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Defense crucial to Kentucky’s fate

Kentucky defense - photo by James Crisp | AP

defense – photo by James Crisp | AP

Last Saturday, the game preview story in a local paper in contained an interesting quote from one of head coach Tony Barbee's players. He said Auburn's post-Christmas improvement coincided with the players understanding they needed to play harder game in and game out, adding that since Barbee didn't have to “coach effort,” he could instead focus on the Xs and Os.

After Kentucky overcame a rowdy crowd and that improved Auburn team with a 22-point road win, I asked about that quote and how it applied to his young team.

“Exactly what we're talking about,” Calipari answered in the postgame interview on the -IMG radio network. “I said (to my staff) prior to the game, ‘I don't want to coach as much in this game. I want the players to make calls. We're going to let them know what we want run but I want them talking to each other more. I want to do less.' It becomes grueling as a coach when you're coaching effort and you're coaching every bounce of the ball. I'm not going to do it. One, it doesn't work over the long haul. At some point, this has got to be their team and they've got to run with it. I think we're getting closer but we've got another tough one (at Alabama).”

Read full article here.

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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