For those who want just the news and not the chat of the liveblog format, then I’ll be posting updates from today’s Kentucky-South Carolina game on this post.
- Meeks misses shot from just inside half-court and Kentucky loses 78-77.
- Downey over Meeks with 3.2 left to put Carolina up 78-77.
- UK up 77-76 but Carolina has ball with 22.2 left.
- South Carolina leads 69-68 at 2:51 TV time. UK is shooting 48.9 percent but down by one. The turnover count for the Cats is 21. Patterson leads all scorers with 26. Fredrick still with 24 for Carolina. Downey hit a tough three in front of Carolina bench to put the visitors in front. Kentucky is up 39-34 on boards, but Carolina has grabbed key offensive rebounds. Muldrow has 12 boards for USC.
- UK goes up 68-66 on Stevenson follow jam at 3:54 mark. Carolina calls time.
- It’s 63-60 South Carolina with 7:39 remaining. This is a dogfight. UK is shooting 51.3 percent, but down by 3. The Cats have turned it over 19 times, to 8 for Carolina. The Gamecocks have 26 points off turnovers. Fredrick has 24 for visitors. Downey has 15. Patterson leads UK with 24.
- Liggins picks up charge with 10:17 left and we go to TV timeout. Carolina leads 59-58. UK actually leads 31-30 on boards but it doesn’t seem that way.
- Carolina has scored nine straight to go up 59-58 and UK calls time with 10:29 left.
- UK up 52-44 with 15:30 left in game. Cats have hit six of eight shots this half. Meeks has scored 11 points. He’s 4-of-5.
- UK’s minutes: Harris 14, Porter 7, Stevenson 16, Meeks 11, Patterson 20, Miller 10, Galloway 6, Liggins 12, Harrellson 4.
- Fredrick leads all scorers with 16 for Carolina.
- Patterson has 14 points and six rebounds.
- USC is 2-of-10 on 3s. UK is 1-of-2. The Gamecocks shot 38.9 percent from floor overall. Kentucky shot 40.7.
- UK’s points: Patterson 14, Liggins 8, Harrellson 5, Stevenson 4, Meeks 2, Galloway 2, Harris 2.
- Liggins nails a 3 at halftime buzzer to put uk up 37-36.
- South Carolina leads 31-26 with 3:48 left in half as tempers have flared, or at least Billy Gillispie’s did, earning the coach a tech. UK is shooting 45 percent. Carolina is shooting 38.7 percent.
- Kentucky leads 19-16 with 7:50 left in half. A very odd and ragged game. UK has turned it over six times and is shooting 40 percent. Carolina is shooting 29.2 Neither team has made a 3.
- It’s 12-6 Kentucky at 11:53 mark but South Carolina will be at the line. Cats have made just 4-of-11 shots, but Carolina is a frigid 2-of-15. Downey is 0-of-4. Fredrick is 0-of-3. The Gamecocks have missed all three of their 3-point attempts.
- Kentucky leads 6-5 at the 15:13 mark. Cats are cold at the start, making just two of eight shots. Meeks is 0-for-2. Carolina is 2-of-7. Carolina has doubled Cats on boards 8-4. And it appears Kentucky is trying to take more time off the clock on offense, as Gillispie mentioned yesterday.
- UK’s starters are Porter, Meeks, Harris, Stevenson and Patterson.
- The officials today are Tony Greene, Pat Aamds and Patrick Evans.
- Tom Hammond and Larry Conley are doing the game for Raycom.
LMAO…..GOOD JOB DOWNEY
The league is figuring this UK team out pretty quickly. Keep the ball away from Meeks and force the other guards to handle the ball = turnovers (21). Additionally, send everybody to the offensive glass after your misses, as KY tries to block every shot and does not hold rebounding position = offensive rebounds (18). The combnation means you get so many more shots on goal than KY that you can live with them beating you in the paint. Case in point today, SC gets 27 more shots than KY and overcomes giving up 50% shooting and 24 FTs to the Cats. The Cat mystique generated in the first 5 league games is gone.
Another poor defensive effort. 85 points to Ole Miss…78 points to South Carolina.
This must end; period.
Mark Liptak
It appeared on TV that Gillispie made an evasive move to avoid shaking Horn’s hand. If so, that’s another one of his class acts. Tubby would not even dream of such behavior.
After reading through the in-game blog, I believe that UK should fire Gillispie and not replace him. Let the players coach themselves. Some genius made the comment that without the technical, UK would have won. Gee, how about Stevenson hitting two free throws at the end and we would have won? Rather than single out the career 71.5% free throw shooter, its the coach. How about 18 offensive rebounds by South Carolina? Nah, it’s the coach’s fault. Gillispie almost forgets to shake Horn’s hand and it’s intentional and it’s a lack of class. Again, blame the coach. Hey Bob, do you know what was going through Gillispie’s mind or are you so desperately pining for Tubby that you feel compelled to point out what Tubby would or would not have done? After listening to the post-game show, he had a lengthy list if things that went wrong during the game. He took responsibility for not having disciplined players who executed. Just something to think about before you project your opinion into what happened. But, like so many UK fans on this blog and others, blame the coach. Back to my original point. After a year or two of the players coaching themselves and UK fans, like Bob, lashing out at the players, we could take a poll at a blog and vote on who should be the coach for the next game. That way, everybody can have a shot at being torn to shreds by one faction or another of UK fans.
I hate UK losses. This one is no different. It was on our home court and we had significant leads in both halves. I am more embarassed to see the way UK fans respond to adversity. It is never enough, whatever is done. I am more embarassed to see a hometown sports writer go after the head coach because he acts inappropriately corrects a reporter who in previous game asked a legitimately silly question. I guess looking into the past a little bit might reveals some of these things to those who were inclined to do so.
John, you enjoy linking to KSR. Here is a good link to include:
http://new.kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=13233
Yeah, UK basketball has problems right now. They can be addressed with time. The people with the real problems are the Tubby lover, the Tubby haters, and all those who one week are predicting a 16-0 run through the SEC and the next week are wailing and moaning about how bad we are. There used to be UK fans. We used to have passionate fans. Now, we just have a bunch of whiners. I am a UK fan. I don’t care who the coach is or is not or whether he interviews on television well. I don’t care if the players like or dislike him. I care that UK plays hard. I care that the fans live up to the expectations they set for the team. We expect the team, the coach, the organization to be winners. It is time we start behaving like winners instead of whiners.
John,
I just wonder if you ran a poll about Rich Brooks’ reaction to a question at the half of the Liberty Bowl what the response would be. The reporter asked Brooks what UK needed to do to win the game and his response was “Score more points. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.” He then proceeded to answer the question. In the poll, I think you should ask if that was acceptable or unacceptable, since we are concerned with how our coaches respond to reporters’ questions.
Wow. It is sub genius Tom Seaver form the Bob and Tom Show. Hey last March Billy Clyde Gillispie SEC Coach of the Year was Tom Seaver’s savior. Now Tom wants to fire no-contract Billy after two SEC losses. Each game last year Billy lost, according to Tom, you know it, “Tubby’s Fault.” Tom does not know spit about NCAA Division I mens basketball. Change your diaper Tom we can all smell it from here. Hey Tom, how many points will Tubby Smith defeat Billy Clyde in the NIT? Make a prediction Tom.
Good to know Dr. Rick remembers his betters. Am I “from” or “form” the Bob and Tom Show, Ricky Boy? At no point did I say I wanted to fire BCG. Rather, poor, slow Dr Rick, I said people need to deal with what we have now and rather than jumping on the bandwagon and off with the results of a one or two games or comparing BCG to Tubby (nice loss to Northwestern, by the way), think long term. I doubt you know any more than I do about Division I basketball, but just for kicks and giggles, what are your credentials regarding Division I basketball? You watched it for a while? Went to a game? Hit a shot in your driveway? Dunked on your six year-old nephew on your Nerf Hoop and taunted her over it? While we could argue who knows more about Division I basketball, what is beyond reproach is your stunning lack of reading comprehension. I think that, given your inability to read sentences longer than two or three words and to put sentences into proper structure, you should re-evaluate from where the smell is coming. My guess is that you have had your head so far up your arse that the smell is simply you, Dr. “Poor Grammar and Spelling” Rick.
Dr. Rick should just keep his mouth closed. He makes no effort to present an argument for or against anything Tom Seaver said. Ad hominem attacks are a sign of a weak argument. Tom Seaver is right; UK fans need to hang together.