John Clay's Sidelines

The in-box is beginning to fill with Kentucky-Louisville e-mails. Here are three.

From Randy:

Read your column this morning-agree-worse thing happened last night is Louisville losing.Now Pitino has their attention for two days and he is one of the best at preparing for opponent……….I can envision this scenario:

1)Pitino concentrates his defense on Lamb and holds him to 10 points.

2) Seva turns Teague over A LOT…….

3)Jones is inneffective due to finger and mental softness….

4) Davis or MKG gets in foul trouble.

It could happen- plus U OF L has to be tired of losing to UK and Teague picking Cal over Ricky P has to eat at him so their will may be greater than UKs……….

Hope I am wrong.

Enjoy the game.

Continue reading ‘E-mailbag: Kentucky-Louisville starting to fill inbox’

John Calipari was not a happy coach last night.

But was it an act?

Was Cal really unhappy with the way his team played in its 22-point win over visiting Lamar? Or was he just trying to bear down on his young team with Louisville coming to town on Saturday?

As someone afterward remarked, “Kentucky could have won by 100 and Cal would have still found something to be upset about.”

Read the transcript from last night’s post-game presser and you decide if Calipari was actually agitated, or should be waiting by the mail box for his Oscar invitation?

Continue reading ‘Was John Calipari really unhappy with UK’s play?’

(AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Thursday: The Kentucky men’s basketball team rolled over Lamar in preparation for Saturday’s showdown with now once-beaten Louisville. John Calipari wasn’t happy afterward, however.

It was Matthew Mitchell who had the right to be displeased. His Kentucky women stumbled badly on the road at Middle Tennessee, losing 70-58. Former Dunbar star Amber Rowe scored 21 points for the host Blue Raiders. A flat Kentucky trailed by 17 at the half.

• Kentucky cruises past Lamar 86-64, reports Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• Rowe helps MTSU upset visiting UK women, reports Jen Smith of H-L.
• UK sets its sights on Louisville, says my game column.
• Calipari critical of team despite win, reports Kyle Tucker of C-J.
• Jones says last few weeks difficult, reports Aaron Smith of Kernel.

SEC links for Thursday: Mississippi State had its 11-game win streak snapped in a tough 54-52 loss at Baylor. Most of the other league news revolved around the 2012 football schedules announced Wednesday. After scanning the slate, most so-called experts have tabbed Georgia as the prohibitive favorite to capture the SEC East next season. As for here and now, bowl season marches on.

• Mississippi State falls just short at Baylor, reports Ross Delinger of C-L.
• State’s 11-game win streak snapped, reports the AP.
• Vandy will work Ezeli back in slowly, reports Chip Cirillo of Tennessean.
• Cuonzo Martin looking for better defense, writes Mike Griffith of News-Sentinel.

Here we have clips from the two coaches’ post-game press conferences after Kentucky’s 86-64 win over visiting Lamar. John Calipari is the first video. It’s the first five minutes, when the UK coach was trying to get his mood across. “I’m not in the frame of mind,” he said a couple of times. Next up is Lamar’s Pat Knight, who talks as much about the Cats as his own team. He says this is the team that could give Calipari his first title.

Continue reading ‘Post-game videos: John Calipari and Pat Knight’

Post-game videos of Terrence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquiss Teague after UK’s 86-64 win over Lamar. It was the media’s first chance to catch up with Jones since before his mysterious and lackluster performance against Indiana on Dec. 10, and since he suffered a dislocated finger on his shooting hand the next time out. Jones said he was frustrated not only by his play at IU, but by the injury. Plus, Doron Lamb listened in on the interview.

Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague are after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Post-game videos: Jones, Kidd-Gilchrist and Teague’

Some quick notes from Kentucky’s 86-64 win over Lamar:

- Kentucky made 27 of 33 free throws for 81.8 percent. On a night when the Cats had 30-or-more attempts from the foul line, that’s the best UK has shot it since it was 26-of-30 for 86.7 percent against UAB in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

- Kentucky shot 49.1 percent, first time in three games it failed to shoot 50 percent from the floor.

- UK made seven of 14 three-point attempts for 50 percent. That’s the best the Cats have shot the three since going 10-for-20 against Penn State in the Mohegan Sun Arena at Uncasville, Connecticut. It’s the best UK has shot the three at Rupp since going seven-of-14 against Florida on Feb. 26 last season.

Continue reading ‘Some quick notes from Kentucky’s win over Lamar’

Pat Knight, son of Bob, coaches the Lamar Cardinals tonight against UK at Rupp Arena. That brings to mind Bob Knight’s annual on-the-floor battles with the Cats. A recap:

- As a young coach at Army, Knight’s team lost to Adolph Rupp and Kentucky 80-65 in the finals of the 1968 UKIT at Memorial Coliseum. After becoming coach at Indiana, Knight beat Rupp 90-89 in overtime in Louisville in 1971.

- Knight won his first four games against Joe B. Hall, but then ended up just 9-9 8-8 against the Kentucky coach. There was the infamous head-slap game in 1974 in which IU routed the Cats 98-74 and Knight either tapped or slapped Hall on the back of the head, depending on your interpretation of events. Kentucky got revenge later that same season by knocking off an undefeated IU 92-90 in the Mideast Region final in Dayton. Hall won five of the last seven meetings between the two coaches, which may have had something to do with their relationship going south.

Continue reading ‘A look at Bob Knight’s coaching record against Kentucky’

Heading into tonight’s 8:30 game at Rupp Arena, here’s a look at Kentucky-Lamar statistical comparisons.

• According to the computer rankings, Lamar has played a much tougher schedule than Kentucky to this point. The RPI ranks Lamar as the 46th toughest, while Sagarin ranks it as the 52nd toughest. By comparsion, RPI has UK at No. 112 and Sagarin has UK’s schedule at No. 289.
• Lamar has done a good job getting to the foul line. The Cardinals are averaging 27.4 free throw attempts per game, and are making 74.2 percent of their foul shots. Kentucky is making 69.2 percent and getting to the line an average of 23.3 times per game.
• Kentucky is excellent defensively, holding opponents to 0.848 points per possession. Lamar is holding opponents to 0.921 points per possession.
• Anthony Miles, Lamar’s leading scorer at 15.1 points per game, is hitting 52 percent from three-point range. He’s 13-of-25 from three for the season.
• Lamar averages 5.1 blocked shots per game. Kentucky averages 9.3 per game.

Click the continue line for the chart.

Continue reading ‘Kentucky-Lamar statistical comparisons’