John Clay's Sidelines

Larry Munson (UGA photo)

A sad day for the SEC as the league loses two, one a legend, the other far too young.

Long-time Georgia play-by-play announcer Larry Munson passed away Sunday night from complications associated with pneumonia. Munson was 89. As Mark Bradley nails it in the AJC, “From property being destroyed on St. Simons after Belue-to-Scott to the Knoxville noses broken by the hobnailed boot, the Munson sense of imagery was a gale force unto itself. Nobody else sounded like him. Nobody else would choose the words he chose. The first time I heard Munson doing a Georgia game, I thought I had, by some trick of the ionosphere, tuned into some ham radioman having a nervous breakdown. The more I listened to the great man, the more I realized my first impression wasn’t far wrong, and I mean that in the best possible way.”

Continue reading ‘SEC: Legendary Larry Munson passes at 89′

So far it has been not so smooth for Marquis Teague, Kentucky’s freshman point guard.

Through the first four games of his college career, the Indianapolis native has 18 turnovers compared to 11 assists. He turned it over six more times Sunday in Kentucky’s 62-52 win over Old Dominion at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

As a team, Kentucky turned it over 21 times.

So what’s the problem? Wasn’t Teague rated the nation’s No. 1 point guard coming out of high school? Why has he struggled with turnovers so early in the season.

Part of Sunday’s struggles could be attributable to ODU’s 3-2 zone defense, a scheme that UK coach John Calipari admitted he had not spent much time preparing his team for in practice.

But, as Cal himself said after the game, “How many of those turnovers came in transition?” Quite a few, I would guess. Teague often gets in too big of a hurry, or simply is careless basketball.

Continue reading ‘Marquis Teague and learning on the job’

Twenty nerd-stats from Kentucky’s 62-52 win over Old Dominion.

1. Terrence Jones scored a season-low six points. He played 35 minutes and did not have an assist.

2. Darius Miller now has 18 assists in four games, an average of 4.5 per game. His 13 points was his highest scoring output since he scored 17 against Princeton in first round of NCAA tournament last year.

3. Through four games, Marquis Teague has 11 assists and 18 turnovers. He turned it over six more times against ODU.

4. After scoring 19 points in 24 minutes against Penn State, Kyle Wiltjer scored three in 11 minutes against ODU.

5. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went from playing 19 minutes Saturday to 34 on Sunday.

Continue reading ‘By the numbers: Kentucky over Old Dominion’

Videos from Connecticut after Kentucky’s tough 62-52 win over a determined Old Dominion in the finals of the Hall of Fame Classic at the Mohegan Sun Casino. First up is four minutes of John Calipari, followed by star-of-the-game Darius Miller, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis.

Here are the videos.

Continue reading ‘Videos: Calipari, Miller and more after Kentucky win’

(AP photo)

SEC links for Sunday:

• SEC admits it made wrong call at end of Tennessee-Vanderbilt game, reports Bill Bryant of Huntsville Times.
• Mike Pereira of Fox Sports says the action of SEC officials in Tennessee-Vandy game reflected badly on all officials.
• Interception return in overtime gave the Volunteers the victory, reports Mike Strange of Knoxville News-Sentinel.
• David Climer of Tennessean writes that upon review, Vanderbilt let the Vols off the hook in UT’s 27-21 overtime win.
• After dispensing with Georgia Southern, Alabama looks ahead to the Iron Bowl, reports Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.

(H-L photo/David Perry)

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• ESPN previews Old Dominion vs. Kentucky today.
• Georgia clinches SEC East title and ends UK’s bowl streak at the same time, writes Jen Smith of the Herald-Leader.
• Kyle Wiltjer’s skills on full display in Kentucky’s 85-47 romp over Penn State at Mohegan Sun, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
• Playing with more motor, Doron Lamb is making good on Calipari’s summer boast, says my Sunday column.
• Old Dominion tops South Florida 68-66 in overtime to set up Hall of Fame final against Kentucky, reports AP.
• A soggy slate to Georgia, the SEC East champs, writes Mark Bradley of the AJC.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Effort, not win for football; basketball meets ODU’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Herald-Leader photo gallery from today’s game.

Twenty notes and observations from Kentucky basketball’s win over Penn State at the Mohegan Sun Arena:

1. On opening night, Kentucky held Marist to six-of-35 from the floor for 17.1 percent in the second half. Today, the Cats held Penn State to six-of-37 from the floor in the first half for 16.2 percent on the way to a 47-15 halftime lead.

2. After playing just three minutes on Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden, Kyle Wiltjer played 28 minutes and scored a career-high 19 points. He said that he knew it was just one game and he had to keep his head up after Tuesday. His father, Greg, was here in Connecticut for the game. Greg Wiltjer played on the Canadian national team.

3. Doron Lamb, subject of my game column, had a game-high 26 points, second in his career to his 32-point effort against Winthrop last year. In three games, Lamb has made 18 of 33 shots, including nine of 16 threes. He is 14-of-15 at the foul line. And he has 11 assists compared to just two turnovers.

4. Anthony Davis scored just three points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots. But head coach John Calipari afterward that,expect for Davis running down the middle on fast breaks, he was happy with the way his 6-foot-10 freshman played.

5. Through three games, freshman point guard Marquis Teague has nine assists and 12 turnovers.

Continue reading ‘Twenty notes/observations from UK win over Penn State’