World Wide Wes sat in front row of end zone in front of Kentucky cheering section. (Photo by John Clay)
Here at Madison Square Garden for UK-Connecticut:
- Kentucky wins 64-61.
- Wall somehow drives to basket and muscles in an and-one, then makes foul shot to give Kentucky a 63-61 lead over UConn. Huskies call time with 26.6 left.
- By the way, this has been a terrific game.
- Kentucky hasn’t scored since 3:00 mark and now trails Connecticut 61-60 with 48.7 left. Bledsoe has joined Orton on bench with five fouls.
- John Wall has scored nine of last 11 for Kentucky and Cats hanging at Garden, leading 60-57 over Connecticut with 2:52 left. Wall has 20. Orton has just fouled out with 2:52 left. That could be big. He has banged bodies all night. Edwards has come up huge for Huskies, with 16 points. Dyson has just four in second half.
- Wild back and forth with Kentucky clinging 56-53 over Connecticut with 4:51 left.
- Kentucky leads 49-46 with 7:59 left but this indeed has a heavyweight feel at the Garden that should go down to the buzzer. Wall has made a couple of freshman errors, including one just before the TV time, which had Calipari up off the bench and in his ear. World Wide Wes, Ron Harper, and Chris Douglas-Roberts are all taking it in behind the Kentucky cheerleaders.
- Here’s that run we were looking for, as Kentucky now within one, 40-39, of UConn with 11:35 left. Cats finally make a 3. Patterson does it. He has 14 points to lead Cats. Wall has 10.
- UConn up 33-28 as Kentucky has yet to make a run early in 2H. Wall did score his first basket since 16:27 of first half. No made 3s by either team to this point. There’s 15:36 left.
- The 23 is fewest first-half points for Kentucky this year. Next lowest? The 32 versus Stanford in the Cancun Challenge.
- UConn outrebounded Kentucky 26-14 the first half. UK shot 33 percent, and missed all four of its 3s. Wall played 9 minutes. Pat 4-11 on FG. UK points: Patterson 9, Wall 6, Bledsoe 4, Dodson 2, Miller 2.
- UConn outscored UK 9-5 with Wall on the bench. But even when Wall was on the floor, the Huskies survived that opening shot and took control of the game. Dyson and Kemba Walker controlled the final 15 minutes of the half.
- Connecticut takes a 29-23 lead into halftime. Jerome Dyson leads all scorers with 13 points. John Wall sat out the final 7:56 of the half with two fouls.
- Connecticut up 26-21 with 3:21 left in first half. With Wall on the bench and the remaining UK backcourt playing turn-it-over, the Huskies have turned it into a bruising battle underneath. The Huskies are better at it, thus far, anyway. Patterson leads Kentucky with nine points.
- UConn leads 20-18 with 7:56 left in first half, as Kentucky is now plagued with two-foul players. Orton, Cousins, Harris and Wall each have two fouls. So after that initial 12-0 lead, Kentucky has been outscored 20-6. The Cats have one field goal in the last five minutes. The Huskies’ Jerome Dyson has been the best player on the floor.
- And just like that the Kentucky lead was gone in a New York minute. UConn has stormed back to tie it up 16-16 with 10:53 left in half. After being yanked early, Jerome Dyson has led the Huskie comeback. He has eight of the 16 Connecticut points. Kentucky, which started so strong early, now looks like the young team playing on a big stage.
- Kentucky has raced to a 12-0 lead with 16:26 left in first half. UConn’s Jim Calhoun called time 23 seconds into the game, and now he has just taken his second. John Wall has six points and has controlled the game thus far. He’s blown by Huskie defenders, made steals, hit a shot from the right of the circle. Quite a start.
- Kentucky is wearing the road blue. And there is plenty of blue here at the Garden. Lot of Connecticut blue, as well.
- World Wide Wes is here. He was on the front row in the end zone, nine seats down from Dr. Lee Todd. He left when the UK cheerleaders parked in front of him, but has returned. Ron Harper is with him.
- The internet connection, which was good for St. John’s 66-56 win over Georgia, has all but died now. There’s not enough bandwith to run Cover it Live out here on press row. So we’ll have to old-school it tonight.
How much blue (UK)in the stands tonight?
hey john how are you?do you think we win?
this is 2009 not 1999….every venue should have enough broadband connection…
How is the crowd? Gotta love new York cant even get a decent internet connection
You would think Madison Sq Garden would have plenty of bandwidth….well thought Freedom Hall would too…go figure Enjoy the game, John Bourbon Co Mike
The guys on ESPN are dorks
Nice to see Vitale. He is a KY fan!
go cats
Where did ESPN get the announcers? What is the spread on the game?
seems we aren’t getting any breaks on calls…maybe I am just partisan lol
Looks like we’re playing the officials tonight!
Excellent move by Cal to leave Wall on the bench. The rest of the team needs to get some confidence playing without him in the game. I still say the officials suck tonight….
score score
While I was looking in on the game, I couldn’t believe how bad the refs were calling this game. They are definitely from the big east… blind as bats!!!
great…internet sucks and no blog…AND technical problems and no TV
cousins should have to shoot free throws 12 hrs a day…pathetic on his part. Even I can hit a free throw or 2 lol
John, you and Tipton just got an on air mention from Dickie V!
Are these refs from the Big East by chance???
Typical Madison Square Garden officiating!!! That ball was so out of bounds on UConn it wasn’t funny! Why is it the thug ball teams that are known for physical play never seem to get called when they play us?
No three by Uconn…please..or foul
John, I can’t wait for the UK v. Clemson bowl game on December 27th. It’s going to be awesome. Cats by 7.
Oh, yeah, about the basketball game… so if I’m a UK fan and I got tired of hearing Dicky V go on about Wall, imagine how a UConn fan must have felt after the game.
Wall’s a great player. But Bledsoe is awesome too, and he’ll be here LONG after Wall is gone and forgotten by UK fans. Let’s show Bledsoe some love too.
hey Phil… no disrepect, but I don’t think Kentucky fans will ever forget John Wall.
Wall is undoubtedly the best point guard in the nation. But before you Kentucky fans get all hyped up he is only here for one year. And, observing the game last night, without Wall, Kentucky would have lost. If Alter Majok had played even with Wall playing, Kentucky would have lost. We get Alter the 20th, you get no one else and I can’t wait to see you again in the Ncaa’s. Harold
John Wall is the best point guard in the nation. Maybe, even the best college ball player right now. But, let’s be real, Kentucky fans, he gets injured and you are done. Without Wall, UConn would have won last night. And, even with Wall, had Alter Majok been eligible to play (he is eligible Dec 20th) Kentucky would have lost. If we play you in the NCAA tournament, even with Wall, you are history. Harold