John Clay's Sidelines

Crystal Riley

Here at Memorial Coliseum for the UK-South Carolina women’s game where Jennifer Smith is reporting :

Kentucky’s backup point guard is out for at least the next two weeks with a stress fracture in her right foot.

Crystal Riley, the sophomore transfer from Louisiana State, is likely to be out until at least the NCAA Tournament, should Kentucky advance there. Riley is averaging 3.2 points a game and 15.7 minutes. She had a career-high eight assists in UK’s last game against Florida.

BTW, you can get game updates from Memorial by following my Twitter account.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes that UK ground out a win at Vandy: “No highlight material – or “hero plays,” as Calipari calls fancy-dancy moves his freshman-oriented team loves to flash – got Kentucky within sight of a Southeastern Conference regular-season championship. If not precisely blood and tears, it took plenty of sweat to put the Cats two games ahead of Vandy with four to play.”

My column saying the Cats have the will, and the talent to win: “See, it didn’t matter. Playing the 17th-ranked team in the nation, on Vanderbilt’s quirky home floor, before a charged-up crowd, it didn’t matter that Kentucky shot 35.8 percent from the field, or 18.8 percent from the floor, or 56.7 percent from the foul line. It didn’t matter the Cats turned the basketball over 14 times, or that Calipari admitted he helped the Commodores’ last-second cause.”

Herald-Leader photo slide show from UK-Vanderbilt.

David Climer of the Tennessean writes that young Wildcats are learning how to be tourney tough: “Indeed, this Kentucky team is starting to show it has just as much substance as style. The Wildcats’ talent level is unquestioned – three likely first-round NBA Draft picks, headed by freshmen John Wall and Cousins as well as junior Patrick Patterson. But in recent games, Kentucky’s will to win has proved to be just as deep as its talent pool.”

Joe Biddle of the Tennessean writes that it was UK’s final punch that stopped the ‘Dores: “A street fight broke out Saturday in Memorial Gym as No. 2 Kentucky and No. 17 Vanderbilt fought for bragging rights and future seeding for March Madness. It wasn’t artistic. Bare-knuckle brawls never are. Forget finesse. This was about exchanging punches.”

Brett Dawson of the C-J writes from Memorial that John Wall hit the right note: “Struggling for most of a hotly contested game at Vanderbilt, the Kentucky guard struck just the right closing note. Wall scored inside with 39.1 seconds to play, and his block of a John Jenkins three-pointer with less than three seconds left helped preserve No.2 UK’s 58-56 win at No.17 Vanderbilt.”

Matt May of the Cats’ Pause was in Nashville for the knock-down win: “There was no magic at Memorial Gym, just a knockdown, drag out, street fight between the Southeastern Conference’s two best squads. By emerging bloodied but unbowed Kentucky took a stranglehold on the conference race, moving the equivalent of three games ahead in the standings with four to play.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kentucky shows it could be tourney-tough’

(Photo by The State)

SEC links for Sunday:

• Tennessee’s bench batters South Carolina, reports Mike Griffith in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• Ron Morris of The State writes that there’s very little promise left in South Carolina’s season.
• Too many turnovers for South Carolina, writes Seth Emerson of The State.
• Ole Miss suffers a crushing home-court loss to Florida, reports David Brandt of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports that Vernon Macklin had a big game for the Gators.
• Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger reports from Baton Rouge on Mississippi State’s win over LSU.
• Jim Kleinpeter of the Times-Picayune writes that LSU just missed its first conference victory.
• Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News reports on Auburn’s 92-83 win over visiting Arkansas.
• In the Birmingham News, Don Kausler writes that Alabama’s latest loss has a recurring theme.
• Georgia rallies from a double-digit deficit to topple the Tide, writes Tim Tucker of the AJC.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

A few quickie notes after Kentucky’s 58-56 win at Vanderbilt:

• It’s the first time since the 2006 NCAA Tournament that UK has shot less than 36 percent in a game and won. The Cats shot 31.1 percent from the floor and still beat UAB 69-64 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 17, 2006. Kentucky shot 35.8 percent in this win over Vanderbilt.

• That 35.8 percent field goal shooting is a season-low for Kentucky.

• The Cats averaged just 0.814 points per possession. That’s a season-low. But Kentucky held Vanderbilt to 0.768 points per possession. Vandy’s previous low PPP in SEC play was 0.840 in a loss at Georgia.

• Kentucky was 17 of 30 for just 56.7 percent from the foul line. It’s the 10th time this year that the Cats have shot 30-or-more free throws. But that was the worst free throw percentage of those 10. The previous low was 60 percent (18 of 30) last Saturday against Tennessee.

• After going 12 straight games without a double-double, Patrick Patterson has had double-doubles in two straight games.

• Eric Bledsoe has made four of 21 three-pointers over his last six games.

• John Wall has made three of 16 three-pointers over his last five games.

• DeMarcus Cousins’ five rebound was one off his season-low of four in the season opener.

• DeAndre Liggins has now played 25-or-more minutes in four straight games.

• It was the first game Daniel Orton has not scored a point since Louisville on Jan. 2.

Kentucky coach John Calipari after his team’s 58-56 win at Vanderbilt.

Here are Patrick Patterson talking to the media after UK’s 58-56 win at Vanderbilt.

John Calipari is asked about talk the team might use some sort of non-verbal signals today at Memorial Gym.