< 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 8-4 16-5 12-1 4-4 LSU 8-4 13-6 9-2 3-4 Florida 6-4 10-5 5-2 3-3 Tennessee 7-5 14-5 11-2 3-3 Missouri 6-5 13-5 8-2 4-3 Ole Miss 7-6 12-8 8-3 4-5 Kentucky 5-7 6-13 4-5 2-6 Georgia 5-8 12-8 10-3 2-5 Auburn 5-8 11-11 6-4 3-6 Mississippi State 5-8 11-11 8-5 3-3 South Carolina 3-7 5-9 3-4 1-4 Texas A&M 2-6 8-7 6-3 2-3 Vanderbilt 2-8 6-10 5-5 1-5 Scoring Player-Team ...................................................................PPG Cameron Thomas, LSU ..................................................22.6 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY ...............................................20.3 AJ Lawson, USC ............................................................17.9 Iverson Molinar, MISS ST ...............................................16.9 D.J. Stewart Jr., MISS ST .................................................16.7 Rebounding Player-Team ...................................................................RPG Dylan Disu, VANDY ........................................................8.4 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 ......................................................7.1 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY .................................................5.4 Jalen Tate, ARK ................................................................4.4 Ja'Vonte Smart, LSU .........................................................4.1 Tre Mann, UF ..................................................................3.8 Steals Player-Team ................................................................... SPG Justin Kier, UGA ..............................................................1.9 Tyree Appleby, UF ...........................................................1.8 Dru Smith, MIZZOU .......................................................1.8 Luis Rodriguez, MISS .......................................................1.8 Devontae Shuler, MISS ....................................................1.7 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 Yves Pons, UT .................................................................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 15 games)From Press Row 16 @KentuckyMBB Cats Snap Skid with Tight Win Over Auburn On a number of occasions this season, Kentucky has found itself in the lead, or with- in a possession of the lead, in the second half only to eventually see victory slip away. Saturday's game against Auburn appeared to be headed down a similar path. After the Cats built a 14-point lead, 63-49, with 10:36 to play, the Tigers began chipping away. Eventually, Auburn would tie the game at 77 apiece with 46 seconds to play on an Allen Flanigan layup. But this time, things would be different for the Cats. Just 13 seconds after Flanigan's layup, UK's Davion Mintz hit a right-wing 3-pointer to give the Cats an 80-77 advan- tage. The Cats would play solid defense and hit enough free throws down the stretch to win 82-80, snapping a four-game skid in the process. UK head coach John Calipari has been looking for someone to step up and hit the big shot for the Cats. He was happy with Mintz being that guy on Saturday. "The one he made today, those are dag- gers," Calipari said. "It takes a unique guy, and I'll tell you why: They can't be afraid to miss the shot. That's the one that will make it. Yeah, but the dude that's not afraid to miss, I'll deal with the miss, but I'm shooting this and this is a dagger. Proud of him." Isaiah Jackson scored a career-high 18 points and added 11 rebounds, Brandon Boston Jr. made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points for Kentucky. Calipari was happy to see his team's hard work pay off. "They have to have rewards," Calipari said. "We've been making strides for three weeks, but you've got to have a reward at the end. And so, because all the hard work, all the extra conditioning they are doing, and shots, and then sacrificing for the team, you've got to have some reward, and you've got to win somewhere." Besides what would have been John Cali- pari's first five-game slide in his 12 years at Kentucky (6-13, 5-8 SEC), the Wildcats prevented their first-ever three-game losing streak at 45-year-old Rupp Arena. They also denied the Tigers (11-11, 5-8) their first sea- son sweep. The Tigers are 2-50 inside Rupp with their last win there coming in 1988. Jackson, a freshman, had his first career double-double. He and the team were excit- ed to snap the losing streak. "It's been a heavy burden lately finishing out close games," Jackson said. "We would be up in games and then just lose the lead. But this game we finally put everything together and we got the win today. So, everyone's real- ly happy and excited about the game." Keion Brooks Jr. added 12 points for Ken- tucky, which shot 53% in the second half and made 8 of 13 from the arc after going 3 of 11 from long distance in the first half. Thor was 5 of 6 on 3-pointers in scoring 24 points with nine rebounds for Auburn. Flanigan added 23 points and Sharife Coo- per, averaging 20.2 points per game coming in, finished with 14 points and eight assists but on just 6-of-23 shooting. Cooper, the freshman point guard who sat out the first 11 games, has had his two lowest-scoring games against Kentucky. He scored 11 points in a 66-59 victory on Jan. 16. Boston and Mintz hit consecutive 3-point- ers to give Kentucky its first lead. After Coo- per replied with a 3-pointer, the Wildcats went on a 19-6 run that included two more Boston 3-pointers and resulted in a 60-47 bulge. Another Boston 3 made it a 14-point lead midway through the second half. Kentucky missed its first eight shots with Auburn going up nine midway through the first half before the Wildcats scored seven straight. The Tigers again were up nine after Flanigan scored five consecutive points and led 36-30 at the break. Both head coaches were called for tech- nicals, Calipari in the first and Bruce Pearl in the second. Vanderbilt Brings Out the Comeback Cats Kentucky would rather not play with the proverbial fire of falling behind Vander- bilt and coming back as the Wildcats have done so often in the series' recent history, but there's no denying that the Wildcats have made it a habit of late of breaking the Com- modores' hearts. During the current nine-game winning streak vs. Vanderbilt, UK has rallied from at least a nine-point deficit in six of those games, including five of the last six. It's also worth mentioning that the Wildcats came back from a 22-point hole to win 82-79 at Vanderbilt on Feb. 22, 1997. Kentucky rallied from a nine-point hole in the team's earlier matchup this season. It also marked the fifth straight season that UK overcame a halftime deficit against Vanderbilt. Is Boston Turning a Corner? Following a two game stretch in which he scored 18 points in consecutive games against Georgia and LSU the question was asked if Brandon Boston Jr. was turning a corner. It turns out, it was a precursor to exactly that. The team's leading scorer at 12.2 points per game has taken it up another notch over his last four games. Scoring in double figures isn't out of the ordinary for Boston, who has led the Wildcats in scoring virtually all sea- son, but rather the efficiency has stood out. In his last four outings, Boston has made 11 of 18 (61.1%) from 3-point range. He was 9 of 50 (18.0%) during his first 15 games of the season. Boston is averaging 12.5 points per game over his last four games, which isn't far off his season-long scoring average, but it's how he's contributing that is proving to be the difference. The Norcross, Georgia native is shooting 40.5% from the field, 83.3% from the free- throw line in addition to the 61.1% clip from long range. He's averaging 2.0 assists per game and is limiting his shot selection to an average of 10.5 per game. For the season, Boston's av- erages are 37.1% from the field, 79.2% from the line, 1.4 assists per game and 12.7 shot attempts. During the two-game stretch against Georgia and LSU, Boston impressed Calipari with better shot selection. There have been fewer flips at the basket and more confident drives and strokes. "Downhill runner, create fouls, get to the rim," is how Calipari wants to see Bos- ton play. "All of a sudden you look like one of the best players in the country. The flip- sy-doodles that get nothing except a layup down the other end? We're not having that anymore." 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. 7 p.m. 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 >