< 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 12-1 17-5 10-1 5-2 Arkansas 9-4 17-5 13-1 4-4 LSU 8-4 13-6 9-2 3-4 Tennessee 8-5 15-5 12-2 3-3 Florida 6-5 10-6 5-2 3-4 Ole Miss 7-6 12-8 8-3 4-5 Missouri 6-6 13-6 8-2 4-4 Kentucky 6-7 7-13 4-5 3-6 Georgia 6-8 13-8 11-3 2-5 Auburn 5-8 11-11 6-4 3-6 Mississippi State 5-8 11-11 8-5 3-3 South Carolina 3-8 5-10 3-4 1-5 Texas A&M 2-6 8-7 6-3 2-3 Vanderbilt 2-9 6-11 5-6 1-5 Scoring Player-Team ...................................................................PPG Cameron Thomas, LSU ..................................................22.6 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY ...............................................20.3 AJ Lawson, USC ............................................................18.0 Iverson Molinar, MISS ST ...............................................16.9 D.J. Stewart Jr., MISS ST .................................................16.7 Rebounding Player-Team ...................................................................RPG Dylan Disu, VANDY ........................................................8.9 Tolu Smith, MISS ST.........................................................8.4 Darius Days, LSU ............................................................7.9 Jeremiah Tilmon, MIZZOU ..............................................7.8 Emanuel Miller, TAMU ....................................................7.7 Assists Player-Team ...................................................................APG Sahvir Wheeler, UGA ......................................................7.0 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY .................................................5.2 Jalen Tate, ARK ................................................................4.3 Ja'Vonte Smart, LSU .........................................................4.1 Tre Mann, UF ..................................................................3.6 Steals Player-Team ................................................................... SPG Justin Kier, UGA ..............................................................1.9 Dru Smith, MIZZOU .......................................................1.8 Luis Rodriguez, MISS .......................................................1.8 Tyree Appleby, UF ...........................................................1.8 Scottie Lewis, UF .............................................................1.8 Blocks Player-Team ...................................................................BPG Isaiah Jackson, UK ..........................................................2.7 Colin Castleton, UF .........................................................2.6 Connor Vanover, ARK ......................................................2.0 Abdul Ado, MISS ST ........................................................1.8 Omar Payne, UF ..............................................................1.6 2020-21 Associated Press Rankings As of Feb. 14, 2021 (week 13) Team Record Points 1 Gonzaga (59) 20-0 1,595 2 Baylor (5) 17-0 1,541 3 Michigan 14-1 1,469 4 Ohio State 17-4 1,402 5 Illinois 14-5 1,290 6 Houston 17-2 1,171 7 Virginia 15-3 1,130 8 Alabama 17-5 1,086 9 Oklahoma 13-5 1,072 10 Villanova 13-3 1,061 11 Iowa 15-6 911 12 Texas 13-5 886 13 West Virginia 14-6 837 14 Creighton 16-5 794 15 Texas Tech 14-6 792 16 Florida State 11-3 625 17 Southern California 17-3 587 18 Virginia Tech 14-4 514 19 Tennessee 14-5 453 20 Missouri 13-5 413 21 Wisconsin 15-7 274 22 Loyola Chicago 18-4 167 23 Kansas 15-7 141 24 Arkansas 16-5 111 25 San Diego State 15-4 75 14 @KentuckyMBB (standings and statistics through February 18 games)From Press Row 16 @KentuckyMBB Kentucky Holds Off Vanderbilt in Nashville Kentucky head coach John Calipari is watching his young team grow before his very eyes. Another example of that growth came on Wednesday night in Nashville, Ten- nessee. Kentucky built a 17-point lead in the first half, only to see Vanderbilt rally all the way back and tie the game early in the second half. But instead of letting the Commodores go ahead and take the lead, the Cats fought back and eventually won 82-78 at Memorial Gymnasium. "Winning and playing like we did in the first half, where we should have been up 15, 16 and then they make a run and we don't fold, we don't fold," Calipari said. "We just keep fighting and we push it back to seven. That is big for this team. Big." Calipari knew that Vanderbilt would make a run at his team. He just hoped the Cats would respond. "Yeah, look, everybody's going to make a run," Calipari said. "What I told them, they're going to make a run, then you've got to make a run back at them. That's the game of basketball. And then, you're trying to make the last run of the game, or at least hold on, which is what we did." Davion Mintz had 18 points, Jacob Top- pin scored 12 of his career-high 16 points in the second half on Wednesday. Isaiah Jack- son had 15 points and nine rebounds, Bran- don Boston Jr. added 12 points and three steals and Olivier Sarr had 10 points and four blocks for Kentucky (7-13, 6-7 SEC). Toppin, who made some key plays down the stretch for the Cats, knows that the team has learned how to make plays late in games this season. "We're still learning as a team," Toppin said. "I think we're getting better playing down the stretch. We still make a few mis- takes that we need to fix. But with experi- ence, we're going to fix them. And I believe in this team. I believe this team is going in the right direction. And we've just got to keep pushing." Calipari knows that, on a given night, any player could be the one who steps up for this team. On this night, it was Toppin. "Yeah, I was so happy (for Toppin)," Cali- pari said. "What I said to the team after – a real team, a team – really doesn't know who is going to have that big game. And whoev- er it is, everybody is ecstatic for. And they were ecstatic for him in that locker room. And that's what I'm saying, we're becoming a team. Instead of doing what I want to do, what does the team need me to do." Calipari believes that this team is coming together at the right time. "They're building their own confidence togeth- er," Calipari said. "They're finally becoming a team. And we're learning to be a better team." Scotty Pippen Jr. scored six points and Dylan Disu added five in an 11-5 spurt that pulled Vanderbilt (6- 11, 2-9) within a point with 26 seconds left but Toppin, Boston and Devin Askew combined to go 8 of 8 from the free-throw line from there. Disu had career highs of 29 points and 16 rebounds for the Commodores and Pippen finished with 21 points. Kentucky scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed. Boston hit a 3-pointer and then took a steal coast-to-coast for a dunk 17 seconds later to spark a 15-3 run that made it 25-8 midway through the first half. Issac McBride hit a 3-pointer to trim the Commodores' deficit to 12 at halftime and Vanderbilt scored 16 of the first 20 points of the second half to tie it at 46-all but Mintz answered with a 3-pointer and Kentucky led the rest of the way. The Wildcats have won back-to-back games for just the second time this season. They won three in a row in early January. They have also scored 80 points or more in three straight games -- thanks to a com- bined 33 3-pointers over the last three -- after scoring 80 or more just once in the prior 17 games. Davi-Onions Long-time sportscaster Bill Raftery coined the phrase "onions" on Nov. 8, 1995 during a telecast of a New Jersey Nets game. The phrase is defined as, “A nice way of describ- ing the toughness of a person.” This season, there's been one player in particular who has been called upon to take the tough shot in big situations. Following another go-ahead 3-pointer in UK's victory over Auburn, Mintz has now drained four important long-range shots this season for the Wildcats. Mintz, the team's leading 3-point maker at 36 on the season, drained his most clutch shot from behind the arc with 33 seconds to go in the 82-80 win over Auburn last Saturday. He also hit the go-ahead 3-pointer earlier in the week against Arkansas with 14 sec- onds to play before the Razorbacks were able to hit two free throws to win the game. "It felt amazing," Mintz said after the Vander- bilt 3-pointer. "Coach is drawing it up and I knew where he had placed me. I knew that it would be open. Devin (Askew) put it right on the mon- ey and I was like, 'Oh yeah, this feels amazing,' especially right after I vividly remember missing one of my game-winning 3s at Creighton, just to hit one in that exact same spot, years later of course, that just felt amazing." The Wildcats Really are THIS Close At 7-13, it's easy for people to ignore John Calipari when he says his team is "close" or "not that far away" from getting in the win column. But the numbers don't lie. In its 13 losses this season, Kentucky has led in the second half of nine of those games. Of those nine games, seven of the opponents were either ranked or receiving votes at the time of the game and six of them came away from the friendly confines of Rupp Arena. The Wildcats were particularly close during the meat of UK's schedule from Jan. 23 to Feb. 9. During that stretch, Kentucky played five teams in the top 40 of the NCAA Evaluation Took rankings at the time of the game and all five were at least receiving votes in the two major polls. The Wildcats beat LSU but lost their next four. In each of those four games UK had chances to win. 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. L, 59-66 Saturday January 16 LSU Lexington, Ky. W, 82-69 Saturday January 23 Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. L, 59-70 Tuesday January 26 Texas Lexington, Ky. Canceled Saturday January 30 Missouri Columbia, Mo. L, 70-75 Tuesday February 2 Tennessee Lexington, Ky. L, 71-82 Saturday February 6 Arkansas Lexington, Ky. L, 80-81 Tuesday February 9 Auburn Lexington, Ky. W, 82-80 Saturday February 13 Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. W, 82-78 Wednesday February 17 Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. 1 p.m. Saturday February 20 Georgia Athens, Ga. L, 62-63 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 >