John Clay's Sidelines

Three videos from post-game press conferences after Kentucky’s 81-75 overtime win at Mississippi State. That’s John Calipari on top, UK’s DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall in the middle, and State coach Rick Stansbury on the bottom.

Because of a tight deadline and an iffy wireless situation here at the Humphrey Coliseum, we will dispense with the Cover it Live format and go with an old school liveblog for tonight’s Kentucky-Mississippi State. Check here or on my twitter account for updates.

• Kentucky wins 81-75 in overtime.

• Overtime at The Hump. 67-67. This is State’s second straight overtime game. Bulldogs beat Auburn in OT here on Saturday. Liggins missed a contest shot from corner at buzzer.

• Barry Stewart throws up a double-pump airball. Out of bounds. UK ball with 6.2 left.

• Patterson hits baseline jumper and we’re tied at 67. State calls time with 30.4 left. There’s 27 left on shot clock.

• State up 67-65 but Kentucky has ball with 51.8 left.

• Even though Jarvis Varnado fouled out with 5:08 left, Mississippi State still leads Kentucky 65-60 with 3:15 left. Dee Bost leads all scorers with 17, but Osby’s pogo-stick tip-in of a Bost missed three, giving Bulldogs the five-point lead, may be the game’s biggest basket to this point.

• Cousins is answering the call — get it? — scores five key points, then Pat jams and Kentucky leads 58-54 with 7:41 left at The Hump. Cousins and Patterson each have 15 on the night. Wall has 13. Bost leads all scorers with 17.

• Kentucky back in front 51-49 with 11:39 left at Mississippi State. Looks like this one could go to wire. Varnado still out with 4 fouls.

• Mississippi State up 42-38 with 15:52 left, but Bulldogs center Jarvis Varnado has four fouls. DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe each have three fouls. Kentucky has made two of 14 three-pointers. State’s Barry Stewart leads all scorers with 14 points. Dee Bost has 13.

• Kentucky missed 11 of 12 three-pointers in the first half, yet still led by three at the break.

• Kentucky up 32-29 on Mississippi State at half, but Calipari hung around so he could have a word with the officials.

• Kentucky leads Mississippi State 29-22 with 3:52 left in first half. Patrick Patterson and John Wall each have nine points. Darius Miller has seen quite a bit of action to this point, and has four points. But he just fouled on a three-point try for the Bulldogs.

Continue reading ‘Liveblog: Kentucky-Mississippi State’

Videos of DeMarcus Cousins and John Calipari both talking about the match-up of Cousins vs. Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State’s shot-blocking sensation. Varnado leads the SEC in blocked shots, averaging five a game in all games. He also leads the SEC in rebounding at 11.3 per game. In SEC games, Varnado is averaging 12.0 rebounds and 5.1 blocked shots per game.

More of DeMarcus Cousins from today, talking about his “Boogie” headband, UK’s new uniforms, and other topics.

Before today’s practice, DeMarcus Cousins admitted that he’s been receiving some interesting voice mails since someone published his cell phone number on the internet. Warning: This video has Cousins repeating a gay slur from a caller to his cell phone.

(H-L photo)

Big Blue Links for Monday:

Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader reports from Nashville on UK women’s third SEC loss: “It gave it back to UK by outrebounding the Cats 33-26. Kentucky lost its 13th straight at Memorial Gymnasium and had its eight-game win streak snapped. ‘It was a tough game for us,’ UK Coach Matthew Mitchell said. ‘It felt like they were much more aggressive today and it was disappointing for us to lose.’”

Bill Mayer of the Lawrence Journal-World thinks Kentucky’s victories are tainted: “As we all know, there are countless, indelible KU-UK-UNC connections. It’s regrettable that KU grad Adolph Rupp factored so heavily in a shady Kentucky march to glory. Kentucky may have hit 2,000 first but KU and UNC will do so more honorably. The Wildcats got there with considerable assistance from cheating and NCAA criminal indifference and oversight.”

The Biloxi Sun-Herald thinks Mississippi State is ready for Kentucky: “It’ll be a mad atmosphere, to be sure, when Mississippi State locks horns with John Calipari’s Wildcats. Kentucky comes at you in waves, just as Calipari’s Memphis Tigers did in recent seasons. The difference, of course, is that Kentucky usually has premier talent, and that is certainly the case with this UK squad, which sports a 24-1 record.”

David Climer of the Tennessean thinks that John Calipari is staying put: “Speculation has popped up that John Calipari is a candidate for the New Jersey Nets coaching job. The rest of the SEC can only hope. Sorry, folks, but Calipari isn’t going anywhere. And that’s bad news for the competition.”

Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean reports on Vandy women’s win over UK: “Junior point guard Jence Rhoads broke her left hand when the Vanderbilt women played Kentucky last month. This time she broke Kentucky’s spirit. Rhoads drove to the basket for a career-high 25 points and helped Vanderbilt pull away from the No. 17 Wildcats over the final nine minutes for a 68-55 victory at Memorial Gym.”

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes on the new DeAndre Liggins: “He saw a loose ball and leaped upon it. Then DeAndre Liggins called timeout before Tennessee players coming a split-second later could try to wrest the ball from his grasp. As Liggins got up from the floor and headed for the Kentucky bench, Coach John Calipari met him with a chest bump.”

Nick Craddock of the Kentucky Kernel on the UK women’s loss: “In January, the Cats put a stop to a 10-year winless streak against Vanderbilt with a win at Memorial Coliseum. But a second half comeback wasn’t in store this time around for the Cats, who trailed by 10 points in the final half during the first matchup of the season between the two teams, only to storm back for a 10-point victory.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: Kansas writer says Kentucky wins tainted’

SEC links for Monday:

• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports on another arrest for Florida football.
• Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press revisits Tennessee’s game plan at Kentucky.
• Dan Fleser of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports on Tennessee’s 83-44 romp over Florida women.
• Roger Clarkson of the Athens Banner-Herald on Georgia’s win over Alabama women.
• Montgomery Advertiser reports on LSU women’s victory over host Auburn.
• Paul Jones of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal writes on State’s win over Ole Miss women.
• Tommy Hicks of the Mobile Press-Register thinks SEC basketball is working its way back to the top.
• Ray Melick of the Birmingham News thinks the NCAA has come up with a bad idea.
• Seth Emerson of The State writes that South Carolina may have lost its dance card.
• Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Xavier exposed Florida.