John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

A couple of team notes and then individual player notes after UK’s 91-57 bashing of Boston University:

PPP – Kentucky’s offense averaged 1.350 points per possession, best since last year’s club averaged 1.493 in a win over Hartford on Dec. 29, 2009. The Cats were coming off back-to-back games of less than a point per possession. UK averaged 0.927 against Washington and 0.993 against UConn.

Meanwhile, the defensive PPP was much better. The Cats held Boston to 0.837 PPP, compared to 1.253 for Connecticut in the Maui final loss.

THREES – The Cats made 10 of 16 three-pointers for 62.5 percent. That’s the best in any UK game since the Cats made nine of 13 for 69.2 percent against Drexel on Dec. 21 of last season. It’s the best in any game UK has taken 15-or-more three since the Billy Gillispie Era (error?) when the Cats made 12 of 19 for 63.2 at Tennessee on Jan. 13, 2009.

JOSH HARRELLSON — The senior center achieved his first career double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Harrellson went 6-of-7 from the floor, tying his career high of six field goals against Indiana on Dec. 13, 2008. He was six of 12 from the floor that game. Afterward, BU coach Patrick Chambers called Harrellson UK’s “mother-hen.” We figured that at times Cal may have used a similar term when referring to Harrellson.

TERRENCE JONES – Turned his fourth double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Had just four rebounds in 27 minutes in loss to UConn. In last two games, has made 13 of 23 shots. Has blocked at least one shot in all six games. Blocked one against the Terriers.

BRANDON KNIGHT – Bounced back with 23 points after just a six-point effort in loss to UConn. Produced a career-high six assists. After going 0-of-8 from three in Maui final, made four of six beyond the arc against the Terriers. Knight has logged 32-or-more minutes now in five of UK’s six games.

Continue reading ‘Individual player notes from UK’s win over Boston’

Assistant coach John Robic subbed for head coach John Calipari after UK’s 91-57 win over Boston U.

Boston University coach Patrick Chambers talks to the media after his team’s 91-57 loss at Kentucky.

Mark Story had interesting column this morning comparing Joker Phillips’ first year with Charlie Strong’s first year.

Personally, I’d give Strong a little more credit than Mark offers, but thought I’d look up some other numbers.

Here is how the two seasons compared, using the Sagarin Ratings.

The other statistical categories are by the latest NCAA statistical rankings.

Random notes for a Tuesday:

ON TAP – Of course, Kentucky takes on visiting Boston tonight at Rupp. Tipoff is 7 p.m. The game is on Fox Sports South, then delayed on the Big Blue Network.

JOHN CALIPARI is expected to coach his Cats, despite the death of his mother on Sunday after battling cancer.

DON’T FORGET that we will be liveblogging from Rupp tonight. If you sign-in using your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace account you can avoid having your comments constantly moderated, and thus see them posted quickly.

BOSTON U. PREVIEW – For info on Boston basketball, click here for the Terriers’ website. BU did beat Cornell 66-61 last time out. Yes, that’s the same Cornell that UK beat in the Sweet 16 last year. Mark Coury scored eight points for Cornell.

TOPS ON TV – ACC/Big 10 Challenge swings into high gear tonight. Best game is North Carolina at Illinois, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. North Carolina plays host to Kentucky on Saturday before the CBS cameras, and the popular Gus Johnson.

HARRISON BARNES – Speaking of Saturday’s game against Carolina, UNC raved-about rookie Harrison Barnes is off to a rather slow start. Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News and Observer writes here about Barnes’ struggles and the pressure he’s facing.

Continue reading ‘Boston U., Antoine, ACC/Big 10 and more random notes’

(Sacramento Bee photo)

Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports that DeMarcus Cousins is running into some, shall we say, adjustment problems in his first year in the NBA.

Cousins was asked to leave practice early on Monday.

An excerpt:

Kings rookie center DeMarcus Cousins was kicked out of Monday’s practice.

Cousins slipped to fifth in June’s NBA draft because of questions about his maturity and attitude. He was fined earlier this season after a verbal dispute with the Kings’ strength and conditioning coach.

“It was a necessary move in our continued attempt to help him develop,” said Kings coach Paul Westphal of removing Cousins from practice.

(H-L photo/David Perry)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• John Calipari’s mother loses her fight with cancer, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Loss to UConn brings calls for unity as Cats get ready for Boston U., reports Tipton.
• Click here for my appearance on Tom Leach’s radio show on Monday.
• Kentucky looking to move past Maui thumping, writes Will Graves of the AP.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal reports that Kentucky’s big men are getting better.
• Did Kentucky panic in loss to Connecticut? asks Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger.
• Kentucky returns from Maui with lessons learned, writes Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel.
• Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches writes that Cats are trying to get past selfish tendencies.
• Kentuckian Channing Fugate has been key to Tennessee’s running success, writes Austin Ward of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• Football brings the blues to the Big Blue Nation, writes Glenn Logan of A Sea of Blue.

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Alabama fires part-time employee who played “Take the Money and Run” when Cameron Newton came onto field during Iron Bowl, reports Izzy Gould of the Tuscaloosa News.
• Bama tries to do right after songs gone wrong, writes Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News.
• Jeff Schultz of the AJC has video proof of the Alabama song selections.
• Fans upset that Urban Meyer blew off post-game radio interview following Florida’s loss to Florida State, writes Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel.
• Auburn wants a complete game against South Carolina, reports Charles Bennett of the Anniston Star.
• Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Steve Spurrier and Gene Chizik have made the grade in the SEC.
• Middle Tennessee a trap game for basketball Vols, says Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Temple coach Al Golden is on Vanderbilt’s radar, reports Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• Houston Nutt says he has no regrets about bringing in Jeremiah Masoli, reports Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger.
• No staff changes at Georgia, reports Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald.

Gus Johnson

It seems to that a significant segment of the Big Blue Nation gets a kick out of CBS play-by-play man Gus Johnson.

Those who do are in luck.

CBS Sports sent out this tweet this afternoon:

CBSSports CBS Sports
Our 30th year of college basketball starts Saturday (12:30p ET #onCBS) with KENTUCKY-NORTH CAROLINA. (Gus Johnson/Clark Kellogg on the call)