Kentucky Beats Mississippi State in a Thriller, SEC Tournament Championship, 14 March 2010

Kentucky came into the game looking for their first SEC Tournament Championship since 2004, while Mississippi State looked to repeat as champions to secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament.  The game started as a close game and continued that way throughout the game.  Neither team could gather a big lead in the first half, but Mississippi St held on to a 4-point lead at half-time by a score of 35-31.

The Wildcats came out in the second half and quickly tied the basketball game.  The game continued to be close down the stretch.  The Wildcats couldn’t pull away and neither could the Bulldogs.  The game was very similar to the one played in Mississippi early this year that went into overtime.  Mississippi St. held a 3-point lead in the final seconds, but due to a miss at the free-throw line of a one and one, Kentucky had the ball down 3 points with about 10 seconds left in the game.  After an inbound from a time-out, Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe pushed the ball down the court and Mississippi State quickly fouled him to prevent a 3-point shot from getting off.  Now, Bledsoe is at the line shooting two shots.  The first free throw goes through the net.  The score is now 64-62 in favor of the Bulldogs.  Does Bledsoe miss the second on purpose?  Well, that’s exactly what he did.  The ball bounced off the rim to the right and John Wall was able to track it down with about 4 seconds left in the game.  Wall took a forced, defended shot that ended up being an air-ball, but Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins was in the right place at the right time.  Cousins grabbed the rebound, put the ball off the backboard with only .1 seconds left in the game.  Game tied at 64-64 at the end of regulation!  The referees double-checked to make sure that Cousin’s shot counted and it did!

In the overtime, Kentucky quickly gained a 2-point lead, but Mississippi St. came back and took a lead of their own.  Kentucky got the lead back and held the lead by 2 points within the last minute.  Kentucky had the ball, in John Wall’s hand, letting the shot-clock run down.  Wall started to make his move with only 10 seconds left on the shot clock.  Wall drove the ball to the middle of the free throw line, kicked it out to Ramon Harris, but Harris hesitated on the 3-pointer.  Wall quickly ran back behind the 3-point line and received the ball back from Ramon Harris.  The shot clock was only at 3 seconds when John Wall went up to attempt a 3-pointer.  Anticipating that he would get fouled, he readjusted in mid-air, leaned to his right, and took the shot.  Somehow, the shot clanked the rim twice and went through the net.  In a miraculous shot by John Wall, Kentucky now had a 3-point lead with about 26 seconds left in the game.  Mississippi State brought the ball down the court, down by a score of 74-69.  Miss St. attempted several shots, rebounded several times, and finally hit a 2-point shot with only 6 seconds left.  The score was now 74-71 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats with only 6 seconds left.  After a timeout-Kentucky inbounded the ball and Mississippi State immediately fouled DeMarcus Cousins.  Cousins came down, missed the first free throw, but made the second to push the score to 75-71.  Mississippi State pushed the ball down the court, shot a three-pointer and made it, but time expired as the ball went through the hoop, making the final score of the game, 75-74 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Kentucky Wildcats are your Southeastern Conference Tournament Champions of 2010!!

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
Eric Bledsoe - 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block
John Wall - 17 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals
Patrick Patterson - 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal
DeMarcus Cousins - 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist
Daniel Orton - 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
DeAndre Liggins - 4 points, 1 assist
Darnell Dodson - 3 points, 5 rebounds

John Wall was the Most Valuable Player of the SEC Tournament, but DeMarcus Cousins proved to be the hero for Kentucky.  This is Kentucky’s 26th SEC Tournament Championship.  The Wildcats can now sit back and find out where they are going to be playing in the NCAA Tournament, where they should be a number one seed with ease.

Kentucky Cruises Past Tennessee in SEC Semifinals, 13 March 2010

The Volunteers came in as only one of two teams to edge out Kentucky in the regular season, but Kentucky would have none of it today.  Kentucky led early, and the Wildcats led by even more late in the game.  The Wildcats pulled out on Tennessee early in the game behind John Wall’s offense.  DeMarcus Cousins came alive, in the midst of a game with 4 technical fouls and one ejection on the Tennessee side, only one of those technicals on Cousins though.  The score at the half was 32-19 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

The second half was more and more of Kentucky’s offense and defense.  The Cats kept building their lead throughout the game.  Even though Patrick Patterson was silent today, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, and John Wall was not.  The Freshman Trio helped Kentucky build their huge lead and frustrated Tennessee to the “T”.  The final score of the game was 74-45 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
DeMarcus Cousins - 19 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 assist
Eric Bledsoe - 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
John Wall - 14 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds
Darnell Dodson - 8 points, 4 rebounds
Darius Miller - 5 points, 1 assist
Patrick Patterson - 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block

The Wildcats will face either the Vanderbilt Commodores or the Mississippi St. Bulldogs in the SEC Tournament Championship game tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. (EST) just before Selection Sunday.

Kentucky Holds Off Alabama Behind Wall and Patterson, 12 March 2010

It was the first game of an SEC Tournament for about half the Kentucky basketball players and the Alabama Crimson Tide showed them what it’s all about.  The Tide jumped out to an early lead on Kentucky in the first half of the basketball game.  Alabama had just survived South Carolina the day before and should have been sluggish, but they came with fresh legs while Kentucky proved to be the sluggish team in the first half.  Alabama led by as much as 11 points in the first half, but behind a mini-run by Kentucky, the lead for the Crimson Tide was only 5 at half-time by a score of 35-30, due in part to Darnell Dodson’s (UK) 3-pointer as time expired in the half.

In the second half, John Wall and Patrick Patterson turned up the heat.  John Wall became the leader that Kentucky needed and Patrick Patterson became the go-to-guy while DeMarcus Cousins was not having a good game.  Patterson, Wall scored 40+ points in the game between them, leading Kentucky back to overtake the lead from Alabama in the second half.  After Kentucky regained the lead, the Cats never gave it up, but Alabama still fought and kept the game close all the way to the end.  The final score of the game was 73-67 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
John Wall - 23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists
Patrick Patterson - 20 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block
Eric Bledsoe - 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
DeMarcus Cousins - 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist
Perry Stevenson - 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block
Darius Miller - 4 points, 2 rebounds

The Kentucky Wildcats will face the Tennessee Volunteers tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. (EST).  The Volunteers were only 1 of 2 teams to beat the Wildcats this year as all Kentucky fans know.  This would be a sweet revenge for the Wildcats, but it will be tough and the Cats must do a better job against Tennessee than they diplayed against the Crimson Tide today.  It should prove to be a good game and hopefully Wall and Patterson can continue their good play into tomorrow’s game.

LSU Moves On in SEC Tournament 2009, Kentucky NIT Bound?

The Kentucky Wildcats came out with a lot of intensity in the first half, but turnovers seemed to plague the Cats again as they finished the half with 9 turnovers.  The only thing keeping the Wildcats in the game was the fact that the LSU Tigers couldn’t make their shots.  Louisiana St finished the half on 30.6% field goal shooting.  Michael Porter hit two 3-pointers in the half, but Jodie Meeks was pretty much non-existent as he only had 4 points on 2 of 5 shooting.  Patrick Patterson kept going where he left off yesterday, finishing the half with 7 points and 8 rebounds.  The score at halftime was 28-23 in favor of the LSU Tigers.

In the second half, it was close until the middle of the second half when the Kentucky Wildcats’ defense just broke down as LSU players were getting open left and right.  I don’t know what happened at half-time, but it didn’t work or maybe LSU is just that much better than Kentucky and maybe it is time to come to that realization.

Where was Jodie Meeks?  There was a very questionable move by Coach Gillespie in the second half where Jodie Meeks was sitting on the bench for about 4-5 minutes of the second half when he needed to be in the basketball game.  I know that he was struggling from the field, but you need your best player in the game when you are down!  It was the first game of the season that Jodie Meeks didn’t get double figures in points as he finished with only 8 points.

Kentucky Performers:
Patrick Patterson - 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks
Ramon Harris - 11 points and 4 rebounds
Michael Porter - 9 points and 2 rebounds
Jodie Meeks - 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers
Darius Miller - 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals
Perry Stevenson - 5 points, 2 blocks, and 4 turnovers

Great balanced scoring, just not enough of it!!

Kentucky just couldn’t get over the hump and was behind the entire game after scoring the first two points of the game.  The final score was 67-58 in favor of LSU.  As of now, it looks as though we are going to be “NIT” bound.  Hopefully, we will have better luck next year!

Kentucky vs LSU, SEC Tournament Quarterfinals, 13 March 2009

The Kentucky Wildcats have made it through the first day of the SEC Tournament of 2009.  Now comes the hard part.  Kentucky will play the LSU Tigers tomorrow (13 March 2009) at 1:00 p.m. (EST).

If you can remember, it wasn’t too long ago literally, Louisiana St came into Rupp Arena and pulled out a 73-70 win on a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the game.  That basketball game was played on Saturday, February 28th, 2009.  The Wildcats were up by 10 points in the second half and blew the lead with carelessness to allow the LSU Tigers to come back and get the win.

The Cats hope this game will play out different.  Louisiana State is considered the powerhouse of a down-season SEC.  LSU is the Southeastern Conference, regular season champions.  If the Kentucky Wildcats can match the intensity that they had today, then it could be a very fun basketball game to watch.  Tune in tomorrow and root for the Cats as they play the role of “David against Goliath”.

Kentucky Defeats Mississippi in Opening Game of SEC Tournament, 2009

The first half was a game of runs by both teams.  Ole Miss was on top early in the half, then the Kentucky Wildcats made a run to go up by six.  Then the Rebels came back with their own run and went up by three.  One more run by both teams evened out the score and at halftime, the score was 38-36 in favor of Mississippi.  Kentucky won the battle of the boards in the first half, but Ole Miss had a better shooting half.  The story for Kentucky in the first half was their balanced player scoring.  Meeks had 10 points at halftime and both Patterson/Stevenson had 8 each.

Kentucky came out strong in the second half and forced a couple of turnovers early to take the lead and they never looked back.  The lead kept slowly getting bigger and bigger for the Kentucky Wildcats and was finally out of reach for the Rebels.  The final score of the game was 71-58 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top performers for the Cats included:
Jodie Meeks - 25 points and 3 assists
Patrick Patterson - 15 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks
Perry Stevenson - 13 points and 8 rebounds
Darius Miller - 12 points and 2 assists

Kentucky’s next opponent is LSU tomorrow.  More will be posted on Tomorrow’s basketball game later in the day.  Bring on the Tigers!!

SEC Tournament, Kentucky vs Mississippi, 12 March 2009

The season is finally over and now on to the Tournaments.  Kentucky is playing on the first day of the tournament due to a fourth place finish in the SEC Eastern Division.  Kentucky’s opponent is the Ole Miss Rebels on 12 March 2009, at 1:00 p.m. (EST).  The SEC Tournament is being held in Tampa, Florida.

The Kentucky Wildcats hope to make a run through the SEC Tournament to secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament.  The way it is looking, that is the only way that Kentucky would be accepted to the big dance.  I believe if the Cats could make it to the SEC Championship game, then that would be enough to secure a 10 or 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Most analysts only have 2 or maybe 3 at the most from the SEC going to the NCAA Tournament at the moment.  The majority pick LSU, Tennessee, and South Carolina to be in the NCAA Tournament.  On the outside, looking in, are Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi St, and Vanderbilt.

As for the basketball game, Ole Miss has already won the only meeting against Kentucky this year.  The final score of that game was 85-80 in Mississippi on the 27th of January 2009.  Look for this game to be a lot more meaningful and we all hope that the outcome is different.  If Kentucky does win the game, then they have a tough road ahead because LSU awaits the winner of the Kentucky/Mississippi basketball game.

It’s now or never (at least this year) for the Cats to make their case for the NCAA Tournament.  If we see an early exit from the SEC Tournament, look for the NIT to come a calling.  The question is, will the Wildcats accept a bid to the NIT?  I believe that they would if that was the only option.

Everybody get your game-faces on and let’s go out and pull a Georgia!!!