On playing South Carolina the second time and if it will be a little bit tougher the second time?

“I think we have a new game plan this time and we have to be ready to come out and compete.”

On if coach Calipari has stressed more on rebounding since they outrebounded the team last time?

“Yes, he has. We did a lot of boxing out drills yesterday and I am sure we will do it again today.”

On how to stop Devan Downey.

“He is a good player; we just have to use defensive schemes to try to stop him. He is really short, but if I can get lower while guarding him, I think I will be fine.”

On what the team didn’t do last time that they have to do this time to win.

“They outrebounded us and we broke down defensively. We have to make up for it and not do that again.”

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Kentucky coach John Calipari knows his second-ranked Wildcats will face a challenge against Mississippi State Tuesday night in Starkville. Calipari spoke on what to expect from the Bulldogs on Monday afternoon.

On Mississippi State: “They shoot 30 threes. They are going to shoot threes. If they make 18, we get an ‘L’, and they could. They are going to shot 300 three-point shots. They will play some man, play some zone, they are well coached, and they play to their strengths, which are getting it to the big kid inside, or shoot threes. If you space the court, they’ll try to drive it to the rim, because you’re so spaced out. If you help off of (Jarvis) Varnado, then he dunks balls. So, they play the way they have to play. They’re really good in that building and they have been waiting on this game. We know what we are going into. They have been looking forward to playing us and it should a heck of a ballgame.

“They are going to shoot them whether you are there or not, you just have to make them hard. You have to understand what you’re playing against, you can’t fall asleep. The one thing that happens when a team tries to hold the ball, you cannot gamble. Every time we have a bad game, whether it’s Tennessee or South Carolina, or whoever, they either score or we foul somebody. So, you can’t gamble. Late in the clock you cannot fall asleep because we just guarded 30 seconds and with four seconds to go you stop and your man makes a wide-open three or a post up. Those are the things this young team has to realize. It was like Tennessee, when we got up 12 because of how they were playing, everybody said the game is over. When a team is playing that way, if you make a few jumpers, if you don’t take chances, if it’s hard for them to score, and you can make baskets, it’s hard to play that way.”

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FOX Sports South announced the debut of Under the Lights: Kentucky Basketball, a 30-minute all-access special spotlighting the University of Kentucky’s storied basketball program.  debuts Thursday at 9 p.m. on FOX Sports South.

Under the Lights: Kentucky Basketball turns the spotlight on the winningest program in college basketball history.  With exclusive insight from former head coach Joe B. Hall and some former and current players including Rex Chapman, Kyle Macy, Jamal Mashburn, Patrick Patterson and John Wall, Kentucky basketball’s most memorable stars illustrate the pride and dedication surrounding Kentucky basketball and the intense “love affair” the team has with its fans. In Under the Lights: Kentucky Basketball, John Calipari talks about the hallowed basketball grounds of the University of Kentucky and the responsibilities that come with coaching the third-ranked team in the country.

The FOX Sports South original program is interspersed with footage of the team on the practice court and in the locker room and of fans camped outside of Memorial Coliseum for tickets to Big Blue Madness.  A wireless microphone worn by Calipari during team practices and the Wildcats’ game against Long Beach State provides unique insight into Calipari’s energy and enthusiasm for the game of basketball, and the preparation involved in getting his team ready for a game.

Additional airings on FOX Sports South on Feb. 13th and 18th at 10 p.m.; Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.; March 2 at 6:30 p.m. and March 6 at 7 p.m.

The following are excerpts from the show:

Rex Chapman on playing at Kentucky: “Unless you’ve actually put in these practices and felt what it feels like to become a family member here, you don’t truly understand.  It’s a sense of pride that you have.  It really is hard to describe.”

Patrick Patterson on Kentucky on the fans: “I think it’s a huge responsibility as well as a privilege.  You come here to play basketball but not many people tell you about what else you have to do.  You have all these fans, all these people who expect a lot out of you, off the court as well.  If you can’t handle all the attention, because they’re all crazy about you, this isn’t the place for you.”

Jamal Mashburn on coaching at Kentucky: “A lot of coaches this day and age think it’s about x’s and o’s.  Here you very much have to be a CEO; you have to touch everybody.  It takes a different type of coach to coach here; not just someone with great basketball credentials but you have to have a great eye for relationships.  And the people of Kentucky expect a lot.  And if they’re going to cheer hard for you they want to be able to actually run up and touch you and talk to you.  That’s the difference.  I think a lot of coaches really don’t understand the burden that comes with being the head coach at the University of Kentucky.”

Former Kentucky basketball coach Joe B. Hall on current coach John Calipari: “He is such an innovative, sensitive person that embraces the tradition of Kentucky basketball.  That kind of makes him different.  He’s had enough success that he’s not awed by the program and he’s not afraid of the program.  He embraces it.  He’s become a part of it very quickly.  He’s a father figure to the players, yet he believes in tough love.  He fits this program perfectly.”

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By John Herndon

Sports Editor, The Anderson News

It’s a great time to be a member of the Big Blue Nation! Wildcat basketball is the talk of the country, the UK women’s team is ranked and climbing in the polls, and Wednesday, we got our first glimpse of what Joker Phillips can do on the recruiting trail as the head football coach.

Your head can spin just thinking about it, but let’s briefly look at all three areas and how they are making life fun in the Bluegrass again. Wildcat is basketball sitting at 21-1 after Tuesday’s win over Ole Miss. John Wall on the cover of every magazine this side of Progressive Farmer — wait, can we do the dance while milking the cows? He’s making a case for being the top pick in next year’s NBA draft, IF Demarcus Cousins isn’t. The rest of the hoops world does not like it, but the Wildcats are THE STORY in men’s college basketball this year.

Face it, when was the last time a team has pulled a Lazarus so quickly? The Cats have gone from losing to Gardner-Webb in Rupp Arena to a legitimate national contender. They are everyone’s big game again, shown by how the South Carolina students rushed the floor last week after the Gamecocks upset the then top-ranked Cats. Anyone that swarmed the court after a win over UK the last two years would have been laughed off SportsCenter.

Even the latest little flap about UK basketball, John Wall saying he was not happy and that he did not listen to John Calipari saying he had a bad game — a statement that seemed to be more frustration than anything — would have been a blip on the screen, if it even made the screen, at most other places. But it was Kentucky, so Hubert Davis and Digger Phelps spent a minute discussing it on ESPN Monday night. Why? Because Kentucky is relevant again.

The Wildcats have been a national player all season, a far cry from the last few years when the Big Blue Nation was looking ahead at the schedule to see if the Cats would have enough wins on Selection Sunday. And let’s face it. These Cats are just so much fun to watch. Across the hall at the Joe Craft Center, the 20th-ranked Kentucky women are sitting at 18-3 and all alone in second place, behind Tennessee, in the SEC. Remember, the women’s game does not use divisions like the men. All 12 teams are in one race for the top. UK defeated LSU and Mississippi State last week to jump into the Associated Press poll for the first time in three seasons. I have been to games at Memorial Coliseum in which the only sounds were the ball bouncing and the Nikes squeaking.

It’s not so this year as Matt Mitchell has made UK Hoops relevant too. Isn’t it good to actually be important again? Then there was football signing day on Wednesday.

Football recruiting is such a shot in the dark many times many were discounting the first class of the Joker Phillips Era. That was, of course, until Tim Patterson, Miles Simpson, two of the in-state studs, Jerrell Priester from South Carolina, Cincinnati tight end Alex Smith, and Brandon Gainer, one of the top running backs in the nation, cast their lots with the Wildcats at the last minute. If his first class is any indication, Phillips seems to be intent on dominating the in-state, getting most of the top prospects, and using his connections anywhere else.

UK kept the pipeline to LaGrange, Ga. open and even signed one of Randall Cobb’s old teammates, Tyler Robinson, a 6-4, 250-pound tight end from Alcoa, Tenn. It looks like the Joker Phillips Era is off to a Big Blue start. And just be glad that you can wear your UK sweats and caps with pride. The world knows who the Wildcats are again!

A big thanks to Wildcat Den, which asked me if I would be interested in writing a weekly column for the site. Let’s just say about the only thing I would like more would be center-court tickets, front row, of course, to watch the Wildcats in Lucas Oil Stadium on April 3 and 5. I grew up listening to Cawood Ledford telling me the Wildcats were moving to the right side of my radio dial, loved it when he said, “The Cats are SMOKIN!” and experienced my first broken heart when, as an 8-year-old, I heard him say that Texas Western had beaten my beloved Wildcats.

Since 1985, with the exception of a year living in Indiana, I have been writing for The Anderson News in Lawrenceburg. I am glad to be on board. Feel free to drop me a note at jpherndon@theandersonnews.com, look me up on Facebook and follow me at Twitter.com/ANewsJPHerndon. I hope we enjoy the ride together!

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What does DeMarcus Cousins think of Alabama? Cousins, a native of Birmingham, Ala., thinks Tuesday’s contest against the Crimson Tide is “just another game.”

“I can say that with a straight face – no big deal,” Cousins said Monday.

Cousins, named SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season, shared his thoughts on playing Alabama and other insights Monday. Kentucky will play the Crimson Tide at 9 p.m. Tuesday in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU.

How good is Alabama?

“They are a big, athletic team. They can play ball.”

On playing well at Auburn, is it similar playing another Alabama team?

“It will be the same. Like I said, it is just another game. That is the way it is, and should be.”

On how much of a different person he is now compared to a year ago?

“I feel like I have grown up a lot. My decision making is a lot better, but I have matured more, and I feel like my basketball I.Q. has gotten better; the choices I make in the game, as far as basketball, have gotten a lot better.”

On if physical play is helping him grow as a player?

“It is helping me, but I also take it as a complement. That is the only way they think they can stop me.”

On how hard it has been to keep his composure?

“It is not hard, it hurts. Let me beat on you all and see how you like it. You just have to keep playing.”

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LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell

On a quick turn around after the Tennessee loss

“It’s not exhausting, but what’s been exhausting all year is losing. Less than a 48-hour swing is not going to affect us. I think we are going to play with our heart and mind no matter how short the time is. We did that not too long ago when we played four games in less than seven days. It really doesn’t matter.”

On playing Kentucky:

“They are a great team. We respect them, and they are well coached. They are a good team, but they are beatable. South Carolina showed that against them. They are a great team, and they’ve got everything they need.  They have all the pieces to the puzzle.”

LSU coach Trent Johnson:

“Kentucky is very impressive. For me, when you look at the nucleus of guys with the exception of Jodie Meeks that we beat last year in Lexington, those guys are all role players. DeMarcus Cousins is really impressive, and if you saw him in the summer compared to where he is now, you’d say, ‘Oh my goodness.’ From a standpoint of length, athleticism, skill and being both mentally and physically tough, they are a tough group. Last night was hard for all of us. Obviously,(Tennessee) was a game that we were in a good position. As much as we were behind and kept fighting to get back into the position to where we could win, I thought we had some opportunity.

“It’s hard when you don’t knock down open shots. I think that was our Achilles heel last night. We have a quick turnaround, and I haven’t even seen any of the guys today, but I suspect they are down because they competed hard against a very good team. I have to do a good job of getting them back on board. We are going to have a light workout today, and probably walk through a lot of stuff. There’s nothing else you can do to get ready for this team because you can’t simulate their length and quickness. It’s a mental thing in terms of understanding they are going to put a lot of pressure on you. I don’t think they are a team that will double team Tasmin. I think they’ll probably run a guy at him instead. We have to handle the pressure and go from there.”

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“When introduced as head coach, we talked about how important recruiting would be in the next month that we have. I also introduced Operation Win. The first phase is recruiting, and we just finished up a strong 2010 class. A lot of things have happened in the last 24-48 hours, even things that Jeff Drummond didn’t find out. We feel good about the class and how it ended up. Our staff was relentless in the last two or three weeks. We feel like we fulfilled not only the things we were looking for, but we added size, speed, and athleticism. This is what, when we first came here in 2003 we wanted to build on, is size, speed and athleticism. I feel that we have added to the overall team speed and size.

“When you look at this class, it is heavy in the defensive line position. We feel like to be successful in this league, you must have depth up front. We added a lot of linebackers and tight end-type bodies, which you can never get enough of. At the running back position, we will make the announcement today that Dakotah Tyler has approached us about a position change, and will play one of the safety spots in the spring.  You can never get enough of those types of bodies, because they can always play something else. With that, we were able to add three running backs in this class. We think it helps our overall team speed and team needs with this class. We are excited about it. It is a class that is long. When I talk about UK basketball, I always talk about how long they are, how athletic they are, and the last thing I talk about is how tough they are. And that’s what we have. We have a long, athletic team, and now we have to build toughness in this class.”

“Obviously it is a long process, but the last 24 hours seemed to change your class dramatically. How tense were the last 24 hours?”

“Very tense. It was a lot of staying on the phone, telling the kids to be strong, pray about it, and if this is really what you want to do, just be strong with it. There are a lot of people tugging. These last five or six guys that we signed were just us staying on the phone and being relentless. One of the things I think is that they feel our love. They feel what we have here. They feel it from our players, our administration, and our fans. We just continue to reassure them that what they saw when they were here on their visit, it is still here. It hasn’t gone anywhere. And I think that was the difference as far as getting their faxes to come through this morning.”

“Coach, you have seven guys from Georgia, five from South Carolina, you have been both places before. Talk about the amount of talent from those states that you continue to get in there and get better players.”

“If you look at our seven states that we try to target, which is our priorities, are Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida. Those are the states that we feel like we have a huge presence in. We have had success in all the states that we feel like we have to have success in. Georgia and South Carolina are just two of those that we feel like we have a strong presence on our team now, and we can sell to those kids that we are taking them home every other year, and we are able to get those faxes in because of that .”

“Coach can you talk about how the recruits can expect to come to Kentucky and win?”

“When you go to four straight bowl games, I saw a list of kids by the SEC that are in the combine, we have five. We had more than Georgia, South Carolina, etc. I think that is what has given us a chance to win some of the battles that we win in recruiting. Not only are we winning games, but we are graduating our players and they are players of character. When they get around the kids coming in, they feel the love that we have here. We are not only winning games and graduating players and putting players in the NFL, but now with the TV package also, they will be able to get themselves on the TV screen every week. We feel like that has given us a chance to win some of the battles we are fighting now.”

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On talking to Coach Cal, and if everything is okay…

“Everything is okay. It was mainly that he took the blame on the loss against USC. I listen to Coach Cal because I know he is trying to make us better, but at the same time I was frustrated, and when you are frustrated you say things you don’t mean. We sat down and talked about it and I realized after I watched the film that I did play bad. I had a lot of turnovers and didn’t lead the team like I was supposed to. As a point guard, whenever we lose a game, it is my fault. As you saw last game, I got my team involved, we were making shots, and I had nine assists. The games we almost lost, I only had like two or three assists. Coach Cal and I talked about everything after the game, and it is all good now.”

On him and Coach Cal saying they love each other…

“I told him that first. It is tough for me being a nineteen year old freshman and playing point guard in college, and being 20-1. Coach said Derek (Rose) and Tyreke (Evans) didn’t get their attention until the middle of the season, and I had mine since the beginning. The main thing is to listen to coach; he knows what he is doing. Derek (Rose) and Tyreke (Evans) are doing great in the NBA. He said for me to call those guys if I need some advice, since they have been through the same thing. I need to just get better, have fun, and listen to what he tells me to do.”

On the fact that Derek Rose and Tyreke Evans had bad games, too…

“Well every time I looked at it, it seemed like they were winning, but he told me some stories about when Dick Vitale criticized Derek Rose at Madison Square Garden. He said that Derek didn’t get mad about it, he just let it go and he just got better. Coach Cal knows what he is talking about, and those guys are in the NBA so I just have to try to get better and listen more to coach.”

On how much he has had to deal with criticism…

“I have dealt with it a lot. A lot of people said in high school that I couldn’t shoot very well, and that I wasn’t really a  point guard in high school, but if you look at it, I had around nine or ten assists a game, so it doesn’t really bother me.  I could have shot it a lot more, but that is not the type of player that I am. I like to give my teammates the ball, and you see that I get more excited when my teammates score than when I do. Like I said, I have to listen more to him and keep believing in my teammates and they will make shots for us.”

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South Carolina coach Darrin Horn has never lost to Kentucky and is 3-0 as coach of the Gamecocks against the Wildcats. Horn was born and raised in Lexington and is a former standout at Tates Creek. Horn shared his thoughts on his team’s upset over to-ranked Kentucky Tuesday night in Columbia, S.C.

Opening statement:

Everybody just saw a great college basketball game with two teams absolutely playing their guts out. It’s obviously a huge win for our program for a lot of reasons. I’m really happy for our players, especially our seniors who have been through a lot of adversity – and for our fans. We have tremendous fans here. The entire Gamecock Nation deserves this. It’s really a huge win for us. Kentucky is great. The key to the game was we had the close plays. My key all along was if it’s close, we have No. 2 (Devan Downey) and we have a shot.”

On beating the No.1 team in the nation:

Anytime you beat the No. 1 team on national T.V., it’s covered coast to coast and gets exposure for your program. We said from day one we want games like this and to be competitive in them, otherwise there’s no reason to be here. It’s a good step and gives us something to talk about.

His location after the game:

I was on the sideline with my wife and kids. I’m really happy for our players. Zam Fredrick and Brandon Conrad were here. They started this last year with a couple of wins over Kentucky. I’m really happy for our fans. I took it all in for a second and saw our fans enjoying it, and they’re really deserving of it.”

Source: South Carolina athletics.

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Kentucky is ranked as the top team in college basketball for the first time in seven years. Kentucky coach John Calipari and the Wildcats spoke out on the No. 1 ranking prior to leaving for Tuesday’s game at South Carolina.

John Calipari:

“I think our kids are excited about it. I think they wanted to be No. 1 which is a good sign, and now we are trying to teach them what it means to be No. 1. We talked at my house last night about it. What will come at them now; the different obstacles, different distractions that will take you away from what you’re trying to do. An added level of that comes with being No. 1.”

John Wall:

It means a lot and it shows that we are doing a lot of great things and getting better as a team. Being No. 1 in the country means a lot. But we have more games to worry about before the tournament.”

Daniel Orton:

“It’s a great feeling. It’s one of a kind, something that we can all bask in together and enjoy this moment. On the court, of course other teams are going to come after us, but people have been asking us if we’re going to get everybody else’s best effort, I think we already have from every team that we’ve played.  I really don’t think there is more that other teams can give us.”

Patrick Patterson:

“It feels good. It is something we have worked on all year to be number one, and we want the respect of others, and I feel like we have earned that now. Everyone is just happy, and we want to continue working hard and just get better.”

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