KENTUCKY WILDCATS (15-10, 9-3 SEC)
vs. Ole Miss Rebels (18-8, 4-8 SEC)
Wednesday, Feb. 27 ? 8:00 p.m.
Lexington, Ky. – Rupp Arena (23,000)
TV: Raycom
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Kentucky looks to improve on a perfect home SEC record when it wraps up a three-game homestand against Ole Miss Wednesday.
The Wildcats picked up their ninth league win Saturday with a 63-58 win over Arkansas. Paced by 18-point efforts from seniors Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford and a double-double (14p-12r) from SEC Freshman of the Year candidate Patrick Patterson, Kentucky maintained its hold on second place in the SEC East. Patterson was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for his efforts, the third time he has received the honor.
Ole Miss, which enters the game with an 18-8 overall record (4-8 SEC), lost 69-49 at LSU on Saturday. The Rebels opened the season 13-0 and rose to as high as 16th in the AP poll.
CAT SCRATCHES
Kentucky is the all-time NCAA leader in wins with 1,963. UK boasts three of the SEC?s top 10 scorers: Joe Crawford (7th, 16.8), Patrick Patterson (8th, 16.5) and Ramel Bradley (9th, 15.9). Those three account for 68 percent of UK?s total points. Kentucky leads the SEC and ranks 17th nationally at the foul line, shooting 75 percent. UK ranks second in the SEC in FG percentage defense (.394) and third in FG percentage (.469). Ramel Bradley leads the SEC in free throw shooting (.856). Patrick Patterson ranks in the SEC?s top 10 in both scoring (8th, 16.5) and rebounding (5th, 7.8). Only one other freshman since 1992 has finished the season in the SEC?s top 10 in both categories. Mark Coury was named first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District. UK has allowed more then 70 points in regulation only once in SEC play. UK has held its last 16 of its last 17 opponents under 50 percent shooting. In SEC action, Patrick Patterson is averaging a league-high 39.08 minutes. Ramel Bradley is third with 37.55 minutes, and Joe Crawford is fifth with 36.36 minutes. Joe Crawford (1,304 career points) is currently 27th on UK?s all-time scoring list, and Ramel Bradley (1,230) is 34th.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES FEB. 26
Kentucky Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement ?
?I?m really excited about having a chance to play another Southeastern Conference game. It will be a major challenge for us because it?s a hard team. They?re very aggressive towards the basket. Offensively and defensively, they?re a very aggressive team. Coach Kennedy has done a really good job of instituting how he feels the game should be played and that it is played hard. They do a really good job of playing together. They?re a team that if you?ve studied over the course of the season, they?re a very scary team to be encountering tomorrow night.?
On Ole Miss’ key players…
?They have two or three guys inside that will really bang you hard. You talk about a guy that averages five offensive rebounds a game, who?s a senior who knows how to position as well as anyone in the country, and you have the kind of athletes they do with that kind of ability on the perimeter; they don?t have one leading player; they have three that are just good athletes. They do a good job of finishing and they do a good job when they get transition opportunities. They play with a very free mind no matter what the score is. It?s a good team and at one point they were ranked 13th or 14th in the country for good reason.?
On Chris Warren ?
?He?s awfully good. He?s another really good freshman in our conference; there are so many of them this year. He?s been asked to do a lot obviously and lead their team offensively and defensively. He has to score for them, lead the break, he has to have the ball in his hands from time to time and he has done a fantastic job doing it.?
On Kentucky’s improvement ?
?I really believe we should play intently and we?re getting closer to playing with high intensity. I think that we can do much better offensively and that?s what we have to do in order to keep improving. Our defense has been pretty solid for most of the conference schedule. We?re gaining steam as we go. We have a sincere desire to get stops. It?s not easy to do and you can?t always do it. I think our team has really taken to that mindset, but we have to do better offensively to be a better team. In order to do that you have to pass it earlier, you have to cut harder, you have to read defense a little bit better than we do, you have to set a screen, you have to sprint to a screen, you have to sprint off a screen. It?s very difficult to look beautiful when you can?t do it. It takes time and time again with repetition. We?re getting better at it. Once you get into conference, teams don?t let your guys have anything so you have to readjust on the fly every single time you play, because the teams are so well coached and there are so many good athletes. There are so many defensive teams in the conference, so it makes it difficult to score baskets.?
#5 Derrick Jasper, Sophomore
On Ole Miss’ strengths ?
?They are a really aggressive team that is really good in transition and the fast break. Their guard Chris Warren is really good and he pushes the tempo a lot. Warren is a clever player, who is really good with hesitation and gets into the paint easily. Their big man, Dwayne Curtis, is also really good and he is aggressive on the glass. We have to do a good job rebounding to keep their big men away from getting offensive rebounds.?
On Ole Miss’ struggles of winning on the road ?
?I?m hoping Rupp Arena will cause them some more troubles. I know they are going to come out tomorrow and play really aggressive and play their type of basketball.?
On seniors Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford ?
?They are the leaders of our team. They come every day to practice and work hard and set the tempo for the rest of the players. I?m just really excited for them especially on Senior Day. Both of them are really funny guys. They are always cracking jokes to loosen up the team.?
#21 Perry Stevenson, Sophomore
On the game ?
?They?re huge, let?s hope they?re push-overs; but from the games we?ve seen, they?re not. We?re going to have our hands full. For me, I have to move my feet as much as possible and try not to get buried under the backboard and I?ll be fine. It?s definitely easier said than done.?
On his shooting during the Arkansas game ?
?There was some hesitation, but coach said I was going to be open. Of course I?m going to listen to him, but in the back of my head I?m thinking, ?They?re not going leave me that wide open.? But then they were a couple feet back, so I just stopped hesitating and let it fire. When you get that much room, you definitely have to think about it; it makes you hesitate the first one or two times, but after that it?s just catch and shoot. Their game plan seemed to be to cover Patrick and take their chances with me and I?m just trying to help my team out.?
On the team taking on coach’s personality ?
?I definitely think so. From the start of the regular season we could still be going in that direction, going towards losses instead of piling up wins and doing something better this season. He?s a tough, hard-nosed, blue collar kind of person and we?re just trying to mimic that and it?s getting us wins. You can?t just out finesse and outscore people because the win percentage at the end of the season won?t be enough ever.?
