Race for the SEC

Their loss Saturday at Mississippi State dropped the Arkansas Razorbacks to two games behind the Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference Western Division standings. But six games remain for both teams, and no Razorback is in the mood to simply hand the division title over to the Bulldogs.

Arkansas needs to pay attention to Pelphrey’s message, considering much-improved LSU comes to Fayetteville on Wednesday night. And if the Razorbacks do take care of the Tigers, they can put themselves in position to make a run at Mississippi State.

The Razorbacks (17-7, 6-4) and Bulldogs (17-7, 8-2) face quite similar SEC-finishing stretches. The combined SEC record of Arkansas’ final six opponents is 25-37. Mississippi State’s final six conference foes are a combined 25-34.

However, the Bulldogs travel for four of their final six games, while Arkansas plays three in Bud Walton Arena and three away from Fayetteville. Both teams will encounter Auburn and LSU on their home courts and Ole Miss in Oxford.

If Arkansas makes up the two-game gap to tie the Bulldogs, the determining tie-breaker will be division record because the teams split their season series. Right now, Arkansas is 5-1 against SEC Western Division teams, and Mississippi State is 6-1.

Pelphrey doesn’t want his team thinking about any of these scenarios. He wants the Razorbacks focusing on one game at a time, and he doesn’t care how much that sounds like coach-speak.

Arkansas senior Sonny Weems stood outside the Razorbacks’ locker room on Saturday in Starkville and insisted the Hogs were capable of concentrating on one contest at a time. Weems said the Razorbacks should worry more about constant effort than division standings.

WEDNESDAY’S TICKET

LSU AT ARKANSAS

WHEN: 8:00 p.m. TV: Raycom Sports

WHERE: Bud Walton Arena

RECORDS: LSU, 9-15, 2-8 Southeastern Conference; Arkansas, 17-7, 6-4

SERIES: Arkansas leads 28-17

LAST MEETING: Arkansas beat LSU 68-52 on Jan. 26 in Baton Rouge, La.

Getting Inside Vanderbilt

It’s a simple but often overlooked fact: What happens on the defensive end of the floor is often predicated by a team’s offensive efficiencies. And just as Vanderbilt has started taking care of the ball, its defensive effectiveness has grown in quantum leaps.

From Nov. 24 until Feb. 6, a span of 18 games, the Commodores gave up fewer than 67 points just once, that coming in a 76-58 win over a Rice team that’s now 3-19. But suddenly, Vandy has held its last three opponents…Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky, to 59, 65 and 52 points, respectively.

Looking for a common denominator? VU has turned the ball over nine, 10 and six times, respectively, in those three games.

VANDERBILT 93, KENTUCKY 52: Vanderbilt’s domination of Kentucky was so complete, even coach Kevin Stallings was at a loss for words to describe it. VU led 41-11 at the half, started the second half on a 15-3 run, and handed UK its worst loss ever in Southeastern Conference play.The Commodores out rebounded UK 35-30 after getting whipped 51-27 on the boards by the Wildcats last month in Lexington, a game the ‘Cats won 79-73 in double overtime. VU shot 55.4 percent for the game and committed just two turnovers until the game’s final 4:13, when Stallings cleared the bench and played three walk-ons for much of the stretch.

Shan Foster led Vandy with 20 points, and outscored UK by himself in the game’s first 26:52. A.J. Ogilvy added 19 points and 12 rebounds.

GAME PREVIEW:

vs. Florida, Saturday, Feb. 16, 3:00 PM, on Raycom Sports

vs. Georgia, Saturday, Feb. 23

IN FOCUS: The Commodores have a golden opportunity with all these home games, but if they keep playing the way they did Tuesday night, they’ll be unstoppable.

Arkansas prepares for Tennessee

Coach Pelphrey, no doubt, maintains a pessimistic outlook after wins. Like most coaches, he’s bothered by imperfection. No matter what happens.

The win against Ole Miss was nice. But Pelphrey’s right to place a heaping helping of importance on righting any wrongs because of the challenges — and opportunities — that lie ahead for his team on the road.

Fact No. 1: At 6-2, the Razorbacks emerged from the first half of SEC play in position to win their first division championship 1994-95 and compete for their first overall league title since 1993-94.

Fact No. 2: They’ll go head-to-head against the biggest obstacles in the way of those goals this week. They play SEC-leading Tennessee on Wednesday and SEC West front-runner Mississippi State on Saturday.

Fact No. 3: This group hasn’t proven it can win big games on the road.

That’s why Arkansas, as Pelphrey said, has to perform much, much better.

Leaving a hot-shooting opponent open on the road can’t happen. The offensive shot selection must improve because sluggish stretches will prove costly. Missed free throws? Those are simply unacceptable.

Players acknowledged as much after the Ole Miss win. Guard Patrick Beverley said the Razorbacks must learn from their mistakes, buckle down on defense and make sure they’re doing all the little things on the road if they have any hope of staying in contention for the SEC championship.

Tennessee and Mississippi State will be difficult enough. The problem is, that’s not it. After a home game against LSU, the Razorbacks face back-to-back road tests again against Kentucky and Alabama.

Add it up. Four road trips in the next five games.

“This is going to be a big challenge for us,” center Darian Townes said.

Whether the Razorbacks are able to do more than enough to survive the stretch and win games will say a lot.

They’ll be a legitimate SEC title contender. Or they’ll be an afterthought sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Arkansas takes on Tennessee, Wednesday, February 13th, on Raycom Sports, 8 ET

Spotlight on Coach Gillispie

Billy Gillispie has been given a stacked deck to work with in his first year in the bluegrass and the deck, unfortunately, is stacked against him. There were bright spots, sure: the play of freshman Patrick Patterson, the energy and hustle of walk-ons and bit scholarship players, and some talent — misguided though it may be at the time — in the form of seniors Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley. And sophomores Jodie Meeks and Derrick Jasper had shown lots of potential as freshmen.

But it took a while for his team to really begin believing in their coach’s new system. There was resistance. Gillispie went through nearly a dozen starting lineups, playing the guys he thought bought in the most and worked the hardest in practice. Unfortunately, those weren’t always his most talented players.

And then there came the injuries. A seemingly endless parade of them: Derrick Jasper had microsurgery on his knee in the offseason and was slow to recover. Jodie Meeks fractured his groin, then followed that up with a hip flexor. Joe Crawford developed plantar fascitis, a painful foot condition which won’t heal fully until he can stay rest and rehab.

Finally, against Georgia, Ramel Bradley went down in spectacular and horrifying fashion. Fouled hard from behind by David Bliss on a runout, the point guard’s body became airborne and tracked a parabolic arc back down to the hardwood. Bradley landed hard on his chest and bounced his head off the court, cutting his chin badly enough that he needed stitches on the bench. Afterward it was determined that he had sustained a Grade 2 concussion. He was wobbly and in a fog after getting up.

He was also playing sick. Bradley had been vomiting throughout the morning and had been unable to keep food down. He left the game and wouldn’t return, although that was his coach’s decision, not his. Bradley tried to join the lay-up line as the team warmed up in preparation for the second half, but Gillispie mandated that he return to the locker room and rest.

That left a depleted roster bereft of their senior leader, plus Joe Crawford gimping around on a bad foot and cramping up thanks to being unable to practice at full speed for fear of aggravating the injury. But with Bradley on the bench, he gutted it out and contributed 26 points on one leg. Patrick Patterson has been averaging 39 minutes per game in SEC play; he logged 40 in Athens.

If you don’t see a team giving absolutely everything it’s got to tough out a win, you’re missing it.

Kentucky may not be a “good” team in the classical sense this year. At 10-9 overall, making the NCAA tournament is an extreme long shot. And they just as easily could have lost in their four conference wins; Kentucky has to give immeasurable effort to beat middling SEC teams. But as forgettable as the start to their season may have been, these players are forming a foundation from which Kentucky basketball can rebound and grow into an eventual contender.

Kentucky will face Auburn, Wednesday, 8 PM, on Raycom Sports.

Florida vs Arkansas

Feb. 2, 2008
Florida at Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ark.
Tip 3 p.m. ET
Raycom Sports

The Series

The Florida-Arkansas series has been evenly matched with the Gators holding a slim 10-9 all-time advantage. However, Florida has won six out of the last seven meetings while holding an 8-2 mark against the Hogs in the last 10 contests. The Gators are 10-4 all-time against Arkansas under head coach Billy Donovan.

The game matches up long-time friends and former colleagues, Billy Donovan and John Pelphrey. Donovan was a graduate assistant and then assistant coach for Pelphrey’s final three years as a player at Kentucky (1990-92). Pelphrey was then an assistant for Donovan at Marshall for two years and then for Donovan’s first six years at UF. The two were a part of 159 wins together as coaches (35 at Marshall and 124 at Florida)

It is the second time the two have faced each other as head coaches, with Florida defeating South Alabama, 76-50 in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament in Jacksonville Florida is 40-11 against the SEC West this decade (2-1 this season)

The Gators have won 13 of their last 15 games and are off to a 5-1 start in league play. It is only the ffith start of 18-3 or better in school history.

About Arkansas

Led by former UF assistant John Pelphrey, the Arkansas Razorbacks are off to a 5-5 start and a 4-2 start in league play, highlighted by an impressive 20-point in over SEC West-leading Mississippi State on Wednesday. Sonny Weems leads the Razorbacks in scoring at 14.4 points per game and had 22 points (including five three-pointers) against Mississippi State. Patrick Beverly is averaging 2.2 points per game and has knocked down a team-high 36 three-pointers. Arkansas is out-rebounding its opponents by 6.4 boards per game and forcing 6.7 turnovers per game. The Razorbacks are 10-1 at home this year.

Gators learning to finish opponents off

They may be among the youngest teams in the country, but the Gators are learning how to finish out close games quickly. Tied at 71-71 in their first SEC road game at Alabama, the Gators went on an 11-0 run to take control of the game and outscored the Tide 19-12 over the final seven minutes. Against Auburn, the Gators led 61-56 with 4:29 remaining and held Auburn scoreless the rest of the way, finishing on an 11-0 run. With the game on the line in overtime against Kentucky and tied at 68-68 with 1:33 left, the Gators closed the game in a 13-2 run. Trailing 67-65 at South Carolina, the Gators scored eight of the game’s final 12 points.

Series results

The Florida-Arkansas series has been evenly matched with the Gators holding a slim 10-9 all-time advantage. However, Florida has won
six out of the last seven meetings while holding an 8-2 mark against the Hogs in the last 10 contests. The Gators are 10-4 all-time against
Arkansas under head coach Billy Donovan.

A+ for MSU thus far

In Mississippi State’s first big test of its Southeastern Conference season on Jan. 26, not only did it ace the exam, it tore it up and stomped on it.

The Bulldogs showed a versatility that will be hard to stop in their 88-68 win over then-No. 17 Ole Miss in front of a roaring 10,000-plus at soldout Humphrey Coliseum. Charles Rhodes’ 26 points backed up his talk from earlier

in the week and Jamont Gordon’s offensive effort was only outshined by his defensive effort on lightning-fast Ole Miss point guard Chris Warren.

But where does this leave Mississippi State, which has won nine straight and is bidding for its first 6-0 start in the SEC since 1961? It leaves the Bulldogs clicking on all cylinders, getting their best play from their star tandem of Rhodes and Gordon at the best time of the season.

Not only that, State is getting its best play of the year out of its bench. Coach Rick Stansbury didn’t have a bench when he went into early-season games against the likes of Clemson and Miami, but now he does. Even freshman Riley Benock hit four 3-pointers in the Jan. 26 win.

The hard part for State is that it will need to continue its top play for at least another week. The Bulldogs will head to Arkansas, where it has lost 14 of its last 16, and host the Southeastern Conference’s highest-ranked team, Tennessee.

The MSU vs Arkansas game will be aired on Raycom Sports, Wednesday, 8:00 PM ET.

Kentucky vs USC Preview

Their are many different scenarios that can unfold at Rupp Arena this Saturday when the UK Wildcats host South Carolina in an intriguing match-up of ranked opponent killer vs. the team that will give you everything its got but probably will not win. South Carolina will come into the game fresh off a near upset of the Florida Gators in which the Gators underestimated the Gamecocks. Hopefully that will not happen to the ‘Cats. Kentucky is coming into Saturday with a win over the #3 team in the nation in which they played almost the entire game to perfection to stun the Volunteers, the roles will be reversed for this one because USC will be the one trying to spoil Kentucky’s momentum and officially kill their slight dreams of making the NCAA tournament. Kentucky has had a hard time stopping USC’s guards the last couple years, allowing Tre’ Kelley to drop 30 on UK last season. That will be one of the keys for the game on Saturday for Kentucky to get this pretty realistic win.

KEYS TO THE GAME

The first key has already been touched on and that is the fact that UK must stop South Carolina’s guards. Devan Downey, a UAB transfer, leads the team and is 2nd in the conference with 19.9 ppg and also is 3rd in the conference with a 5.0 apg average. UK must slow him down for them to be successful. When Downey scores under 20 points the Gamecoks are only 3-6 and have lost to some pretty weak teams like George Mason and UNC-Asheville in a couple games that he has not reached the 20 point plateau. If Kentucky just gets in his jersey as they did to Chris Lofton UK should win this one pretty handely.

The second key to the game is to crash the boards hard and get second chance points. USC is 2nd to last in rebound defense allowing over 38 rpg and if guys like Perry Stevenson and Patrick Patterson can perform like they did against Tennessee then we should get at least 40 rebounds in the game. The only problem is that UK is a horrible rebounding team, we rank 2nd to last in rebound offense at 35 rpg and so we are actually at a disadvantage on the boards even with Carolina being so weak on the boards. Another stat that UK must control is turnover margin. USC is second in the league in TO margin and UK is second……to last in TO margin. South Carolina forces 3 more turnovers than they commit so they know how to handle the ball and control tempo, UK turns the ball over 1.8 more times per game than they force them and that MUST change, Kentucky will not even win these kind of games with poor TO stats like these. Ramel Bradley needs to get up in the jersey of Devan Downey as he did to the best pure scorer in the conference two nights ago Chris Lofton. Downey’s assist/TO ratio is not even 2:1 and for a player who plays point guard as much as Downey does that is not a good number. Again though UK is worse then USC at areas that they are extremely weak at, Ramel Bradley only has 5 more assists than TO’s on the season, that stat is very misleading though because first off he does not play the PG position as much as Downey and UK feeds the post much more than Carolina which will result in fewer assist chances because unless the player goes straight up without making the move there will not be an assist opportunity.

The third and probably most important key will be to still play the same way and with the same concentration as they did against UT, even though Carolina is one of the weaker teams in the conference they proved the other day against Florida that if you are in one of those look ahead mind sets with them they can stun you or at least come close to. If Devan Downey is on and the rest of the team is hitting shots then they will be hard to beat because UK is one of the weakest three point shooting teams in the league and they will most likely lose a shooting match with USC unless Meeks, Crawford, and Bradley are on fire. I do not expect Downey to score over 20 and hit a lot of threes because Ramel will be in his grill all night and when Ramel gets motivated or angry he is impossible to score on and Lofton found that out the hard way, with a nearly scoreless second half and a L in the win/loss column.

I think UK will win pretty convincingly at home against the Gamecocks, I see them winning by a score of 76-61 and I think it will be in large part due to Patrick Patterson who I think exposes the weak interior D that USC has and drops 23 & 11 on the ‘Cocks. Gillispie will make sure that UK does not look ahead a couple games and he will have them physically and especially mentally ready to be in the mindset to crush the Gamecocks as hard as possible.

NEXT GAME

Jan. 26 vs. South Carolina, 1:00 PM on Raycom Sports

Florida gets the “W”

Marreese Speights registered a double-double with 22 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as the Florida Gators came back to defeat South Carolina, 73-71, in SEC action at the Carolina Center.

Also scoring in double figures for the Gators (17-3, 4-1 SEC), winners of two straight and six of the last seven, was Nick Calathes with 21 points on the night.

The Gamecocks (9-9, 1-3) were paced by Devan Downey who tallied a game-high 24 points, followed by Zam Fredrick with 19 points and five assists. Dominique Archie contributed a double-double as well with 14 points and a team-best 11 boards in the squad’s fourth loss in five games.

South Carolina shot not only 56 percent from the field in the first half but also 6-of-10 beyond the arc, yet led by just two points at the break, 38-36.

In the second half it was the Gators who knocked down 5-of-8 behind the three- point line as USC made good on a mere 1-of-5 at the free-throw line in the two- point decision.

In a game that saw six ties and eight lead changes, the Gamecocks led by as many as nine points in the second half, but just 5-of-11 at the charity stripe for the home team simply wasn’t good enough to get the job done.

Kentucky Couldn’t Hang On

Kentucky gave a very strong effort and had their chances. Give credit to Florida for hitting big shots in OT.

The game wasn’t pretty by any manner. It was ugly at times, very physical and included some questionable calls by the refs.

You could see the game plan early on was to lob in down to Patrick Patterson and get him involved. Unfortunately, this didn’t work very well and ended with him having his shot blocked or resulting in a turnover.

As has been the case this season, Kentucky shot themselves in the foot by turning over the ball early. But they didn’t lose their composure and came back and stuck around. That’s one thing you can give credit to this team for. They have heart and could of easily folded under the pressure playing in that environment.

Kentucky also did a good job of breaking Florida’s press.

The second half Kentucky took better care of the ball and finally started to kick it in gear. Their main guys started to step up, but the outside shot was not very good to them.

The game changer…

Although Kentucky did get the big three from Bradley to send it into overtime, I thought Kentucky had some good momentum going when they finally got the game tied and had a chance in regulation.

Florida goes down the floor and Nick Calathes hits a shot and a phantom foul is called. He hits the free throw and then goes down the floor and nails Bradley to the ground after the whistle had blown, where he wasn’t involved. Look, you could say Bradley acted, he mouthed a little, but come on refs… where’s the foul?

Overtime was a disaster and Kentucky just couldn’t get anything to fall. Florida made the shots when it counted. After struggling from the line most of the game Florida hit when it mattered most. The tell tell sign are these OT stats.

Florida

• FG%: OT: 3-3 100 %
• 3-Pt. FG%: OT: 2-2 100 %
• F Throw %: OT: 12-12 100 %

Kentucky

• FG%: OT: 3-9 33.3%
• 3-Pt. FG%: OT: 0-4 0.0%
• F Throw %: OT: 3-4 75.0%

This game could of gone either way. Florida simply had more guys to throw at Kentucky. It’s hard for Kentucky when you have three guys playing 40+ minutes each, these guys do get tired. Also, combine that with 2 injured players who aren’t clearly 100%. The lack of talented depth hurts Kentucky and will continue to do so.

Kentucky did give it all and played with heart. I like the physical nature that Gillispie is instilling into the Wildcat team and they look to be going in the right direction.

Next up for Kentucky is Tennessee on Tuesday.

Vanderbilt loses second straight

Vanderbilt’s turnover and rebounding woes are not new, but now the Commodores can’t find their shooting touch either.

The Commodores, the nation’s leading 3-point shooting team a week ago, missed their first 11 from behind the arc in an 80-60 loss at Tennessee on Thursday. Vanderbilt finished just 3-for-21, 14 percent.

It was the Commodores’ second consecutive loss after a 16-0 start.

Vanderbilt also is struggling from the foul line after shooting over 75 percent most of the season.

Freshman center A.J. Ogilvy, who was averaging over 19 points a game coming into Thursday’s game, has not asserted himself at the start of games lately. That allows opponents to close out on Vanderbilt’s shooters.

Oglivy scored just two in the first half Thursday and finished with 12.

TENNESSEE 80, VANDERBILT 60: After winning its first 16 games, Vanderbilt lost its second straight.

The visiting Commodores shot just 36 percent from the field, committed 22 turnovers and were outrebounded 43-38.

The Volunteers’ unheralded center, Wayne Chism, got the best of Vanderbilt freshman A.J. Ogilvy. Chism torched Vandy for 18 points and 18 rebounds, and hit two 3-pointers to fuel a 32-15 Tennessee run in the first half.

Guard Shan Foster led Vanderbilt with 14 points, but he made just one of 11 from behind the arc.