Ten Kentucky basketball notes as the Wildcats begin their NCAA Tournament run
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Men’s NCAA Tournament: Previewing Kentucky vs. Saint Peter’s
Click below to view more content from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com previewing Kentucky’s men’s basketball matchup against Saint Peter’s on Thursday night in the NCAA East Regional at Indianapolis.
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Ten Kentucky basketball notes as the East Region No. 2 seed Wildcats prepare to play the No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s Peacocks in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Gainbridge Arena on Thursday at 7:10 p.m.
1. Kentucky has dropped its last two games in Indianapolis. The Cats fell to Kansas 65-62 in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 1, 2020, at a largely empty Fieldhouse thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, UK was stunned 118-84 by Zion Williamson and Duke in the Fieldhouse on Nov. 6, 2018. That matchup was also part of the CBS Sports Classic.
On the plus postseason side, Kentucky did win both of its 2017 NCAA Tournament games at the Fieldhouse, beating Northern Kentucky 79-70 and Wichita State 65-62. (The latter was infamous for the sideline behavior of the wife of Wichita State Coach Gregg Marshall.) After beating UCLA in Memphis that year, Kentucky lost on a buzzer-beater to North Carolina in the Elite Eight.
2. Since taking over the lead whistle at UK, John Calipari is 31-8 in the NCAA Tournament. Cal was 22-4 in his first five NCAA Tournaments at Kentucky, including a title (2012) and four trips tot he Final Four (2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015). He’s 9-4 in his last four tournaments.
3. Kentucky has not been bounced in a first-round NCAA Tournament game since Billy Gillispie’s 2008 team lost to Marquette 74-66 in Anaheim, Calif. UK was a No. 11 seed that season. Coached by Tom Crean, Marquette was a No. 6 seed.
4. Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz are the only two current Cats with NCAA Tournament experience. Mintz scored two points in 14 minutes for Creighton in its 84-72 loss to Rhode Island in 2017. Grady scored 16 points in 39 minutes in Davidson’s 78-73 loss to Kentucky in 2018.
5. Speaking of Grady, he was 1-of-8 from the floor, including 0-for-5 from three-point range in the Cats’ 69-62 loss to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament last week. (As a team, UK was 2-of-20 from three.) Over his last six games, Grady has made just five of 22 three-point shots.
6. Keion Brooks, Oscar Tshiebwe and Jacob Toppin all missed chances to make NCAA Tournament debuts when the 2020 event was canceled because of COVID-19. Brooks was a freshman at Kentucky, Tshiebwe a freshman at West Virginia and Toppin a freshman at Rhode Island.
7. Brooks scored 19 points in UK’s SEC Tournament loss last week to Tennessee. That was the junior forward’s highest scoring outing since his 20 points against Vanderbilt at Rupp Arena on Feb. 2, which followed his standout 27-point performance at Kansas on Jan. 31.
8. Kentucky shot 34.4 percent in the SEC Tourney loss to Tennessee. That was just the eighth time since 2014-15 that Calipari’s club has shot less than 35 percent from the floor in a game. Three of those eight games came when Kentucky played Rick Barnes and Tennessee, including two this season.
9. Oscar Tshiebwe fouled out after just 25 minutes in the Tampa loss to UT. That was the first time this season Tshiebwe has fouled out. He has picked up four fouls in seven games. The 25 minutes on the floor were the fewest for the Kentucky center since 23 in the rout of High Point on Dec. 31. His season-low is 22 minutes against North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 18.
10. TyTy Washington’s 37 minutes in the Tennessee game were his most since the freshman guard played 37 at Vanderbilt on Jan. 11. Washington went just 1-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc against the Volunteers.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
