Posts Tagged 'Devan Downey'

BBL: UK men prepare for USC; UK women prepare for UT

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes on Devan Downey: ” After leading South Carolina to an unprecedented three straight victories over Kentucky, Devan Downey has a good idea of the bad reception he’ll receive in Rupp Arena on Thursday night. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a not-too-warm welcome,’ he said with comedic understatement on Tuesday. ‘I know it’s all in fun. But I’ve gotten my share of hate mail and Facebook messages from Kentucky fans.’”

My column about how UK is nationall ranked in several sports: “I mentioned in Monday’s column that UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart had gotten one right in hiring Matthew Mitchell to head the women’s basketball program after Mickie DeMoss’s surprising resignation. Also wrote, “And that’s not the only one.” I wasn’t kidding.”

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News shows DeAndre Liggins some love:Let’s hear it for Kentucky’s DeAndre Liggins, who began the season outside John Calipari’s good graces and is ending it as an essential member of a title contender.”

Tom Leach makes John Wall’s case: “Kentucky’s John Wall was the early favorite to win some or all of college basketball’s player-of-the-year awards but Ohio State’s Evan Turner is coming on strong. If you make your choice based on numbers, then Turner’s case is as strong or stronger than Wall’s. But if you base it on impact, that’s where I think Wall gets the edge and Saturday’s 58-56 win at Vanderbilt was a good example of why.”

Nick Craddock of the Kentucky Kernel on the bond shared by Matthew Mitchell and Pat Summitt: “The UK women’s basketball coaching staff is comprised of UK employees, but they all were Volunteers at one time. UK head coach Matthew Mitchell and his assistant coaches Kyra Elzy, Matt Insell and Shalon Pillow all share, in an ironic twist, a connection to one of UK’s most-hated rivals: the Tennessee Volunteers.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK men prepare for USC; UK women prepare for UT’

Share

A 5-spot, plus a bonus, from UK basketball

Five notes from Kentucky’s meeting with the media before practice today, in preparation for Tuesday night’s game at South Carolina:

  • Bonus point: John Calipari said that with the team being No. 1, he will stress that people will look at them differently now. Some players will go from homely to handsome a hunk. “From Cutler to Clooney,” said one media member — think it was WTVQ’s Dan Rieffer — which brought a huge laugh.
  • 1. Patrick Patterson said that it will take a team defensive effort to contain South Carolina’s Devan Downey. Eric Bledsoe, John Wall and DeAndre Liggins will get the man-to-man assignments in trying to stop the 5-foot-9 dynamo, but the rest of the team has to be concious of the way Downey gets the ball to the rim. That means big men have to help.
  • 2. Zone? John Calipari says his team could play some zone on Tuesday night. Cal said that watching the tape he had seen other teams use a zone to try and keep Downey out of the lane. Calipari said don’t be surprised to see him use a litte of that, as well. But mainly Cal said he knows that Downey will get his points. The trick is to keep Downey from making the players around him better.
  • 3. No. 1. Calipari repeated that the team wanted to be No. 1, and surely that explained some of the motivation behind the 101-70 rout of Arkansas. The trick now is to deal with the ranking. Calipari kept hammering home that the South Carolina arena will be full, that media requests will be through the roof, that the atmosphere will be charged. Daniel Orton said he didn’t think the atmosphere would be a lot different. Opposing crowds were charged up before, when UK was No. 2-4 in the rankings. Will No. 1 make that much of a difference? The Carolina crowd is a little different in that the students are right down near the floor. And they were camoflauge.

Continue reading ‘A 5-spot, plus a bonus, from UK basketball’

Share

Things to know about Devan Downey

(Photo by The State/C. Aluka Berry)

Things to know about South Carolina super-guard Devan Downey:

  • Scored 36 of his team’s 56 points in 58-56 loss at Florida on Saturday.
  • Made basket with 5.1 seconds left to give USC at 56-55 lead before Chandler Parsons drained a three at the buzzer to give Florida the victory.
  • Made a turnaround jumper with three seconds left to give South Carolina a 78-77 win over Kentucky at Rupp Arena last year, just the Gamecocks second win in 23 trips to Lexington.
  • Scored 19 points in the second half of that game.
  • Scored 21 points and made five assists in Carolina’s 77-59 win over UK in Columbia last year, completing the Gamecocks’ sweep of the Cats.
  • Is averaging 31.6 points per game in five conference games.
  • Has scored 30-or-more points in three of South Carolina’s last five games.

Continue reading ‘Things to know about Devan Downey’

Share

SEC links: Kiffin leaves the road, but UT wins on road

(AP photo/Butch Dill)

(AP photo/Butch Dill)

SEC links for Wednesday:

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Kiffin leaves the road, but UT wins on road’

Share

SEC links: South Carolina basketball is thinking big

SEC links for Tuesday:

Continue reading ‘SEC links: South Carolina basketball is thinking big’

Share

SEC links: Is Florida getting a bad rap on crime?

SEC links for Monday:

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Is Florida getting a bad rap on crime?’

Share

SEC links: Rating the non-conference football schedules

SEC links for Thursday:

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Rating the non-conference football schedules’

Share

SEC links: Greg Byrne being treated for melanoma

Greg Byrne

Greg Byrne

SEC links for Tuesday:

Share

SEC links: Pearl thanks Calipari; Tyus back at Florida

SEC links for Wednesday:

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Pearl thanks Calipari; Tyus back at Florida’

Share

SEC links: Downey testing waters, Morley out at UT

Devan Downey

Devan Downey

SEC links for Wednesday:

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Downey testing waters, Morley out at UT’

Share

Next Page »