Lwcat
Wildcats Thunder Administrator

Kentucky vs Marquette
NCAA TOURNAMENT RD 1
When: 2:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Anaheim, Calif.
TV: CBS
Radio: Big Blue Radio Network Affiliate List
Records:
UK 18-12, 12-4 SEC; Roster | Schedule | Stats
MU 24-9, 11-7 Big East; Roster | Schedule | Stats

Marquette

Coach: Tom Crean: 165-86 (.657) in 8 seasons
Crean has only been a head coach at Marquette

2007-08 Record: 24-9
Big East Record: 11-7

Marquette 76 IUPUI 68
Marquette 66 Utah Valley 55
Marquette 74 Chaminade 63
Marquette 91 Oklahoma St. 61
Duke 77 Marquette 73
Marquette 100 UWM 65
Marquette 81 Wisconsin 76
Marquette 82 Sacramento State 51
Marquette 80 IPFW 56
Marquette 89 Coppin St. 42
Marquette 77 Savannah St. 37
Marquette 96 Providence 67
West Virginia 79 Marquette 64
Marquette 61 Seton Hall 56
Marquette 92 Notre Dame 66
Louisville 71 Marquette 51
Connecticut 89 Marquette 73
Marquette 79 DePaul 71
Marquette 62 USF 54
Marquette 75 Cincinnati 60
Louisville 71 Marquette 57
Notre Dame 86 Marquette 83
Marquette 89 Seton Hall 64
Marquette 72 Pittsburgh 54
Marquette 73 St. John’s 64
Marquette 78 Rutgers 48
Marquette 85 Villanova 75
Georgetown 70 Marquette (OT)
Marquette 67 Florida Gulf Coast 37
Syracuse 87 Marquette 72
Marquette 67 Seton Hall 54
Marquette 89 Notre Dame 79
Pittsburgh 68 Marquette 61

Probable Starters:
Jerel McNeal G 6’3" JR (PPG-14.3) Minutes PG-29.9
Dominic James G 5’11" JR (PPG-13.0) Minutes PG-30.1
Lazar Hayward F 6’6" SOPH (PPG-13.0) Minutes PG-25.1
Wesley Matthews G 6’5" JR (PPG-11.2) Minutes PD-28.5
Gusmane Barro C/F 6’10" SR. (PPG-5.5) Minutes PG-19.4

Team Stats:
Points PG: 75.8 (+11.6)
FG%: 44.7%
3 Point FG%: 35.3
3 Point FG PG: 7
FT%: 70.2%
Rebounds PG: 36.6 (+2.4)
Assists PG: 14.8
TO’s PG: 13.2
Steal PG: 9.6
Blocks PG: 3.8

A look at the Marquette schedule reveals some big wins for the Warriors this season….such as defeating Big Ten champion Wisconsin, Big East tourney champion Pittsburgh and a solid NCAA bound Notre Dame team. Marquette averages 76 points per game and have 4 players scoring 11 points or more per game…..in short, Marquette is a very good offensive team. The Warriors are a perimeter team getting excellent guard play from McNeal, James and Matthews. Hayward is an excellent shooter..hitting 47.5% of his shots and a red hot 45.2% from 3 point range. Coach Crean goes to the bench often as 10 players get 10 or more minutes per game. No Marquette player averages more than 30 minutes per game, so the Warriors will have fresh players on the floor throughout the game. Although, Marquette is mostly a perimeter team, they have defeated teams this season with strong inside games. Unquestionably, the Warriors strength is their superb guard play on both offense and defense….importantly, the Warriors get nearly 10 steals per game. Coach Crean has been a very good coach at Marquette and while this is not a great Warrior team, it is a very good team that is capable of competing with any team. Marquette enters the game against the Cats as a 6 point favorite and that sounds about right. This Marquette team will be a very tough opponent for the Cats.

Kentucky, having sweating out getting into the NCAA, now must turn their attention to a very difficult first NCAA game. It’s hard to evaluate UK’s performance in the SEC tourney because of all that took place as a result of the tornado. Still, the Cats didn’t play well against Georgia and they must lift significantly lift their game performance against Marquette. Hopefully, Bradley can regain his shooting eye because both Crawford and "Smooth" must have productive offensive games. However, even that won’t be enough against a team of Marquette’s caliber…..the Cats must get some good offense from Jasper, Harris and Stevenson.. A key factor for UK to have a chance of upending Marquette is they must minimize TO’s. The Warriors who snag 10 steals per game will present a big challenge for the Cats to take care of the basketball. The Cats are perfectly capable of defeating Marquette, but they must bring their A game on both offense and defense. I know the vast majority of UK fans are very proud of this Kentucky team that has overcome so much adversity and made the NCAA tourney when virtually all sports analysts has written UK off as an NIT team at most. These folks obviously underestimated the coaching genius of Billy Gillispie who has molded this Cat team into a tough minded overachieving team. I know Marquette is the favorite, but I have a good feeling that these Cats are not ready for the season to end. I like UK to defeat the Warriors and march on in the NCAA. Go Cats!

NCAA Basketball:

• Area teams' selection status
• Bracketing 101: How the matchups are made
• Final month: What to watch for
• NCAA March Madness Comes to Birmingham
• NCAA selection's a science

• Vote now for the cover of EA NCAA Football 2009

• Alabama freshman arrested for robbery
• Blissful season for Georgia senior center
• Colquitt suspended, loses scholarship over DUI
• It's been a chilly February for Florida
• Loss leaves Arkansas in tough spot
• LSU players lobbying for Pierre
• LSU women have no trouble with Ole Miss
• QB Ryan Perrilloux walks off the LSU football team?
• Randolph making an impression for LSU men
• Summitt knows when to push, lay off
• Surging Vandy gets mid-week break

• Baseball Season Ticket Delivery Photo Gallery
• Complete UK Baseball Season Ticket Information
• UK Baseball photo slideshow from the ticket delivery
• Keeping Their Cool: Kentucky adjusts and adapts to survive in SEC
• 2008 SEC Baseball Preview: Kentucky
• UK Baseball Picked to Finish Third in SEC East

• Billy G.'s coaching style: different
• Tickets remain for UK home games
• Vaught's Views: Cats need Meeks
• UK Home-Road Factor

• Tyrone Appleton and Verdell Jones Info
• Tyrone Appleton made unofficial visit
• UK Getting an Assist from Liggins

• Vote for Sarah Elliott--Lowe's Senior Class Award
• Elliott's 16 help UK roll over Tide, 64-44
• Cats run away from receding Tide
• Big Second Half Lifts UK Hoops Over Bama
• UK/Alabama Box Score (HTML)
• UK/Alabama Notes
• UK/Alabama Quotes
• UK/Alabama Photo Gallery

SEC Mens Standings 2/18/08
East

• Tennessee (4) 10-1 23-2
  
• Kentucky 7-3 13-10
  
• Vanderbilt (24) 7-4 22-4
  
• Florida 6-5 19-7
  
• South Carolina 4-6 12-12
  
• Georgia 3-7 12-11

• Mississippi St. 8-2 17-7
  
• Arkansas 6-4 17-7
  
• Mississippi 3-7 17-7
  
• Auburn 3-7 13-10
  
• Alabama 3-8 14-12
  
• LSU 2-8 9-15

• Georgia at Kentucky [ESPN] 9:00 p.m. ET

• Auburn at Tennessee 7:30 p.m. ET
• LSU at Arkansas [RS] 7:00 p.m. CT
• Mississippi State at Ole Miss 7:00 p.m. CT
• South Carolina at Florida [RS] 8:00 p.m. ET

• Arkansas at Kentucky [CBS] 2:00 p.m. ET
• Georgia at Vanderbilt [RS] 3:00 p.m. CT
• Mississippi State at South Carolina [RS] 4:00 p.m. ET
• Ole Miss at LSU [FSN/SUN] 5:00 p.m. CT
• Tennessee at Memphis [ESPN] 8:00 p.m. CT

• Alabama at Auburn [CBS] 1:00 p.m. CT

• LSU (7) 11-0 22-3
• Tennessee (1) 9-1 23-2
• Vanderbilt (25) 8-3 19-7
• Kentucky 7-4 13-12
• Auburn 6-4 18-7
• Georgia 6-5 19-7
• Florida 5-6 16-10
• Mississippi 4-7 10-14
• Mississippi St. 3-8 15-11
• Arkansas 2-8 17-8
• South Carolina 2-8 13-12
• Alabama 1-10 8-18

• Tennessee at Alabama 8 pm
• Vanderbilt at Arkansas 7 pm
• Auburn at Ole Miss 7 pm
• Kentucky at LSU 7 pm
• Mississippi St. at South Carolina 7 pm ET

• Ole Miss at Alabama 2 pm
• Kentucky at Arkansas 2 pm
• Auburn at Georgia 2:30 pm ET
• South Carolina at Florida 1 pm ET
• Mississippi State at Tennessee 3 pm ET

Lwcat
Wildcats Thunder Administrator

Kentucky vs Georgia
(2/1/08 Sat.1PM CBS)

Georgia: Roster | Schedule | Stats
Kentucky: Roster | Schedule | Stats

Georgia

Arena: Stegeman Coliseum: 10,523

Coach: Dennis Felton
Career Record: 158-117 (.575) in 9 seasons
Record at Georgia: 58-63 (.479) in 4 seasons

2006/07 Record: 19-14
2006/07 SEC Record: 8-8 (5th-East)
2006/07 Postseason: 1-1 (NIT)

2007/08 Record: 11-7

Georgia 107 Jacksonville St. 65
Georgia 83 Grambling State 70
Georgia 76 ELON 65
Wisconsin 68 Georgia 49
Georgia 58 Delaware St. 47
Georgia 81 Augusta St. 74
East Tennessee St 76 Georgia 58
Tulane 70 Georgia 69
Georgia 67 Hawaii 59
Georgia 68 Presbyterian 58
Gonzaga 75 Georgia 67
Georgia 79 Georgia Tech 72
Mississippi St 60 Georgia 49
Georgia 61 Alabama 54
Georgia 82 Arkansas 69
Tennessee 85 Georgia 69
South Carolina 62 Georgia 56

Projected Starting Lineup

Billy Humphrey G- 6'2" Jr. (PPG-13.6)
Sundiata Gaines G -6'1" Sr. (PPG-12.9)
Terrance Woodbury G/F 6'7" Jr. (PPG-9.1)
Jeremy Price F 6'8 Fr. (PPG-8.7)
Dave Bliss C6'10" Sr. (PPG-7.4)

Team Stats

FG%-43.5%
3 PT%-31.9%
FT%-68.1%
TO's-15.9

Georgia has been holding serve on their home court with a perfect 10-0 record at home.... that has included wins over the likes of Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Alabama and Arkansas. Last year, UK blew a 17 point lead at Georgia and lost. All SEC road games will be tough for the Cats and this one in Athens will definitely be a challenge. Humphrey is Georgia's leading scorer shooting a solid 37% from long range and also plays tough defense for the Bulldogs. However, Gaines is the best all around player for Georgia leading the team in rebounds, steals and assists. Price, a freshman, is really coming into his own since he was inserted in the starting lineup and recently was named SEC freshman of the week. Georgia utilizes it's bench with 11 players averaging 10 or more minutes per game. Although the Bulldogs are without a super star player, they get the job done by committee and do have some very solid players.

Kentucky comes into Athens without a single win on the road, but the Cats are an improving team that appears to be getting more healthy. Meeks and Jasper have made major contributions as they have returned to the lineup and hopefully there will be no more setbacks for these two very talented players. Unfortunately, Joe Crawford, who has been playing his best basketball recently, has suffered a foot problem and his status for the game is unknown. UK has played it's best basketball the past 5 games and has big time wins over Vandy,Tennessee and South Carolina. Patterson and Bradley are simply playing lights out basketball while Stevenson has really stepped his play up and has been very productive on UK's frontline. This UK team has really come together in recent weeks as demonstrated by their passion and intensity over the entire game and their continuing improvement offensively and defensively. It is important that the Cats start winning on the road and Athens would be a great place to start.This will be a tough game for the Cats, but if they continue their solid play of recent weeks....look for UK to hand Georgia their first home loss this year. Go Cats!

Some Headlines News on the Kentucky/Georgia game:

• UK Basketball: Crawford may not play
• UK Basketball: Defense -- Gillispie expects struggle with Georgia
• Georgia's long climb rougher this season
• Dogs awesome at home, awful on road
• Dawgs' only hope is their defense

Lwcat
Wildcats Thunder Administrator

Kentucky vs Mississippi St.
1/15/08 Tuesday at 9PM (ESPN)

Miss. St.

Coach: Rick Stansbury
Career Record: 185-104 (.640)
9 seasons at Miss St.

Arena: Humphrey Coliseum (10,500)

2006/07 Record: 21-14
2006/07 SEC Record: 8-8(T-1st-West)
2006/07 Postseason: 3-1 (Lost in NIT Semifinals)
Website: www.mstateathletics.com

2007/08 Record:11-5

Miss. St. 75 Louisiana Tech 45
Clemson 84 Miss. St. 82
Miss. St. 86 UT Martin 70
Miss. St. 68 UC Irvine 53
Southern Illinois 63 Miss St. 49
Miami (OH) 67 Miss. St. 60
Miss St. 78 Murray St. 61
Miss. St. 84 Southeastern Louisiana 59
Miami (FL) 64 Miss. St. 58
South Alabama 71 Miss. St. 67
Miss. St. 85 Loyola Marymount 54
Miss. St. 95 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 70
Miss. St. 87 Missouri 75
Miss. St. 77 Lafayette 53
Miss. St. 61 LSU 39
Miss. St. 60 Georgia 49

Projected Starting Lineup

Jamont Gordon G/F 6'4" Jr. (PPG-17.1)
Charles Rhodes F 6'8" Sr. (PPG-15.0)
Barry Stewart G 6'2" Soph. (PPG-11.9)
Ben Hansbrough G 6'3" Soph. (PPG-9.8)
Jarvis Varnado F/C 6'9" Soph. (PPG-7.2)

Points per Game- 73.2
Field Goal %-46.3%
3 Point FG %-32.0%
Free Throw %-61.8%
Turnovers per Game-16.1

Miss. St. comes into the UK game riding a 6 game winning streak including 2 straight victories in the SEC. Gordon, Rhodes and Stewart produce most of the Bulldogs scoring, but Hansbrough and Varnado are offensive threats as well. Stewart and Hansbrough are the best 3 point shooters hitting 34%, but all in all, the Bulldogs have not been a great 3 point shooting team. Varnado doesn't shoot a lot, but is hitting 62% while leading the team in rebounds with 8.6 per game. Bulldog free throw shooting has been a problem this year hitting only 62%. Miss. St. has always proven tough to beat at Starkville, so the Cats will face a tough challenge in their first road game.

Importantly, UK played it's finest game of the year in upsetting 13th ranked Vandy at Rupp Arena. The Cats got terrific games from a number of players, particularly Patterson, Crawford and Bradley....also, it was great to see solid performances from Coury, Harris and Stevenson. Now the challenge for UK is to see if they can use this latest victory and increased confidence to beat a scrappy Miss. St. team in Starkville. While beating Vandy was an incredibly important win for UK, it still represents only one win in the SEC....there is still a long way to go in the SEC schedule. Hopefully, this UK team learned from the Vandy game that if they play with great energy and passion while executing effectively on the offensive and defensive ends....good things can happen....like wins! In short, UK will need to overachieve in virtually every game. In addition, there are still areas that need much improvement, particularly in the turnover department. Make no mistake, this UK team is still a team in progress and very unfortunately, the injury bug still seems to hang over the Cats. Right now, we don't know the status of Meeks or Jasper for this Miss. St. game. It's a new season....an SEC season...and the Cats got off to a great start....let's hope they can start a nice winning streak!