< Previous10 @KentuckyMBB 2020 UK Sports Partnership Football Program Ad (8.5x11) 265-20801.indd 12020 UK Sports Partnership Football Program Ad (8.5x11) 265-20801.indd 111/13/20 11:01 AM11/13/20 11:01 AMWEEKNIGHTS 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY 9:00 a.m.110920 BBN Tonight RUPP Ad.indd 1110920 BBN Tonight RUPP Ad.indd 111/9/20 4:39 PM11/9/20 4:39 PMAround the SEC Around the Country 2020-21 SEC Standings Team SEC Overall Home Road Alabama 5-0 10-3 5-1 3-0 South Carolina 1-0 3-2 2-0 0-1 LSU 4-1 9-2 7-0 1-2 Tennessee 3-1 9-1 7-1 2-0 Kentucky 3-1 4-7 2-3 2-2 Florida 3-2 6-3 3-1 1-2 Mississippi State 3-2 8-5 6-2 2-0 Arkansas 2-3 10-3 9-1 1-2 Texas A&M 2-3 7-4 6-1 1-2 Missouri 1-2 7-2 4-1 2-1 Ole Miss 1-3 6-5 5-2 1-3 Auburn 1-4 7-6 4-2 1-3 Georgia 0-4 7-4 7-2 0-2 Vanderbilt 0-3 4-5 4-3 0-2 Scoring Player-Team ...................................................................PPG Cameron Thomas, LSU ..................................................21.8 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY ...............................................21.6 Iverson Molinar, MISS ST ...............................................18.9 Trendon Watford, LSU ...................................................18.3 D.J. Stewart Jr., MISS ST .................................................17.8 Rebounding Player-Team ...................................................................RPG Dylan Disu, VANDY ........................................................8.8 Darius Days, LSU ............................................................8.5 Tolu Smith, MISS ST.........................................................8.5 Emanuel Miller, TAMU ....................................................7.8 Jeremiah Tilmon, MIZZOU ..............................................7.6 Assists Player-Team ...................................................................APG Sahvir Wheeler, UGA ......................................................7.2 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY .................................................5.8 Justin Powell, AUB ...........................................................4.7 Jalen Tate, ARK ................................................................4.5 Ja'Vonte Smart, LSU .........................................................4.2 Steals Player-Team ................................................................... SPG Justin Kier, UGA ..............................................................2.1 Luis Rodriguez, MISS .......................................................2.0 Jermaine Couisnard, USC ................................................2.0 Josiah-Jordan James, UT ..................................................1.9 Dru Smith, MIZZOU .......................................................1.9 Blocks Player-Team ...................................................................BPG Isaiah Jackson, UK ..........................................................3.2 Yves Pons, UT .................................................................2.2 Connor Vanover, ARK ......................................................1.8 Abdul Ado, MISS ST ........................................................1.8 Colin Castleton, UF .........................................................1.8 2020-21 Associated Press Rankings As of Jan. 11, 2021 (week 8) Team Record Points 1 Gonzaga (63) 12-0 1,599 2 Baylor (1) 11-0 1,536 3 Villanova 8-1 1,436 4 Texas 10-1 1,422 5 Iowa 11-2 1,322 6 Kansas 10-2 1,220 7 Michigan 10-0 1,161 8 Creighton 10-2 1,151 9 Wisconsin 10-2 1,110 10 Tennessee 9-1 1,093 11 Houston 10-1 993 12 Clemson 9-1 747 13 West Virginia 9-4 701 14 Illinois 9-4 694 15 Texas Tech 10-3 689 16 Louisville 8-1 464 17 Missouri 7-2 436 18 Virginia 7-2 403 19 Duke 5-2 397 20 Virginia Tech 9-2 286 21 Ohio State 9-3 280 22 Oregon 9-2 264 23 Minnesota 10-4 233 24 Saint Louis 7-1 220 25 UConn 6-1 181 14 @KentuckyMBBFrom Press Row 16 @KentuckyMBB Auburn Up Next After splitting home contests a season ago and meeting three times in 2018-19, includ- ing an overtime thriller for a spot in the 2019 Final Four, the Kentucky-Auburn matchup is evolving into must-see TV. After the Wildcats won 18 straight from 2001 to 2015, the series is tied 4-4 over the last eight meetings. Although Kentucky owns an all-time re- cord of 95-21 against the Tigers, including a 31-16 edge in Auburn, the series has been deadlocked for the last four seasons. Four of those matchups have been decided by seven points or less. Beginning with a 75-70 Auburn win in January of 2016, the matchup between the two teams have provided some classics. That game saw the Tigers rally from a five-point halftime deficit for the win despite UK's Tyler Ulis nearly registering a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. The 2017 matchup endured UK guard De'Aaron Fox fouling out with 7:23 to play and nearly 50 fouls called, but Kentucky rallied to win by 20 points. In 2018, Auburn assembled a 13-2 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 68- 61 lead with 3:57 remaining as the No. 10 Tigers held off a rally by the young Wildcats. In 2018-19, Kentucky won both regu- lar-season meetings. The first came at Auburn with the No. 12 Wildcats surviving the No. 14 Tigers as Tyler Herro scored 10 points over the final 5:23 to stave off a 17-point rally by the home team. In Lexington, UK earned a dominating 80-53 win, but it would spark quite the run by the Tigers. Auburn went on to win 11 straight games, including a South- eastern Conference Tournament crown and wins over Kansas and North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament to meet the Cats in the Elite Eight. Auburn's winning streak contin- ued as it rallied from a 10-point first-half hole and forced overtime on a Bryce Brown layup with 38 seconds to go. The Tigers pulled away in the extra minutes for a six-point win to advance to the program's first Final Four, despite 28 points and 13 rebounds from Ken- tucky's PJ Washington. Last season, both home squads earned wins, but UK's victory proved significant. A 73-66 win, sparked by 18 points by Immanuel Quickley, powered Kentucky to its sixth SEC regular-season crown under John Calipari. The Tigers, facing a similar roster haul to Kentucky, are off to a 7-6 start overall and a 1-4 record in league play. The Tigers recent- ly got a big boost as star freshman Sharife Cooper was granted eligibility and scored 26 points in his first collegiate game against rival Alabama. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance and followed up with 28 points and 12 assists in a win vs. Georgia on Wednesday. Brooks Making Immediate Impact As the team's lone returning contributor, Keion Brooks Jr. was looked upon as a lead- er by the coaching staff and his teammates. However, an injury kept him out of practice and out of the team's lineup over the first nine games of the season. Brooks made his debut in UK's domi- nating victory over Florida where he scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished out a game-high four assists in 25 efficient minutes. More impor- tantly, he seemed to be the missing piece be- hind what's been a struggling UK offense as the Wildcats pulled away from Florida in the second half with three different runs of 10-0 or more. "He gave us a whole different element to the game," graduate guard Davion Mintz said of Brooks' performance. "Keion was amazing today. It was super fun. I'm speechless, really. It was amazing. The Wildcats were plus-22 with Brooks on the floor in that victory. Despite a tougher outing against league-leader Alabama, Brooks contribut- ed 10 points, four rebounds, a block and a steal against the Tide. It marked the second back-to-back double-figure scoring efforts of his career. Dating back to last season when he scored 10 points in UK's improbable 18-point comeback against the Gators, he has three straight double-digit scoring efforts. Mr. Jackson is For Real The blocked shots standard at Kentucky starts and stops with Anthony Davis. In 2011-12, en route to nearly every ma- jor national player of the year award, the freshman blocked 186 shots, smashing the previous school record held by Andre Rid- dick and Melvin Turpin and threatening the NCAA Division I mark. Just a year later, Nerlens Noel was on pace to challenge the record before a knee injury ended his season early. And coinci- dentally, just a season after that, Willie Cau- ley-Stein put up formidable numbers. They are the only players in school history with 100 or more blocks in a single year. Since those three players left for the pros, Kentucky hasn't had the type of elite rim protection that those three provided. Enter Isaiah Jackson. The freshman for- ward has the ability to be an elite shot block- er and has shown at times to be just that. In the second game of the season, vs. Kansas, Jackson blocked eight shots, the most for a UK player since Cauley-Stein had nine against Boise State on Dec. 10, 2013. They are also the most ever by a Wildcat against an Associated Press top-10 opponent in pro- gram history. After three straight appearances with just one block a game, Jackson has swatted a combined 20 shots over the last five games to give him a total of 35 for the season. That's behind the pace of UK's all-time best rim protectors, but his block percentage is actual- ly better than Davis, Noel and Cauley-Stein. Davis had a 13.8 block percentage during the 2011-12 season, Noel posted a 13.2 in 2012-13 and Cauley-Stein was at 12.3 during 2013-14. Jackson is currently ahead at 15.8%, ranked second nationally (through games on Jan. 12), and his 6.0 blocks per 40 minutes is also ahead of Davis (5.8) and Noel (5.5). Where Jackson needs to improve to catch up to his predecessors, and more impor- tantly, to help UK win, is staying out of foul trouble. Jackson is averaging 5.4 fouls per 40 minutes. By contrast, Davis averaged just 2.4 and Noel was at 3.2. The foul trouble is what has limited Jack- son from reaching his dominant potential. He's played more than 21 minutes just once over the last seven games because of foul trouble and has fouled out twice this season. With Jackson's rim protection, UK is fifth in the country in block percentage at 16.5%. 2020-21 Basketball Schedule Texas A&M Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday February 23 Florida Lexington, Ky. 4 p.m. Saturday February 27 Ole Miss Oxford, Miss. 9 p.m. Tuesday March 2 SEC Tournament Nashville, Tenn. TBA Wed.-Sun. March 10-14 NCAA Tournament Final Four® Indianapolis | TBA March- April TBA Auburn Auburn, Ala. 2 p.m. Saturday January 16 LSU Lexington, Ky. 6 p.m. Saturday January 23 Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7 p.m. Tuesday January 26 Texas Lexington, Ky. SEC/Big 12 Challenge / 8 p.m. Saturday January 30 Missouri Columbia, Mo. 9 p.m. Tuesday February 2 Tennessee Lexington, Ky. 8 p.m. Saturday February 6 Arkansas Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday February 9 Auburn Lexington, Ky. 1 p.m. Saturday February 13 Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. 7 p.m. Wednesday February 17 Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. 1 p.m. Saturday February 20 Georgia Athens, Ga. 7 p.m. Wednesday January 20 Morehead State Lexington, Ky. W, 81-45 Wednesday November 25 Richmond Lexington, Ky. L, 64-76 Sunday November 29 Kansas Indianapolis L, 62-65 Tuesday December 1 Notre Dame Lexington, Ky. L, 63-64 Saturday December 12 North Carolina Cleveland L, 63-75 Saturday December 19 Louisville Louisville, Ky. L, 59-62 Saturday December 26 Mississippi State Starkville, Miss. W, 78-73 (2 OT) Sunday January 3 Vanderbilt Lexington, Ky. W, 77-74 Tuesday January 5 Florida Gainesville, Fla. W, 76-58 Saturday January 9 Alabama Lexington, Ky. L, 65-85 Tuesday January 12 Georgia Tech Atlanta L, 62-79 Sunday December 6 Home Away/Neutral 18 @KentuckyMBB Next >