John Clay's Sidelines

UK individual player notes for basketball:

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  Photo by Pablo Alcala.

  Jared Carter: Played a season-high five minutes in win over Mississippi Valley on Sunday. Scored his first three points of the year.

• Kevin Galloway: Made his first start as a Wildcat on Sunday, but played just eight minutes. Three of those minutes came in the first half.

• Josh Harrellson: Played just 20 minutes in the two games. Did not make it off the bench in the second half against Miami. Made four of seven shots in the two games, but had had just one rebound.

• Ramon Harris: Wore a cervical collar around his neck on Saturday and Sunday. The date of his return is still up in the air.

• Mark Krebs: Played a season-high five minutes against Mississippi Valley.

• DeAndre Liggins: Was 0-for-10 on three-pointers over the weekend. Did have 10 assists and six turnovers in the two games.

• Jodie Meeks: After making just four of 17 shots against Miami, Meeks was 8-of-12 against Mississippi Valley from the floor. Scored 24 points in 22 minutes during Sunday’s win. Had just two rebounds in 56 minutes in the two games. Did not record an assist Sunday.

• Darius Miller: Played just 11 minutes and took just one shot against Mississippi Valley. Pulled down 10 rebounds against Miami, just one on Sunday.

• Patrick Patterson: Played 77 of a possible 80 minutes in the two games over the weekend. Made 16 of 24 shots for the two games, and had 26 rebounds. Dished seven assists while turning it over four times in the two games.

• Dwight Perry: Played two minutes against Mississippi Valley.

• Michael Porter: Played 35 minutes in the two games Played 51 minutes after suffering that nasty collision with Harris against Lamar. Played 34 minutes against Mississippi Valley Made just one of five three-point attempts and committed five turnovers in 18 minutes on Sunday.

• Landon Slone: Walk-on from Paintsville played a surprising 16 minutes on Sunday. That’s more time than A.J. Stewart has received in any game this year. Hit two of his three three-point attempts.

• Perry Stevenson: Played just 18 minutes, but grabbed 12 rebounds against Mississippi Valley. Made just three of 10 shots in loss to Miami.

• A.J. Stewart: Played eight minutes and scored six points against Mississippi Valley. Was the designated fouler against Miami, picking up three fouls, but his time on the floor did not total a minute.

Billy Gillispie just finished up his press conference previewing this weekend’s Las Vegas Invitational.

Five items of note:

• 1. Gillispie said he thought by the end of the season this could be a very good team. It mainly depends on ball-handling, said the coach, and toughness. He thinks the ball-handling will come because “we have good players.” He wants the toughness to come, and said he thought the team played with much more of an “edge” in Monday’s win over Longwood than it had previously.

• 2. BCG said he doesn’t like playing the late game the first night in Las Vegas. UK-Kansas State doesn’t tip off until midnight. The reason Gillispie doesn’t like it is because of the shorter prep time leading into Saturday’s games.

• 3. The coach said he thinks freshmen DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller are both going to be excellent players. He said Liggins just needs to tone it down, and Miller needs to rev it up. “We’ve got one we need to tone down, and one we need to rev up,” he said.

• 4. Gillispie said Kansas State will play nine to 13 players, and pressure all over the court.

• 5. BCG also said he told Kevin Galloway he should have put the juco transfer back in the game the second half after Galloway’s first-half stint. The California native played five first-half minutes.