Kentucky Looking to Keep Its Focus Inward
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If the crowd at Kentucky’s media availability Friday is any indication, the media attention for Saturday’s game between No. 2/1 Kansas (18-2) and No. 4/4 Kentucky (17-3) has officially reached epic proportions.
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| Kentucky vs. Kansas | ||
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Sat., Jan. 28 – 6:15 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: ESPN |
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| UK | 2016-17 Team Stats | KU |
| 17-3 | Record | 18-2 |
| 7-1 | Conference Record | 7-1 |
| 92.2 | PPG | 84.6 |
| 72.6 | Opp PPG | 71.0 |
| .496 | FG% | .498 |
| .417 | Opp FG% | .410 |
| 40.9 | RPG | 40.2 |
| .353 | 3PT FG% | .418 |
| .309 | Opp 3PT FG% | .354 |
| .691 | FT% | .632 |
| 17.8 | APG | 17.5 |
| 6.4 | SPG | 7.1 |
| 6.2 | BPG | 5.0 |
There’s no doubt the number of media members asking questions and taking notes Friday at the Joe Craft Center was as many or more than many programs get for their preseason media day. But that’s Kentucky basketball, and that’s certainly Kentucky basketball when a top-five team with a rich history like Kansas comes to town.
With that in mind, the Wildcats will face a difficult task even before they face the mighty Jayhawks, and that’s to block it all out.
“It’s going to be a big game,” UK freshman guard De’Aaron Fox said, “but I just feel like you gotta stay level-headed and go through every game the same.”
UK head coach John Calipari, as he has said many times before, referred to all the noise, comments, suggestions and stories around his players as “clutter.” The good stories written about his team and its players is “poison.”
“You can drink that stuff and die,” he said.
On the other side of the spectrum, the stories that critique his team and the players, nit-picking at problems – real or perceived – and what needs to happen next, “starts breaking down (the) team.”
Then, especially with the star players that have come to Kentucky each year under Calipari, there are the NBA mock drafts that begin to pop up more and more frequently as the postseason approaches. Whether the players check out to see where or if they’re ranked, or if they hear it from their family and friends, they hear it.
“You wouldn’t go to the draft boards?” Calipari asked the assembled media. “You wouldn’t go to the draft boards every day? Every day. You’d go four times a day. And you’d look, ‘Where am I drafted,’ and if you started going the wrong way you’d probably think you have to shoot more. No. ‘I have to hold the ball a little bit.’ No.
“It’s all stuff we deal with, with young kids. That’s why I say you have to have relationships with these kids. It’s a different day and age.”
Commercials hyping up Saturday’s game began airing on ESPN last Saturday. Since then, the game has consistently been mentioned on the Worldwide Leader’s multitude of platforms. From the programs’ histories, to the former players now in the NBA, the well-known and highly regarded head coaches, famous home arenas, wins, championships and current star players, this game has plenty of options when it comes to building up excitement and anticipation.
Perhaps that’s why ESPN’s College GameDay, the premier traveling college basketball pregame show on TV, is visiting Rupp Arena to preview the game.
Ultimately, it’s great exposure for both schools, both programs and the players on both sides, but UK’s goal is tune it all out.
“I just think – it’s probably motivation for a lot of other people, but I just look at it as another game,” Kentucky senior guard Dominique Hawkins said. “I feel like a lot of people view our games and are watching on TV as well, but this one’s just going to get a little bit more extra attention.
“That’s (the advice) I would give to (the younger players). It’s just another game. It’s going to be crazy in Rupp, probably the loudest of the season, but just take it one game at a time.”
Both teams enter this crazed game coming off conference road losses. Kansas actually led at West Virginia with less than 10 minutes to play in the game, but was outscored 27-10 over the final 9:09. Kentucky trailed at Tennessee for nearly three-quarters of the game, rallied late to cut its deficit to two points, but couldn’t get over the hump.
“It’s a big-time challenge for these young kids,” Calipari said. “We saw it last game where you have your chance to get back in the game and try to win the game and we just make some unforced errors. That’s the process of learning with young guys. Now you hope that they realize, OK, what did I do, what could I have done, and next time I’m in that situation I’m going to try to do the right thing. But these are experiences my young guys have never been in.”
Kentucky’s first opportunity to right the wrongs from the Tennessee loss on the scoreboard will be Saturday, but first it must avoid the clutter leading up to the game.
“I’ve always tried to keep teams in the moment,” Coach Cal said. “Don’t worry about that. You worry about now. You do your best every day, that stuff all plays out fine.
“At this stage, I’m not worried about (Kansas). I’m worried about us. Let’s have another great practice even though it’s going to be shorter. Let’s really get something out of this and go play as well as we can play.”
College Basketball’s Winningest Programs Meet for First Time in Rupp Since 2005
In what has become a semi-annual matchup, the two-winningest college basketball programs will meet for the third consecutive season when No. 2/1 Kansas visits No. 4/4 Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Saturday. The two teams began the stretch during the 2014-15 season with a matchup in the Champions Classic in Chicago, before the SEC/Big 12 Challenge pitted the two squads against one another in back-to-back years over the last two. The teams are also set to meet during the 2017 edition of the Champions Classic next season.
Kansas has not visited Rupp Arena since the 2004-05 season when the Jayhawks came away with a 65-59 win. Kansas claimed last year’s matchup in a 90-84 overtime win in Lawerence, Kansas. Prior to that, UK had captured three straight in the series, including the 2012 national championship. Kentucky leads the all-time series 22-7, including a 7-1 edge when the game is played in Lexington.
Saturday’s meeting will mark the first matchup of Associated Press top-five squads in Rupp Arena since Dec. 31, 2011, when No. 4 Louisville took on the third-ranked Wildcats. It will be the seventh all-time meeting of AP nonconference top-five teams in Rupp Arena, with Kentucky holding a 6-0 record in those games. UK is 12-5 under John Calipari when both teams are top-10 squads.
Both teams enter Saturday’s matchup having suffered a road loss in league play. The last time UK lost back-to-back games was in a eerily similar stretch a season ago. UK fell in overtime at Kansas and then lost at Tennessee on Jan. 30 and Feb. 2, 2016. Prior to that, UK had not lost back-to-back games since Feb. 27 and March 1, 2014. Kansas last lost consecutive games in games 8-9 of the 2013-14 season (Dec. 7 at Colorado and Dec. 10 at Florida).
Late Second-Half Push Not Enough at Tennessee
Malik Monk scored 25 points, but fourth-ranked Kentucky fell on the road at Tennessee 82-80 on Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Bam Adebayo had 21 points, including 15 in the second half. Adebayo made 7 of 8 from the field and the free-throw line. Isaiah Briscoe had his second double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in the game. De’Aaron Fox was the fourth Wildcat in double figures, scoring 17 points.
The Wildcats shot 41.7 percent from the floor, ending a streak of seven straight games in which they made at least 50 percent of their shots. Kentucky committed 14 turnovers, leading to 19 Tennessee points. Kentucky got 14 points off of nine Volunteer miscues. The Vols won the points in the paint battle 42-28.
Kentucky (17-3, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead, but Tennessee scored the next seven points to take a 9-8 lead. The Vols would stretch the lead to four on two occasions, but that was the largest lead by either team until late in the half, when the Vols assembled a 9-4 run that would give them a 39-34 lead at the break.
Early in the second half, Kentucky cut the lead to three at 41-38 on a layup by Fox. But Tennessee responded again, this time with a 9-2 run that gave the Vols their biggest lead of the game at that point, 50-40, with 16:55 remaining. It was the Wildcats’ second- biggest deficit of the season
Tennessee (11-9, 4-4) would extend the lead to as many as 11, and led 62-52 with 8:43 to play. That’s when Kentucky came clawing back. The Wildcats went on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 66-64 with 5:00 left. After Tennessee extended the lead back to seven at 73-66, the Wildcats came back again. Kentucky was able to get within three on three occasions, but the Wildcats would get no closer until Briscoe’s three-pointer with under a second remaining provided the final margin.
Additional notes:
• Kentucky has lost two in a row and three of the last four in Knoxville
• UK scored 34 first-half points, tying its season low (vs. Michigan State – Nov. 15, 2016)
• Kentucky has scored at least 80 points in eight consecutive SEC games for the first time since the 1995-96 season
• Monk tied Jamal Murray (six) for the most 25-plus point games as a freshman at UK under Calipari. It was his 12th 20-point game this season
• Adebayo has made 21 of 25 (84 percent) field-goal attempts over the last five games
