John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo/Mark Corelison)

Click here for Herald-Leader photo gallery from UK-West Virginia.

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Kentucky’s youngsters gunning for title, writes Martin Fennelly of Tampa Tribune.
• Calipari has Kentucky playing its best ball, says Dick Vitale.
• Liggins’ D was a big key, says Mark Schlabach of espn.com.
• The Josh Harrellson makeover, by Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports.
• Josh Harrellson making big impression, writes Steve Politi of Star-Ledger.
• Knight’s 30 beats West Virginia, reports Jerry Tipton from Tampa.
• Knight stands out from the start, says Brett McMurphy for NY Times.
• Kentucky women shake off Hampton, reports Jennifer Smith from Albuquerque.
• Liggins clamps down on Big Blue Nemesis, writes Mark Story from Tampa.
• It’s on to the swamps of Jersey, says my column from Tampa.
• Big day for Brandon Knight, says Steve Megargee of Yahoo Sports.
• Fans make Tampa feel like UK home, writes Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• No Payne, no gain for Harrellson, writes Tipton.
• This time, Knight starts early, writes Rick Stroud of St. Pete Times.
• An oh so Sweet 16, says Matt May of the Cats Pause.
• Kentucky grinds its way to  the Sweet 16, writes Brett Dawson of the C-J.
• This time Miller had confidence to keep shooting, writes Larry Vaught of A-M.
• Knight’s career game carries the Cats, writes Aaron Smith of the Kernel.
• Knight continues to evolve, writes Nick Craddock of the Kentucky Kernel.
• UK shows the mark of toughness, writes Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.
• Supporting cast helps UK Hoops advance, writes Guy Ramsey of Cat Scratches.

Kentucky’s Brandon Knight talks to the media about his 30-point effort that led the Cats to a 71-63 win over West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament in Tampa.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Twenty questions, asked and answered about Kentucky’s win over West Virginia:

1. The key? One key was the fact Kentucky had one offensive rebound in the first half, while West Virginia had 10 defensive rebounds. Second half, UK had eight offensive rebounds to 11 defensive for the Mountaineers.
2. Another key? DeAndre Liggins shut down Joe Mazzulla in the second half. The WVU point guard had 15 points and four assists in the first half. With Liggins on him, Mazzulla had five points and no assists in the second half.
3. Individual key? Brandon Knight scored a career-high 30 points. Better still, Knight set the tone. He hit two three-pointers back-to-back inside the first three minutes, and scored 10 of the Cats’ first 12 points.
4. How important was defense? West Virginia shot 41.5 percent. That makes 29 straight games in which the Cats have kept the opponent under 50 percent. The last team to shoot 50 percent was UConn, which shot 57.7 percent in beating the Cats in Maui.
5. Second-half defense? West Virginia scored 41 points the first half, 22 the second.
6. So how did John Calipari coach? In his second win over Huggins in 10 tries, Cal made a good move turning to the zone late in the first half to protect foul trouble. He also produced a terrific start to the second half. Down by eight points at the break, the Cats went on an 11-0 run to start the second period.
7. What did Huggins say? “I thought Cal made some adjustments offensively against the
   match-up that we didn’t react to it very well at the start of the second half.”
8. Jorts’ game? Harrellson was terrific. He scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. In two games here, he scored 30 points and snatched 18 rebounds. He made 14 of 18 shots.
9. And? He also got four stitches over his left eye after a collision with Casey Mitchell’s elbow.
10. Josh on the stitches? “I’m down with it.”

Continue reading ‘Twenty questions as UK reaches the Sweet 16′

Normally UK’s assistant basketball coaches are off limits to the media, but after Saturday’s win over West Virginia we got to talk to both Kenny Payne and Orlando Antigua. First Payne, then Antigua.

Kentucky freshman Terrence Jones talks about the team’s win over West Virginia.

Kentucky junior Darius Miller talks about avenging last year’s loss to West Virginia.

New York native Doron Lamb talks about going to New Jersey for the Sweet 16.

Kentucky center Josh Harrellson, with stitches above his left eye, talks about his 15 points and eight rebounds in win over West Virginia.

Kentucky’s post-game press conference after win over West Virginia.

COACH CALIPARI: Hard-fought game. It was a hard-fought game, and it was a good win for us. I was really proud of how we played those last five or six minutes.

Q. Brandon, obviously a different night for you than on Thursday. Did you come out trying to be more aggressive and find your shot early today?

BRANDON KNIGHT: Not really. Just in the beginning they went under like two screens, and I noticed it. So as a shooter, if somebody goes under the screen I’m looking to shoot the basketball.

Q. DeAndre, could you talk about playing defense against Mazzulla in the second half? Looked like they switched you on him and why you were able to have some success stopping him?

DEANDRE LIGGINS: In the first half, we let him do what he want. He had some uncontested lay-ups. I just wanted to make it tough for him in the second half, which I did.

Q. Josh, can you talk about the play towards the end where you got the rebound, shot, and missed, then got it back and shot and got fouled? I think that was a key play in the game.

JOSH HARRELLSON: You know, I just sought an opportunity to go get a ball, and I missed the first one and I saw an opportunity to go get it again and just tried to keep it alive. I knew we were down a little bit and I was trying to fight for my teammates to get us back in the game, and there was an opportunity there to get us a couple points, so I had to go get it.

Continue reading ‘Transcript of UK’s post-game press conference’