UK to Get Stiff First-Round Challenge from Davidson
BOISE, Idaho – Every chance he gets this week, Coach Cal is heaping effusive praise on Davidson.
“They’re not a 12 seed,” Calipari said. “They won their tournament. They beat St. Bonaventure and (Rhode Island) back-to-back nights. They’re not a 12 seed. This will be a hard game for us. We know it and our kids know it.”
Some might think he’s blowing some smoke to make sure fifth-seeded UK (24-10) is ready to play its NCAA Tournament opener at 7:10 p.m. ET on Thursday at Taco Bell Arena against Davidson (21-11). Don’t count Bob McKillop among them.
You see, back in the late 1980s, McKillop was coaching at Long Island Lutheran High School, where he coached a player named Kennard Robinson. The big man caught Calipari’s eye in his first years as head coach at UMass and eventually ended up playing for him. After that, Davidson’s legendary 29th-year head coach knows to take Coach Cal at his word.
“John went on to ensure that that young man graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and played professional basketball in the Philippines,” McKillop said. “I trusted one of my quote, unquote, sons with John 30 years ago, 35 years ago, and he honored that trust. So I trust everything John says.”
His players today at Kentucky do too, evidenced by how seriously they are taking the challenge of facing McKillop’s Wildcats. If you’re looking for a team full of favored freshmen to underestimate an underdog opponent, Kentucky-Davidson might not be the game for you.
 |
||
| Kentucky vs. Davidson | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Thur., March 15 – 7:10 p.m. ET |
||
| Coverage | ||
|
TV: CBS |
||
| UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | DC |
| 24-10 | Record | 21-11 |
| 10-8 | Conference Record | 13-5 |
| 76.7 | PPG | 76.4 |
| 70.3 | Opp PPG | 67.6 |
| .470 | FG% | .483 |
| .406 | Opp FG% | .437 |
| 38.6 | RPG | 32.8 |
| .361 | 3PT FG% | .391 |
| .299 | Opp 3PT FG% | .352 |
| .697 | FT% | .797 |
| 13.4 | APG | 16.8 |
| 5.6 | SPG | 4.8 |
| 4.9 | BPG | 2.0 |
“They’re so disciplined on both ends of the floor,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You gotta really be on point and focused defensively. We’ll be ready for the game tomorrow.”
The challenge for Kentucky starts at the 3-point line, where Davidson is among the best in America. McKillop’s team is 28th nationally in 3-point percentage (0.391), and it’s not as if the Wildcats are only taking a handful a game. Davidson shoots 48.2 percent of their field goals from beyond the arc, the sixth-highest rate in the country, and has hit 13 or more 3s in 12 games this season, including an astounding 26 in its season opener. By comparison, UK’s season high for 3s made is 12, reached last Saturday against Alabama.
“They could come out, make 10 in a row; they could come out, miss 10 in a row,” Hamidou Diallo said. “Even if they miss 10 in a row, they can make 10 in a row in the second half. They’re a great 3-point shooting team. We just gotta make sure that we come out and take care of business and we play the type of basketball that we know we can play.”
Senior forward Peyton Aldridge (21.5 ppg) and freshman guard Kellan Grady (18.0 ppg) lead a Davidson team that has won 11 of 12 games, including sweeping through the Atlantic 10 Tournament to claim its conference’s automatic bid. Davidson is not a deep team, but everyone in their regular rotation shoots at least 37.7 percent from 3. Davidson also shares the ball well, with 61.6 percent of their baskets on the season coming off assists.
“You just gotta make sure the shots are hard,” Wenyen Gabriel said. “They’re going to shoots 3s. They’re going to get the shots off, but what you gotta do as a team is use our length to try to bother them and when we can run them off the line when we have the opportunity.”
Gabriel hits on an important point: UK has actually been excellent this season defending the 3. Of course opponents attempt a lot of them – 25.6 per game – but they’re only hitting 29.9 percent this year, third lowest in the country.
“Just how athletic, long and quick we are,” Diallo said, explaining UK’s 3-point defense. “We’re able to guard multiple positions with multiple players, so it makes it a little bit easier for us. But coming out to this game, I don’t think we’ve played a 3-point shooting team that shoots it as well as them.”
Indeed, no UK opponent this season can top the 10.7 made 3s per game Davidson averages. How the Cats cope with that challenge will go a long way toward determining whether they advance.
“I know we’re prepared,” Calipari said. “I know they’re in a great frame of mind. I know I’ve got great kids. But this is going to be an unbelievably good execution team. Do we have the discipline to stay in a stance with 25 seconds each time down and talk and move? I don’t know.”
Gilgeous-Alexander believes he has the answer to that.
“I think as of right now we’re playing with a chip on our shoulder,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “A lot of people think that they can upset us and we’re the team to beat in the first round. We’ll be more than ready for this game coming up.”
Wildcats Claim 31st SEC Tournament Title, Sixth Under Coach Cal
Through preseason hype and midseason struggle, all John Calipari has ever wanted is a team of players playing for each other and peaking when it counts. After Kentucky delivered a complete performance to claim the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship, he’s got it.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (24-10) completed their march through St. Louis on Sunday, taking down No. 2 seed Tennessee (25-8) in a 77-72 victory. The win gave UK its 31st SEC Tournament championship and fourth in a row while avenging two regular-season defeats at the hands of the Volunteers.
UK had a primarily blue-clad Scottrade Center crowd rolling in the early going, answering an opening Tennessee basket with a Kevin Knox 3-pointer. Soon after, UK’s lead ballooned to 10-3 and eventually 33-16 before the league co-champion Vols closed to within five points by the end of the first half with a 15-3 run. It was game on from there.
The Vols picked up where they left off to start the second half, with Admiral Schofield – who had 22 points for the game – continuing his barrage with a 3-pointer to give Tennessee a 41-38 lead. But as they have all tournament, the Cats had the answer.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored five straight points to reclaim the lead and soon after found Knox for a 3-pointer to key a 14-2 run. Tennessee wouldn’t go quietly and even took back the lead at one point, but the Volunteers couldn’t pry the title away from the Cats nor SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors from Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 29 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander piled up gaudy averages of 21 points and 6.7 assists in three UK wins to claim the big award, but the darling of the weekend in St. Louis was Wenyen Gabriel. Gabriel joined Gilgeous-Alexander and Knox on the all-tournament team, backing up a semifinal performance of 23 points on seven made 3s by posting 12 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks on Sunday. His biggest play came with just over four minutes left, when he rebounded a missed free throw by Knox and scored the go-ahead put-back.
The next time down, Gabriel was one-upped by his fellow sophomore. When Gabriel’s corner 3 rimmed out, the miss caromed perfectly to Sacha Killeya-Jones as he flew toward the hoop. In one motion, Killeya-Jones dropped the hammer with a ferocious dunk to give UK a four-point lead.
The daggers would come from Killeya-Jones as well, as he came up with two big blocks in the final minutes to help close out the game. Seven made free throws in eight attempts in the final 34 seconds finished the job.
NOTABLES:
• Not only was it UK’s fourth SEC Tournament title in a row, it was the Wildcats’ sixth in nine seasons under Calipari. For Calipari, it was his 15th conference tournament championship in 19 appearances in title games
• It’s the third time UK has won at least four consecutive SEC Tournament championships (the Wildcats won seven in a row from 1944-50 and four straight from 1992-95)
• Kentucky has an all-time record of 133-25 in the SEC Tournament and has won 12 in a row
• Calipari improved to 22-3 in the SEC Tournament and has been in the finals eight times during his nine years
• Kentucky limited Tennessee to 37.1 percent from the field. UK is now 167-14 under Calipari when keeping the opponent under 40 percent from the field, including 3-0 in the SEC Tournament
• UK made 24 of 51 shots from behind the arc in the tournament, a 47.1-percent clip
• Gilgeous-Alexander was one off his career-high point total and tied his career high in rebounds
• Gilgeous-Alexander, Gabriel and Knox were named to the SEC All-Tournament Team. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged a team-best 21.0 points in St. Louis, Knox tallied 14.7 per game, and Gabriel averaged 13.7 on 11-of-15 3-point shooting, including a school SEC Tournament record 7-for-7 afternoon in the semifinals
Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament
Kentucky is making its nation-leading 57th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2018 (58 on-court appearances as the 1988 appearance was vacated).
The Wildcats were selected as the No. 5 seed in the South Region. The Wildcats will play Davidson, the No. 12 seed in the region, on Thursday, in Boise, Idaho.
This is the second time in program history the Wildcats have earned a No. 5 seed in the annual event. The only previous time was in 2000 when the Wildcats played in Cleveland, defeating St. Bonaventure 85-80 in overtime in the first round before falling to fourth-seeded Syracuse in the second round, 52-50.
UK is 46-10 in tournament openers and has won 23 of its last 24 opening-round tournament games. UK owns a 124-50 record all-time in NCAA action, with its .712 winning percentage the fifth best in NCAA history. This is the fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Wildcats.
Kentucky owns a 1-0 record all-time against Davidson in the NCAA Tournament, defeating the Wildcats 75-55 in the opening round in 1986 in Charlotte. UK was a No. 1 seed that season and advanced to the regional finals before falling to LSU. Davidson is coming off a 58-57 upset of top-seeded Rhode Island in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Sunday.
In addition to receiving the league’s automatic bid with the win, the Wildcats advanced to their 14th NCAA Tournament and ninth under head coach Bob McKillop. Davidson is 21-11 on the year and has won eight of its last nine games. The Wildcats are averaging 76.4 points per game this season and are paced by senior forward Peyton Aldridge, who is averaging 21.5 points per game with 7.8 rebounds per game.
With a win over Davidson, Kentucky would face the winner between No. 4 seed Arizona (27-7) and No. 13 seed Buffalo (26-8). Kentucky and Arizona have met just once in the NCAA Tournament in the 1997 championship game with Arizona earning a 84-79 overtime win. UK and Buffalo have never played in the tournament, but Kentucky owns a 1-0 advantage all-time over the Bulls, having defeated UB 71-52 on Nov. 16, 2014.
Kentucky is 26-6 (.813) in NCAA Tournament games under the direction of Calipari. Calipari is 51-17 (.750) as a head coach in NCAA Tournament games.
UK Leads in NCAA Tournament Wins
UK leads the nation in all-time NCAA Tournament victories with 124. It also leads the country in wins in the tournament since 2010, when John Calipari first led the Wildcats into the Big Dance, entering the 2018 tournament:
26 – Kentucky
21 – North Carolina
20 – Duke
19 – Kansas
18 – Wisconsin
16 – Louisville, Michigan State, Florida
15 – Butler, Gonzaga, Syracuse
