John Clay's Sidelines

Some quick notes on Loyola of Maryland:

• Loyola of Maryland is ranked No. 125 in the Sagarin Computer Rankings.
• Loyola has an 8-2 record, but strength of schedule is ranked 311 by Sagarin.
• Loyola lost at Wake Forest 75-63 and at St. Bonaventure 76-66 last time out.
• Down 15 at half to St. Bonaventure, Loyola cut lead to six with four minutes left.
• Dylan Cormier, 6-foot-2 sophomore, is scoring leader at 16.2 points per game.
• Cormier scored 26 points in a 65-55 win at George Washington.
• The Greyhounds have already played seven road games, going 5-2.
• Coach Jimmy Patsos was Garry Williams’ assistant at Maryland for 13 seasons.
• Patsos has a 106-115 record as the Loyola head coach.
• Skip Prosser coached Loyola to the NCAA Tournament in 1993-94.

Program note: UK has announced that UK football coach Joker Phillips will be doing a teleconference this afternoon.

I’m planning to have audio of the teleconference on the blog later this afternoon.

Meanwhile, we are at Memorial Coliseum for UK’s basketball media opp. I’ll have video of that on the blog later, as well.

(H-L photo)

From UK media relations:

Kentucky Volleyball Caps Season Ranked No. 13

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second time in three seasons the Kentucky volleyball team has finished the season ranked among the nation’s top-15 according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll. UK closes out the 2011 season as the nation’s No. 13 rated team.

UK coach Craig Skinner has led three teams to a final ranking with all three coming in three of the last four seasons. Kentucky was ranked No. 12 according to the AVCA in 2009. During Skinner’s tenure, the Wildcats have been ranked for 41 total polls including 10 consecutively this season.

Kentucky is one of three Southeastern Conference teams that finished the season ranked among the nation’s top 25. Florida capped the season at No. 11 and Tennessee was ranked No. 19.

Continue reading ‘Kentucky volleyball finishes season ranked No. 13′

Here’s a look at Doron Lamb’s last five games:

The sophomore from Brooklyn has made 18 of 29 shots over his last two games, including eight of 15 three-pointers. He set his career-high for rebounds with six against Chattanooga, then matched it against Samford. He has turned the ball over just twice in his last three games. All in all, a pretty productive stretch.

Continue reading ‘Mr. Consistency: Doron Lamb’s last five games’

ESPN2 has the best college basketball tonight, starting with Texas at North Carolina. Rick Barnes’ Texas team brings a seven-game win streak into Chapel Hill. North Carolina has won four in a row since that Dec. 3 loss at Kentucky. After the Horns and Heels finish, Anthony Grant and Alabama welcome Travis Ford and Oklahoma State to Birmingham.

Here’s the TV chart for tonight.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

In the end, Kentucky had no problem with Samford last night at Rupp Arena. It was much more difficult finding out the details behind the Breakfast Club. Meanwhile, the football Cats got a commitment from a wide receiver. And the women say they can learn from Sunday’s loss at Notre Dame.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Kentucky football picks up commitment from Florida wide receiver
• Doron Lamb scores 26 to lead Kentucky past Samford 82-50
• Lamb living up to Calipari’s pre-season proclomation
• Sam Malone tries to take fourth major knee surgery in stride

(AP photo)

Tennessee’s women end up splitting two games on their trip to the Left Coast, beating UCLA and losing to Stanford. Meanwhile, the SEC men had a good night, sweeping four games. Now Alabama takes on Travis Ford and Oklahoma State tonight. Plus, Steve Spurrier is looking for a defensive coordinator while Mark Richt was paying his Georgia assistants a little extra on the side

• Lady Vols fall on West Coast to Stanford 97-80
• John Adams: Summitt t-shirts setting sales records
• Tennessee men snap losing streak to beat UNC-Asheville
• Gerald Robinson leads Georgia past Mercer in Athens
• Arkansas snaps slide with ugly win over Eastern Kentucky

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Those are Terrence Jones’ injured fingers, or his dislocated pinky. That kept the sophomore out of Kentucky’s game tonight, though the Cats did just fine without him, beating Samford 82-50. Keep those UK lost to Indiana without Jones, and beat Chattanooga without Jones remarks to yourself. The Cats turned it over just seven times against the school, which employs UK’s former basketball operations director, Martin Newton, as its athletic director.

Click here for the Herald-Leader photo gallery of UK-Samford.

Some notes and thoughts from UK’s win tonight.

- Doron Lamb continues to be, well, consistent. He scored a game-high 26 points and now has scored 99 points in his last five games, an average of 19.8. He popped in 24 points on Saturday night against Chattanooga. In his last two games, Lamb has made 18 of 29 shots and eight of 15 three-pointers. Not bad. Calipari attributes it to the extra work the Brooklyn bomber has been doing before and after practice. Lamb said he has been trying to get up more shots in practice when he is tired, and that has paid off.

- By the way, Lamb hurt his wrist near the end of game, but said afterward he’s fine.

- The Cats made 11 of 14 free throws for 78.6 percent, their best game at the foul line since they were 21-of-24 for 87.5 percent against Radford back on Nov. 23.

Continue reading ‘Some notes and thoughts from UK’s Jones-less win’

The post-game video offerings tonight feature Doron Lamb (game-high 26 points), Marquis Teague (earned Calipari praise for his floor game), Darius Miller (17 points, including three made threes) and Kyle Wiltjer (logged 22 minutes thanks in part to the absence of Terrence Jones).

Click the continue line to see the videos.

Continue reading ‘Video: Lamb, Teague, Miller and Wiltjer post-Samford’

Post-game video of John Calipari talking to the media after his team’s 82-50 win over Samford tonight. The coach was pleased with Doron Lamb’s scoring and the way Marquis Teague ran the club. He said that Terrence Jones, who missed the game with that dislocated finger, would be fine. He said his team still needs to communicate better, as evidenced by the way it was beaten on back door cuts.

Click the continue line to see the video.

Continue reading ‘Video: John Calipari after his team’s win over Samford’