Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. South Carolina
No. 14 Kentucky will look to snap a two-game skid on Saturday against South Carolina (noon ET, ESPN2). For that to happen, the Cats must have one thing for sure – energy.
During his weekly media opportunity on Thursday, Pope talked about how energy is what drives his team and makes them better.
“For us, the pace of the game is really important, it’s important to how we play,” Pope said. “We function well because of our pace and because of our movement away from the ball. And that takes energy. We’re an energy team. We feed off energy, we live and thrive off energy. The way we were built was to beat teams through wave after wave of energy.”
With injuries to Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Kerr Kriisa, the Cats have shortened their bench at times this season. However, Pope and the staff are now trending in the other direction, trying to create more energy by incorporating more players.
“We went three or four games where we were playing some guys over the 30-minute mark and we go back and forth with ourselves,” Pope said. “Right now, we think we have good, young players so we would like to expand their minutes so we can have more intensity and more energy on the court more consistently from different guys. Time will tell if that’s a winning strategy or not. For us to be at the very best we can be with the players we have, with the way we’re built, the way we’re designed, the way our skillsets flow, the more energy we can infuse in this game is a really key part of it and so we’re going to keep trying to stretch that way and I think we can.”
Energy is not just running up and down the court. Energy can, and should, be generated when the Cats are running their offense as well.
“In the half court, you create a ton of energy, too,” Pope said. “And we’ve had real success doing that this year. You have to be more diligent and forceful to do it.”
South Carolina’s record is a bit deceiving, according to Pope. While the Gamecocks are 10-12 and 0-9 in the Southeastern Conference, Pope has seen them hang with some of the best teams in the country.
“They’ve had every team in this league on the ropes,” Pope said. “They had Auburn on the ropes, they had Florida on the ropes. A good team, well-coached just like every team in this league.”
Pope and the Cats hope that bringing more energy to the floor on Saturday can be a successful formula against South Carolina.
Williams’ Triple Double Not Enough at Ole Miss
Amari Williams recorded the fourth triple-double in Kentucky basketball history, but the 14th-ranked Cats lost at No. 25 Ole Miss 98-84 on Tuesday night in Oxford.
Williams had 12 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists in the game, joining Chris Mills (Dec. 27, 1988), De’Aaron Fox (Nov. 28, 2016) and Isaiah Briscoe (Dec. 29, 2016) in the exclusive club.
Kentucky (15-7, 4-5 Southeastern Conference) got a career-high 24 points from Otega Oweh and 18 points from Jaxson Robinson. Koby Brea and Andrew Carr each had 10 points for the Cats.
Some additional notes from the game:
• Kentucky made 10 of 21 on 3-pointers. The Wildcats are 11-3 this season when making at least 10 long balls in a game.
• Kentucky won the rebounding 37-29. UK is 11-3 this season when winning the rebounding.
• Cats had 21 assists on 29 field goals, a 72.4 percent assist rate. It was the ninth game this season for Kentucky with at least 20 total assists
• Wildcats shot 29-58 (.500) from the field overall. UK is 10-1 when shooting 50 percent or better this season
• Ole Miss finished with 24 assists and just one turnover. The 24 assists tied for the most ever by the Rebels against Kentucky
• Ole Miss’s 98 points were the Rebels most ever against Kentucky
• This was Kentucky’s first game this season to feature no ties and no lead changes
• UK lost despite leading Ole Miss in second chance points (6-2), bench points (20-18), points in the paint (38-30) and fastbreak points (13-8)
• Kentucky played without starting point guard Lamont Butler for the third consecutive game.
Kentucky Honoring 1975 National Runner Up Team
The University of Kentucky Athletics Department will celebrate the 1974-1975 men’s basketball team, which finished as the national runner-up and captured the Southeastern Conference regular-season crown, this weekend with festivities surrounding Saturday’s game vs. South Carolina inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.
The ceremony will take place during halftime of the game on Saturday, which tips off at Noon ET and will be televised on ESPN2.
Head coach Joe B. Hall’s 1974-75 Wildcats went 26-5 overall (15-3 SEC) and finished the season ranked No. 2 nationally.
The season began on Nov. 30 with a 97-70 home win over Northwestern. UK earned wins over No. 9 North Carolina, No. 18 Kansas, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 18 Tennessee and had two wins over No. 5 Alabama during the regular season.
The Wildcats opened their NCAA Tournament quest with a win over No. 10 Marquette in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Cats then took down Central Michigan in Dayton, Ohio, before nipping No. 1 Indiana by a 92-90 score to move on to the Final Four. Kentucky then topped Syracuse by a 95-79 score to reach the national final.
Prior to the game, legendary coach John Wooden announced his retirement following the title game. Motivated by that announcement, the Bruins claimed a 92-85 victory and their 10th NCAA title.
Hall was named the SEC Coach of the Year, while senior Kevin Grevey earned consensus second-team All-America honors and he was the SEC Player of the Year. He was joined on the All-SEC Team by fellow senior Jimmy Dan Conner, and freshman Rick Robey.
Grevey scored 34 points in the championship game, while Bob Guyette (16) and Mike Flynn (10) also reached double-digit scoring. Flynn went 9 of 13 and had a team-high 22 points in the upset of top-rated and the favorite to win the title, Indiana, who had won 34 straight games.
