John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

Jerry Tipton of the H-L writes that Wall and Cousins led the way over Alabama: ” DeMarcus Cousins posted his seventh straight double-double. And fellow freshman John Wall almost did him one better by flirting with a triple-double, not that he would have been proud of the achievement. Wall’s six turnovers marred an otherwise top-notch game as he led Kentucky to a 66-55 victory over Alabama Tuesday night.”

My column on Kentucky’s turnovers: “On the night, Kentucky shot 45.8 percent overall, made just three of 16 three-pointers and was just 19-for-31 at the foul line. That’s not good. More than anything, however, three words that John Calipari keeps repeating kept repeating as you watched the game unfold. Value the basketball.”

Herald-Leader photo slide show.

High School Hoop has C.J. Leslie’s coach saying it is wide open: “‘We honestly don’t even talk about it. He’s still wide open. There’re a lot looking at him, and some new schools starting to come around, and he will entertain and has entertained. He’s still wide open, and we’ve made a promise to each other that we wouldn’t deal with it until the season’s over.’” (Hat tip Bluegrass State Basketball.)

Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal says there were brilliant flashes and ill-timed turnovers: “Freshman John Wall had 22 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for the Cats (23-1, 8-1 Southeastern Conference), but his five first-half turnovers helped prevent UK from pulling away early.”

Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press-Register reports from Lexington that fighting effort not enough for Tide: “There was no extended locker room powwow after the toughest test of the season for Alabama’s basketball team. Crimson Tide coach Anthony Grant has made it clear he’ll never praise a loss, but tonight’s 66-55 defeat at third-ranked Kentucky may be the closest he’ll come to that point.”

Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News reports from  Lexington on the loss: “The University of Alabama men’s basketball team didn’t find the win it needed to break its Southeastern Conference losing streak on Tuesday night, but it did find something else at Rupp Arena. Truth in advertising.”

Mark Story of the H-L on new UK assistant football coach Tee Martin: ” Tee Martin says he hasn’t yet let himself contemplate what it will be like standing on the visiting sideline in Neyland Stadium. Now that Joker Phillips has named Martin wide receivers coach at Kentucky, the quarterback of Tennessee’s undefeated 1998 national champions will find out Nov. 27.”

Matt May of the Cats Pause writes that UK turned back the Tide: “The great Wall of Kentucky stepped on his own dribble. True enough, college basketball’s premier point guard left a Nike sole print on his own leather. It was that kind of first half for Wall and the rest of the Cats, but they like most championship-caliber teams it wasn’t enough to derail the victory train.”

Brian Rickerd of the Frankfort State-Journal writes off night still brings a W: “The Crimson Tide simply are not very good, though they have a great coach in Anthony Grant. Believe me, Alabama had no business being in this game, any more than Drexel or Hartford. Fortunately for Kentucky, the first-year Alabama head coach has very little talent to work with.”

Kentucky Sports Network has a lot of post-game video.

Metz Camfield of the Kentucky Kernel on UK’s win over Bama: “Liggins gave the Cats a boost throughout the game, diving on loose balls and grabbing timely rebounds. Upon entering the game in the first half, Liggins immediately grabbed two offensive boards to keep a possession alive for UK which eventually led to a two-point basket. Liggins finished with eight points and seven rebounds, but his hustle and defensive presence might have been even more impressive.”

James Pennington of the Kernel writes that Anthony Grant showed some chops: “Looking past the poor offensive execution on both ends of the floor – that’s not a coaching problem, that’s a player problem – Grant forced his gameplan down UK’s throat, up until the Tide’s deficit became too significant to overcome without trying the old let’s-hope-they-miss-their-free-throws routine.”

A Sea of Blue gives its usual postmortem on the UK win: “This was an interesting game tonight. Alabama played a zone, just as everyone else has done against the ‘Cats, and it was a very effective zone, too. Kentucky struggled a lot in the post-up game, as the Tide were very diligent in double-teaming DeMarcus Cousins every time he touched the basketball. Cuz did a lot of passing out of the post, but he also turned the ball over quite a bit doing it, showing that, as good as he is, he has plenty of improvement left to make.”

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Kentucky Sports Radio looks ahead: “A couple interesting developments last night: first, either Vandy is seriously for real or Tennessee is starting to tank, because that was a mismatch at every position for Vandy. I can not imagine UT beating the Cats on Saturday. Second, I think Purdue, with the right draw, is good enough to make the Final Four. They are extremely balanced and have a great player in Robbie Hummel. They couldn’t beat UK, but they are the type of team that could beat Kansas. Keep an eye out for the Boilermakers.”

Straitpinkie calls it an ugly W: “Unfortunately, it turned out that ESPN was keeping us from watching a choppy, low scoring game that lacked a signature UK run. Alabama did what they have been doing to many of their opponents: never allow them to get in any kind of an offensive flow. Alabama switched it up on defense, zoning Kentucky most of the game (both 2-3 and 3-2) and mixing some man and full court pressure. Alabama, as a team, is relatively incapable of arriving at an offensive rhythm themselves, so it turned into a series of ugly possessions.”

Nation of Blue goes inside the boxscore.

Big Blue Lowdown checked out Kansas-Texas: “Kansas is an extremely unselfish team that uses incredibly fluid ball movement to find open looks. They are well coached and were able to execute their offense well against both zone and man defensive formations shown by Texas. Sheron Collins is a fearless slasher, a good spot up shooter and a leader who loves to step up in the most important moments. When Texas cut the lead down to single digits late in the second half, Collins was able to rip back the momentum by getting into the paint and finding an open man for a wide open layup.”