John Clay's Sidelines

Kentucky players Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb after UK’s win at Vanderbilt.

(H-L photo/David Perry)

Overlooked in Kentucky’s 86-52 Saturday smash of South Carolina in Columbia was the return of Doron Lamb’s sweet shooting touch.

In fact, the sophomore set the rout’s tone. He scored five points in the first 64 seconds — bagged two free throws at the 19:36 mark, nailed a three-pointer at 18:56 to make the score 7-1 Kentucky. With 2:22 left in the first half, Lamb swished his third three-pointer and the Cats’ advantage was a thundering 48-25.

By game’s end, the stat sheet showed Lamb six-of-seven from the floor. He was a perfect three-of-three from three, as well as a perfect three-of-three from the foul line. He scored 18 points. He did not commit a turnover.

Back in December, Lamb was on a roll. He scored 19 points in UK’s loss at Indiana, the team’s lone loss. He followed with 24 against Chattanooga and a season-high 26 against Samford. He hit double figures in nine of the Cats’ first 11 games.

Continue reading ‘Overlooked Saturday, Lamb’s return to shooting form’

At today’s Kentucky basketball media opp, UK sophomore Doron Lamb was told that after the UK women beat Ole Miss 82-41 last night, some of the UK Hoops players said they didn’t think the men’s team could play with the same defensive intensity as shown by the women.

This was Lamb’s playful reaction. It comes after a couple of questions about UK going on the road Saturday.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Kentucky basketball player notes:

Twany Beckham: Has played just five minutes in two SEC games. Still has not taken a shot this season.

Anthony Davis: His 11 points against Alabama is his lowest total since he scored 10 against Lamar on December 28. Davis has blocked 26 shots in five SEC games, including four against the Crimson Tide. He did have a career-high four steals on Saturday. His two field goals on Saturday is his lowest total since he went one-of-two against Penn State on November 19.

Missed his first seven shots against Alabama before a follow dunk off a Marquis Teague miss with 4:43 left gave UK a 29-24 lead. He end up one-of-nine from the floor in the first half. His dunk off a fast break with 14:50 left in the second half, making it 49-43 Kentucky, was his only credited shot of the second half. He blocked an Alabama shot with seven seconds left and made two important free throws with 4.5 seconds remaining. With 6:30 left in the first half, he had missed his only field goal attempt, was one-of-four from the foul line and had one rebound.

Continue reading ‘Updated Kentucky basketball player news and notes’

Here come the UK-Alabama post-game player interviews.

Anthony Davis

Terrence Jones

Doron Lamb

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Darius Miller, Doron Lamb and Anthony Davis were the players made available for today’s UK basketball media opportunity. One thing to note, don’t ask UK players about upcoming opponents. They know nothing about them. Or even if they do know something about them, they are not going to admit to that. This is a John Calipari thing. He is more concerned about his own team than the team he is playing. He’s not alone. A fellow named Wooden had the same strategy.

We start with Davis, who said he did not watch last night’s Vandy-Alabama game. The most interesting  part of his interview concerned his offensive development — that he is getting up, at minimum, 500 shots before practice; that he is yelling for the basketball more now in the post, that he needs to “squeeze the ball” on his hook shots.

 
Next up is Lamb, who says the team wants to keep the momentum going from its stellar play in Tuesday’s easy win over Arkansas. He says that if the team listens to its coaches, and plays to its potential, “I think nobody can beat us.”

 
And here we have Miller, who, as Dan Rieffer of WTVQ points out to him, is the only player among the current Cats to experience losing at Rupp Arena. (Technically, that’s not quite right. Sophomore Jarod Polson’s West Jessamine High School team lost in the Boys’ State Tournament semifinals here. Ok, well, actually, Dan said to lose a home game here. But we digress.) Miller said he didn’t even remember UK’s last loss at home. The answer: It was that bad 90-85 loss to Georgia near the end of the Billy Gillispie Era. Actually, it was that loss that probably ended the Gillispie Era.

Post-game videos from Auburn Arena after Kentucky rallied to beat the Tigers 68-53.

UK head coach John Calipari

UK players Anthony Davis and Doron Lamb

Auburn head coach Tony Barbee

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• Saturday’s SEC-opening 79-64 opening-game win over South Carolina was a confidence-builder for Terrence Jones, reports Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader. Jones scored 20 points.
• Check out the Herald-Leader photo gallery from UK-USC.
• Kentucky capitalizes on South Carolina’s mistakes, reports Darryl Slater of the Charleston Post and Courier. Bruce Ellington was three-of-13 from the floor, including one-of-eight from three-point range for the Gamecocks.
• UK signees Alex Poythress and Alex Goodwin provided a peek at their potential, reports Mike Fields of the Herald-Leader. Poythress scored 42, Goodwin 37 at Lexington Catholic last night.
• Marquis Teague listens, learns and thrives, says my column from the South Carolina game. The freshman point guard scored a career-high 17 points.
• It was a return-to-form for Terrence Jones, writes Brian Rickerd of the State-Journal.
• Terrence Jones’ 20 points leads Kentucky to win, writes Michael Grant of the Courier-Journal. A late miss of a three-pointer was all that kept the sophomore from a perfect night from the field.
• A rapid rewind on Kentucky’s 15-point win, by Matt May of the Cats Pause. Anthony Davis turned in his ninth double-double in 16 games.
• Calipari says that’s the Terrence Jones he knows, writes Keith Taylor of the Winchester Sun.
• Jones and Teague led the way toward UK going 1-0 in the conference, reports Jon Hale of KY Forward. Calipari told Jones, “Now you work even harder.”

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader reports that injury and a different team this season has made for a different Terrence Jones.
• Tipton reports in his notes that Doron Lamb at point guard gives Kentucky a different look.
• Michael Grant of the Courier-Journal reports that Terrence Jones is ready for a fresh start with the beginning of SEC play.
• Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel offers three things to watch in today’s Kentucky-South Carolina game.
• Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun reports that Florida is talking to former Kentucky assistant Brent Pease for the Gators’ open offensive coordinator position.
• Mike Huguenin of Yahoo says that in the SEC, everyone is chasing Kentucky.
• Darryl Slater of the Charleston Post and Courier reports that the Kentucky game begins a brutal stretch for South Carolina basketball.
• Brad Senkiw of the Anderson Independent says this is a huge road test for the Gamecocks.
• Herald-Leader staff report says former UK sophomore Stacey Poole has chosen to transfer to Georgia Tech.
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reports that Brandon Knight exhibited glimpses of his ability in his first start for the Detroit Pistons.

The television ratings for Louisville basketball games is not too high, especially at Wildcat Lodge, apparently. Both Doron Lamb and Anthony Davis claimed they have not watched the Cards on television tonight. Here’s Lamb talking to the media before today’s practice.