John Clay's Sidelines

With the much-discussed bench situation at Vanderbilt, Terrence Jones said today he actually welcomes in-game instruction from head coach and wily veteran  John Calipari.

“He’s getting old, look at him,” said Jones of his head coach, who turns 53 today. “He’s experienced.”

Asked if the team would sing “Happy Birthday” to the coach — Alan Cutler asked — Jones said he hoped so, and that, “Hopefully we can get some birthday hits.” (He was joking.)

Jones also identified the No. 1 reason behind the Cats’ rise to the No. 1 ranking.

“Team defense is really what’s been getting us through everything right now,” he said, adding that, yes, the blocked shots are an important strategic maneuver. “We want to be aggressive and force teams to drive into difficult shots.”

“Difficult shots” meaning Anthony Davis.

Terrence Jones

Besides teaching Jerry Tipton about swag, Terrence Jones addressed other topics at the UK media opp before Tuesday’s game with Florida.

Terrence Jones explains the definition of “swag” to our own Jerry Tipton.

Post-game videos from Columbia after Kentucky’s 86-52 win over South Carolina.

Kentucky coach John Calipari, plus players Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

South Carolina coach Darrin Horn

Post-game player videos from Kentucky’s 69-44 win over Tennessee last night at Rupp Arena.

Anthony Davis talks about the first half scuffled that resulted in the freshman center receiving a technical foul.

Terrence Jones talks about how well the team is playing, putting back-to-back wins over LSU (by 24) and Tennessee (by 25).

Marquis Teague talks about his improvement and receiving praise from John Calipari.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist talks about how this team is a band of brothers.

Continue reading ‘Videos: Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Jones and Teague’

Big Blue Links for Wednesday deal with Kentucky’s game tonight with Tennessee, a 7 p.m. start at Rupp Arena on ESPNU. And many of those links deal with Terrence Jones, coming off a season-high 27 points in the Cats road win over LSU on Saturday. In fact, LSU coach Trent Johnson said Monday that if Jones plays like that, you might as well “crown” Kentucky as NCAA champs.

The question of course is whether Jones can produce the same kind of effort and numbers in back-to-back games. Just once in his two-year career has the sophomore scored 20-or-more points in back-to-back games. Last season, Jones scored 24 on the road in a loss to Georgia, then came home and scored a career-high 35 points in a win over visiting Auburn.

As for football, ESPN.com shines an off-season spotlight on Kentucky. And Mark Story writes on twins ready to sign with the Cats.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Can Kentucky’s Terrence Jones do it again?’

Coming off his 27-point performance down in Bayou Country, Terrence Jones was a popular interview subject during Kentucky’s media opportunity before Monday’s practice. The sophomore said that he has not been worrying about his hand lately, and has been “doing all the drills as hard as I can, like I used to.”

With Tennessee on the schedule for a 7 p.m. ESPNU game Tuesday night, Jones was asked about Jarnell Stokes, the UT freshman who made his college debut when the two teams met in Knoxville on Jan. 14. Jones said he didn’t really think Stokes had much of an impact in the first game. The freshman scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in 17 minutes during UT’s 65-62 loss to John Calipari’s club.

Kentucky sophomore Terrence Jones talks to the media after scoring a season-high 27 points in No. 1-ranked Kentucky’s 74-50 win over LSU.

The day after Kentucky’s Tuesday night win over Georgia, the debate continues about whether the Cats get preferential treatment in avoiding those quick Thursday-Saturday turnarounds.

The SEC-leading Kentucky women are in action tonight at Auburn for a  7 p.m. start.

But the bigger news may come out of the college football ranks, where the lousy bowl TV ratings have caused an examination of eligibility criteria. There is apparently now a push to raise the minimum number of wins needed for bowl eligibility from six to seven. That could have a big effect on a school like Kentucky, which in recent years has made the needed six-wins a major priority.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• SEC takes care of Kentucky, writes Kevin Scrabinsky of the Birmingham News.
• Teams may need seven wins for bowl eligibility, writes CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy.
• Calipari pushing Cats to be special, reports Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• New uniforms bring love/hate reaction, writes Mike Miller of NBC Sports.
• Snowden making most of minutes, writes Jen Smith of Herald-Leader.

(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’