Remember Bubba Parham? Former VMI star’s returning to Rupp with Georgia Tech.
For one Georgia Tech player, Saturday’s game at Kentucky returns him to the scene of the sublime.
UK fans surely remember Bubba Parham’s last visit to Rupp Arena. His 35 points – the fourth-most points scored by an opposing player in John Calipari’s 11 seasons as Kentucky coach – included a dazzling 10-for-16 shooting display from three-point range. UK won that game on Nov. 18 of last season, but Parham’s rainbow shots made a lasting impression.
“He was looking like (Steph) Curry out there tonight,” UK guard Immanuel Quickley said after the game.
Parham, a 5-foot-11 guard from the Atlanta area, transferred to Georgia Tech after last season. Because of a serious medical situation involving his parents, the NCAA waived its rule about transfers sitting out a year. So, Parham is playing this season.
Now, as then, Parham spoke of how playing in Rupp Arena against Kentucky can inspire a player.
“It was a special night for me,” he said on Tuesday. “It was one of the best games I’ve had in a long time. Not even just because of the points, because I had scored more points.”
Parham, whose first name is Donald, led the Southern Conference in scoring last season with an average of 21.4 points. His nine games scoring 30 or more points were the most by a Southern Conference player since – here’s that name again – Steph Curry’s 15 such games for Davidson in the 2008-09 season. Incidentally, Parham said Curry is his favorite NBA player.
Parham defined his “special night” as “just being in that arena and that environment. Having a good game. It’s definitely one that I’ll never forget.”
Georgia Tech Coach Josh Pastner did not watch Kentucky’s fun-filled 92-82 victory over VMI. He said he was aware that Parham made a lot of three-point shots.
“And I hope the basketball gods allow him to hit 10 more threes on Saturday,” Pastner said. “Because we sure darn need it. I can tell you that. If there’s any game we’d need him to hit 10 threes, it’d be the game on Saturday. So, I hope he has 10 left in him for Saturday’s game.”
Role changed
Georgia Tech brings a 4-3 record into Saturday’s game. Last Saturday, the Yellow Jackets lost 97-63 at home to a Syracuse team that improved its record to 5-4.
A high ankle sprain sidelining point guard Jose Alvarado has impacted Georgia Tech’s team and changed Parham’s role.
“He’s critical,” Pastner said of Alvarado, who had played only two games and will not be available on Saturday. “Take off your starting quarterback from your football team. And then tell me how it goes. We struggle without him.”
Alvarado’s absence has shifted point guard duties onto Parham. Through seven games, he’s made eight of 30 three-point shots (26.7-percent accuracy) and 17 of 51 shots overall (33.3 percent). He’s averaging 7.0 points.
“It hurts,” Parham said of Alvarado’s absence. “He’s a very important aspect of the team. He’s a leader. He gets everything going.”
Parham sees a positive in his emergency shift to point guard.
“At the next level, I’m not going to be able to play the ‘two,’” he said. “So, I’m learning the point guard role. How to get my teammates better, set my teammates up to be successful and be successful myself at the same time.”
‘Do it again’
Of course, in his previous game in Rupp Arena, Parham put an exclamation point on successful. His 10 three-pointers against Kentucky were one short of a Rupp Arena record for a player. Corey Allmond of Sam Houston State made 11 on Nov. 19, 2009, in what was Calipari’s third game as UK coach.
The only players to score more points against UK than Parham’s 35 in Calipari’s time as coach have been Elston Turner of Texas A&M (40 points on Jan. 12, 2013), Allmond (37 points) and J.J. Frazier of Georgia (36 points on Feb. 18, 2017 in Athens).
After transferring to Georgia Tech, Parham learned while scanning Twitter that he would playing against UK in Rupp Arena again.
“I got a lot of messages and mentions on Twitter about it,” he said.
The messages?
“Do it again,” he said. “Stuff like that.”
Next game
Georgia Tech at No. 8 Kentucky
5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
