Men’s basketball: Kentucky hits another roadblock, loses 81-77 at Vanderbilt (Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader)
“It was magical,” Jenkins said of a performance in which he equaled a career-high of six three-pointers. For Kentucky, it was magical only in the sense of yet another possible victory that — poof! — disappeared in the final minutes of a possession-by-possession game.
Men’s basketball: Miller injury puts Cats in bad spot (Darrell Bird from The Cats’ Pause)
With a meager six-man rotation for the most part, Kentucky had been betting against long odds they would be able to avoid injury all season. But in Saturday’s 81-77 loss at Vanderbilt, in the 24th game, luck finally ran out.
Men’s basketball: Our postgame video interviews
General: Ranking the 25 coolest athletes of all time (Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader)
19. Dicky Lyons Jr. Remember when Lyons Jr. infuriated Rich Brooks by guaranteeing a road victory over Mississippi State in 2006? All Lyons Jr. did was go to Starkville, roll up 117 yards receiving and make a circus TD catch to spark the Kentucky victory that launched the turnaround of the Brooks era. Walking the talk is as righteous as sports gets.
Football: Former UK punt Masthay enjoying spoils of Super Bowl victory (Chip Cosby from the Lexington Herald-Leader)
The celebrity treatment is operating in full force for Tim Masthay. Masthay and his wife, Amanda, had just finished lunch at a Green Bay restaurant and were ready to settle up when they received a message from the restaurant’s manager. “They told us lunch was on the house,” Masthay said. “That was a nice little surprise.”
UK Hoops: Turnovers fuel UK women’s attack (Jennifer Smith of the Lexington Herald-Leader)
Turnovers mean extra possessions. They mean extra chances to score, especially in transition. UK is averaging 25.5 points (23.3 points in SEC play) off opponent mistakes this season, which is a huge chunk of its offense.
UK Hoops: Our pre-LSU video interview with Matthew Mitchell
Gymnastics: Two coaches are greater than one (Matt Levine of the Kentucky Kernel)
The UK gymnastics team is asking the question; why have one head coach when we can have two? Technically, Heather Hite and Chuck Dickerson, the team’s two coaches, are assistants, but they are the two who manage the team.
Baseball: Destination: postseason (Matt May from The Cats’ Pause)
The Kentucky baseball team is tired of coming close. After back-to-back seasons where they finished a half-game out of the postseason the Cats are determined to make a return. “The past two years our goal was to make it to postseason and we came up a half-game short both times so this year we’re hungry to get back,” junior outfielder Chad Wright said. “I feel like if we play like we should we could win (the SEC) because we have a lot of experience back in our pitching staff.”
Baseball/softball: My story on the year of the pitcher
There used to be a time when chicks didn’t dig the long ball, ground-ball putouts were the norm and a 2-1 score was just another day at the park. Those times are resurfacing at Kentucky’s baseball diamonds. For the Kentucky baseball and softball teams to succeed this season, it’s going to come down to pitching.
Baseball: Our video interviews with Gary Henderson and Alex Meyer from media day
Men’s tennis: Cats are doing their first live blog Sunday
Track and field: Webb leads Cats, punches ticket to NCAAs (UKathletics.com)
On a day where a number of Kentucky track and field student-athletes excelled under the pressure of championship like fields and conditions, senior Sharif Webb rose to the top as he locked in UK’s first NCAA automatic qualifying mark of the year, Saturday at the Husky Classic in Seattle.
Swimming and diving: Ferrucci, Faulkner finish in top 10 on day two of SEC Championships (UKathletics.com)
Freshman Greg Ferrucci and senior Lisa Faulkner turned in another great performance Saturday on day two of the Southeastern Conference Diving Championships. Ferrucci earned a career-high score of 400.55 in the men’s three-meter board prelims, the second best score in school history. Ferrucci’s score of 400.55 broke his previous career high by nearly 15 points.
Softball: UK rallies for extra-inning comeback over DePaul (UKathletics.com)
The Kentucky offense found its rhythm for five runs over the final two innings in a dramatic comeback 6-3 victory over DePaul in extra innings to preserve its perfect record at the FIU Combat Classic in Miami late Saturday night. Trailing 3-1 going into the top of the seventh, UK rallied for a pair of scores to force extra innings before plating three runs in the top of the eighth to secure its third consecutive victory to begin the 2011 season.
