calipari’s winning streak with freshman point guards is going to continue.
About the only negative so far for Brandon Knight is a higher-than-the-coach-can-live-with turnover count, but that figures to change as Knight matures in the position. In high school, Knight was the primary scorer for his team, but Calipari is now asking him to lead his team by also getting others involved.
“It’s a tough position to play in this (Dribble Drive Motion) offense,” Calipari said on a recent Big Blue Sports Network pregame show. “It’s like being a quarterback in the West Coast Offense and you’ve got five reads and you’re used to just going back and winging it. But he’s playing well. I would like him to lead the nation in assists and yet still score.””For an 18-year-old kid, he’s doing great.”
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If Kentucky wins at Tennessee tomorrow, chances are the script will include a big game from Derrick Locke, given that UK’s rare wins in Knoxville, Tenn., have included a 100-yard rushing game for a UK back.
And if Locke can do that, he’ll move closer to his long-shot goal of reaching 1,000 yards despite missing almost five full games.
“If you want to be a top back, you’ve got to have numbers,” said Locke, who enters the Tennessee game with 719 yards and nine touchdowns on 130 carries. “Even though I’ve been out almost five games, I don’t want to use that as an excuse. It’s something I’m definitely shooting for.”
Locke was well short of being in top shape when he returned against Vandy two weeks ago but he figures he can get to “90 or 95 percent” for the UT game.
As for that 25-game losing streak to Tennessee, Locke said part of the obstacle Kentucky must clear is a mental challenge.
“I just feel like when it comes time to win, they’ve known how to win better than we do,” Locke said. “We’ve just got to want it more than them. This has got to be like a national championship game (for us).”
Locke said a win over Tennessee would go a long way in determining how the season is judged.
“It’s not going to erase the disappointment (of some closes losses this season) but it’ll give us a better season,” Locke said. “(Going) 6-6 might get you a bowl but I don’t want to take that chance.”
Players like senior offensive tackle Brad Durham are just tired of hearing about The Streak.
“We hear it every day,” Durham said. “It’s annoying. Everything we do up until game time, it’s in our minds. It’s going to happen this year and hopefully years after.”
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Randall Cobb isn’t the only Tennessee native with a lot to play for in Knoxville.
“I’m going to be so excited that I won’t be able to sleep the night before,” true freshman Tyler Robinson said last week.
He’s from the same Alcoa, Tenn., high school as Cobb and said the only interest the Volunteers showed in him was as a center. He’s happier playing tight end for UK but has learned quickly that his body is not where it needs to be for this league.
“Definitely (need) get stronger,” Robinson said. “These boys are big up here. In high school, I was bigger than everybody. Now, they’re 280 or 290 and they’re faster than I am.”
Kentucky takes one of the SEC’s most potent offenses into this matchup, and Robinson said for the Cats to keep it going, they will have to play smart.
“They move a lot,” Robinson said. “They’re not in conventional fronts. (But) Mike (Hartline) will be all right. He studies his butt off all the time.”
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Tennessee has played its way into bowl contention with a late-season three-game winning streak. Knoxville News-Sentinel beat writer Austin Ward says it’s not a complete surprise.
“I don’t know if they are as good (as the lopsided wins over Memphis and Ole Miss suggest) but they’ve played 16 freshmen, so they were bound to improve,” Ward said on “The Leach Report” radio show last week. “By the time they got to November, there was a reasonable expectation they could (do something like this).”
The surge has coincided with the emergence of true freshman quarterback Tyler Bray.
“He’s got a very strong arm, and despite being so thin, he’s shown a remarkable ability to escape pass rush and break some tackles in the pocket and make some plays,” Ward said of Bray, who has 10 touchdowns against just two interceptions in the three games he’s started. “He still struggles with knowing coverages and always knowing the proper read but he’s not afraid to take some chances.”
