KENTUCKY WILDCATS (16-10, 10-3 SEC)
at Tennessee Volunteers (25-3, 11-2 SEC)
Sunday, March 2 ? Noon
Knoxville, Tenn. – Thompson-Boling Arena (21,758)
TV: CBS
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Having won nine of its last 10, Kentucky visits top-ranked Tennessee Sunday with first place in the SEC up for grabs. UK enters the game 10-3 in the league, a game behind the pace-setting Volunteers (11-2). The Wildcats rallied from 10 down in the second half to defeat the Vols, 72-66, in their earlier meeting in Lexington last month.
Kentucky has won four in a row, including a 58-54 win over Ole Miss Wednesday. Joe Crawford and Patrick Patterson paced the Cats with 15 points while Ramel Bradley added 14 points. Perry Stevenson also contributed seven points, five rebounds and six blocks.
Tennessee is the second top-ranked team the Cats have faced this season, having dropped a December home game to North Carolina while the Heels were No. 1.
CAT SCRATCHES
Kentucky is the all-time NCAA leader in wins with 1,964. UK has won three of its last four on the road in league play. UK boasts three of the SEC?s top 10 scorers: Joe Crawford (6th, 16.8), Patrick Patterson (8th, 16.4) and Ramel Bradley (10th, 15.8). 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 (.390) and third in scoring defense (65.5). Ramel Bradley leads the SEC in free throw shooting (.850). Mark Coury was named first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District. Patrick Patterson ranks in the SEC?s top 10 in both scoring (8th, 16.4) and rebounding (6th, 7.7). Only one freshman since 1992 has finished the season in the SEC?s top 10 in both categories. UK has held its last 17 of its last 18 opponents under 50 percent shooting. UK has allowed more then 70 points in regulation only once in SECplay. In SEC action, Patrick Patterson is averaging a league-high 38.9 minutes. Ramel Bradley is third with 37.5 minutes, and Joe Crawford is fifth with 36.5 minutes. Joe Crawford (1,319 career points) is currently 27th on UK?s all-time scoring list, and Ramel Bradley (1,244) is 32nd.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES FEB. 29
Kentucky Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement ?
?(It was a) tough day for us; losing Patrick Patterson. It?s unfortunate mostly for him as a person. He meant so much to our team as a player and a person. I have not been around a freshman that?s been asked to do more and has done more for a team. From day one he?s been expected to be a great player and he?s done that and more as a freshman. It?s a very, very tough day for him personally and a very tough day for us as a team. We?ve already had a practice and our guys understand how tough it?s going to be and it?s going to be a lot tougher, but not impossible. Our team has played a special way of basketball in the conference season; we?ll just have to be a little bit more special without him. We?re going to miss him, but it?s not the end of the world; he?ll be back before too long, unfortunately not this season. Just a tough day, but we?ll make the most out of it.?
On what the team’s morale is ?
?We?ll see. It?s easy to say you?ll be fine. It?s a devastating blow to us and it?s something we?ll have to deal with. You have a lot of choices in life on how you deal with things. Ten percent of it is what happens to you, and 90 percent is how you handle it. This will be a good test for us. The good thing is, I?m really happy that for whatever reason, they chose to get an x-ray today. Because like you were asking a while ago, if he could play through the pain, if that were possible, he would do it because he?s tough, like all of our other guys are. But if he were to do that, then he would risk the possibility of making it worse. We?re lucky, even though he?s not going to be with us the rest of the year, we?re lucky, we have good players on our team. We?ve developed a winning mindset and we?ve developed a lot of toughness. Unfortunately, we?ve been through a lot of things of this nature, we haven?t lost Patrick other than one game, but we?ve been strong enough and mentally tough enough to not allow too many things to be distractions after we started the first of the year and this will be a major test in that regard. I?m excited about the morale of the team. I think they?re tough, I think they?re driven, I think they?re really committed. I think they really care about each other. As you would expect, they?re very sad Pat?s not going to be with us anymore, but sometimes one man?s misfortune is another man?s gain. Somebody?s got to step up; everybody?s got to do a little bit more. That?s the best way to replace a great player, is everyone has to do a bit more, but some one has to step up and do a lot more and we?ll find out how that plays out as the season finishes up.?
On how it changes the way the team plays …
?We have to get the ball inside and that?s been very important to us. We?ve gotten to the foul line more than our opponents for the most part. When we played our best, we did that. We need to figure out a way to get the ball close to the basket and continue to get to the foul line. The thing about Patrick is that he wasn?t a one-dimensional player. His rebounding is so important to us, his handling the ball against pressure is so important to us. As good a player as he is, as productive a player as he is, his knowledge of the game and his leadership ability, helping guys get to the right spots even as a freshman, has been just as important as his points and rebounds and those kinds of things. It will be a major test for us, but luckily it?s not going to be a deal that?s going to be much more than six to eight weeks and he?ll come back stronger than ever whenever he?s able to get back. And we have to continue to get better, and finish up the season.?
On Tennessee being the first opponent ?
?Bring it on, bring it on. They?re great and we have great respect for them. You don?t get a choice to choose when and where things happen, that?s the way life is. Let?s deal with it; let?s make the most of it.?
On Tennessee attacking the low post more ?
?Tennessee is not going to determine everything they do based on Patrick Patterson playing or not playing. Tennessee has a great system and they?ve done a great job with it, escalating to No. 1 in the country. They have really good players. They?re going to know that Patrick?s not out there, but I would doubt they?re going to change their whole attack because Patrick?s not going to be playing on Sunday.?
ON playing on the road with Patterson ?
?This team is tough. The reason we?ll have some unfortunate situations on Sunday, and you hope you have less than they do, is because of Tennessee?s greatness. They have a great team; they have a team that?s capable of winning a championship. We?re going to miss Patrick, but our guys aren?t throwing in the towel. This is Kentucky basketball, we?re going to represent, and we?re going to do our best. We?re not going to change our resolve at all, we?ll just have to do it a little differently than what we expected four or five hours ago.?
#3 Ramel Bradley, Senior
On the injury of Patrick Patterson ?
?He?s not going to be with us the rest of the season because of his ankle. We all feel really bad for Patrick and it?s unfortunate. But, everyone has to step up now and do a little bit more so we finish the season off the right way. We?re still going to do the same things, but everyone is going to have to do a little more. Everyone is going to have to make shots and step up. One guy isn?t going to come in and fill Patrick?s shoes; it?s going to take each and every one of us.?
On his reaction to the news ?
?I felt really bad for Patrick because I know he wants to play, finish the season strong and be out on the floor to help us win games. After I heard the news I told him to stand up, get tougher and go out there to see if we can get a win.?
On team play ?
?Everyone has improved tremendously and that?s why we have been playing a lot better and winning a lot of basketball games. Everyone gets better each and every day and that?s helps us to get better to play other teams. Everybody gives 100 percent each day at practice.?
#21 Perry Stevenson, Sophomore
On taking over for Patrick Patterson ?
?I don?t think my role changes at all. I?m still going to be playing for my teammates, even if Patrick is not out there. I?m just going to have to play hard every play. I did the same things today at practice. There is just a different face that I?m passing it to sometimes.?
On team play without Patrick Patterson ?
?I think we?ll be good. We?re still a team and Patrick will be right there with us. I don?t think I can do much more than play hard and play for my teammates. His absence will take care of itself.?
On playing without Patrick Patterson at Tennessee ?
?It?s an obstacle and we?ve been facing them all season, so we need to take it in stride.?
#54 Patrick Patterson, Freshman
On how he discovered the injury ?
?I woke Tuesday morning and had some pain in my left ankle. It was on the inside, right on the tip of my bone. I reported it right away to the trainer and told Coach in practice. We treated it like a regular ankle injury. It started feeling better progressively and so I played in the (Ole Miss) game, but it started to hurt more towards the end. So when I woke up this morning we decided to get it x-rayed. We then found out I had a stress fracture. I was shocked. They told me I had to wear a cast for six to eight weeks. I started crying when I found out I couldn?t play for the rest of the remaining season. I was disappointed when I had to tell my teammates and my coach.?
On how he feels about the rest of the team ?
?I was really upset because I couldn?t play anymore. I thought it was a let down to my teammates. I really wanted to be out there and be an additional thread to my team. I was just worried about my teammates. I wanted to be out there with them to finish out the year, especially SEC play, the SEC Tournament and the post season tournament. It just hurts that I found out I can?t play anymore. But I?ll be cheerleading, sitting on the sidelines cheering on my team. Since I can?t play, I?ll do anything I can to help.?
On the team’s performance despite his absence ?
?I know they can win these games without me. I know they can play because if they couldn?t, they wouldn?t be here. We have total confidence in ourselves and our teammates. We believe in each other. I know they can go out there and get the job done.? On his parents’ reaction ?
?My dad was fine and he was calm. He said that this is just a minor setback for me and my teammates are going to accept it. They?re going to perform and shine in the moment. They?re going to step up, they?re going to play and they?re going to win. As far as my mom, she was devastated; she was upset. She wanted to know if I was okay. She?s just like every mom, she worries. But I talked to her about it and told her everything. Now she?s fine. From here we just have to take it step by step.?
