Wildcats will play Transy today at Rupp Arena

Local Sports

Discussion

November 2, 2011

Anonymous The Times-Tribune The Times-Tribune Wed Nov 02, 2011, 09:38 AM EDT

CORBIN — By Les Dixon / Sports Editor

The Kentucky Wildcats are one day closer to opening up the 2011-12 college basketball season, but in the meantime the Wildcats will get an exhibition in today at Rupp Arena against Transylvania.

The No. 2 ranked team in the nation is coming off a stellar Blue-White scrimmage from a week ago that saw pre-season AP All-American Terrence Jones score 52 points during the Blue Team’s win.

But now the team has shifted its focus to today’s scrimmage against the Pioneers.

“I watched them (Transylvania) on tape,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “They are really organized, they play tough, they make you make decisions on what to do and they shoot the ball well. In a scrimmage you can stop the game and put in situations. We are playing a game tomorrow, against a good team with a good coach, but it’s different from playing a scrimmage.”

Calipari said he preferred a scrimmage compared to an exhibition for a lot of reasons.

“I’d rather have a scrimmage because you can control it more, work on zone stuff, do situations with the other coach and you can practically play two games,” he admitted. “But you can’t do it here, when you get 23,000 people here it is just impossible to say ‘$700,000, don’t worry, play a scrimmage coach.’ You can’t have anybody in the building (for a scrimmage). You can’t keep score, no media can see it, and it’s just a scrimmage. Most teams are playing at least one, some are even playing two.”

Calipari stated one aspect his team needed to improve on is defensive play.

“We’ve got to start getting better,” he said. “I still think we have the same issues before the Blue-White game. It’s going to be a process. How we are playing the pick-and-roll, how we are playing post defense and rebounding the ball. Against each other, our rebound attempts were just awful.”

Even though the season is drawing near, Calipari stated he hasn’t decided on a starting five yet, but hopes after playing a couple of exhibition games picking starters will be easier.

“I don’t know yet, but I think what will happen is we will play a couple exhibition games and everyone will know,” he said. “I don’t care what year he is, how old he is, color, whatever. You’ll all see who should be in there. Who should be in the game at the end is probably more important. I probably have seven starters.

“Eloy (Vargas) is playing well, he’s not the same player,” Calipari added. “I got on him the other day and said, ‘you are way better, still haven’t earned minutes but you are getting there.’ He started coming in early and late at night to get shots up, all of the sudden you see Eloy is trying to work his way into minutes. I told him if it takes me to build your self-confidence then the minute I get on you, and I will, then all that is gone. If you build your own self-esteem and self-confidence then no one can take that away from you since you earned it and developed it.”

Text Only

Local Sports

South Laurel Sweeps
When it comes to a district championship game it doesn't get any better than a line drive down the third baseline with two outs to end the game, and that’s exactly what happened as the South Laurel Cardinals pulled off a 3-2 victory over Corbin in the 51st District Championship Wednesday.

May 24, 2012 2 Photos
Knox Three-Peats
Not many people expected the Knox Central Lady Panthers to three-peat as the 51st District champions after graduating seven seniors from last season’s squad. But Barb Gregory’s squad proved all of their naysayers wrong by jumping out to a 5-0 lead and holding on in the end to knock off rival Barbourville, 8-4, on Wednesday.

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Clay County no match for defending region champs
Not playing a game in five days didn’t seem to bother the defending 13th Region champions any, as the North Laurel Lady Jaguars collected their seventh straight 49th District championship by defeating Clay County Wednesday, 9-0.

May 24, 2012
Corbin advances
The three runs the Corbin Lady Redhounds scored during their first round matchup against rival Whitley County on Monday proved to be just enough when the contest picked up where it left off on Tuesday.

May 23, 2012 1 Photo
Jaguars capture 49th District championship
The North Laurel Jaguars brought out their bats and made a lot of noise as they blasted by Jackson County and kept swinging until they were the 49th District champions with a 4-2 win over defending 13th Region champion Clay County.

May 23, 2012
Maxey captures first AAU state championship
London’s Josh Maxey might be a sales rep by day, but during the evening, he’s turned into one of the top AAU coaches in the state.

May 23, 2012
Barbourville's Back
The Barbourville Lady Tigers are back in the 13th Region Tournament for the second straight season after upending Lynn Camp 13-3 in five innings Monday during first round action of the 51st District Tournament.

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
Lady Cards cruise past Williamsburg
The South Laurel Lady Cardinals survived a long lightning delay and managed to cruise past Williamsburg, 14-1, during the first round of the 50th District Tournament on Monday.

May 22, 2012
Cardinals advance
A lightning delay and solid pitching by the Yellow Jackets managed to slow the Cardinals down some, but South Laurel was still able to pull away from Williamsburg for a 10-0 win in five innings during the first round of the 50th District Tournament on Monday.

May 22, 2012
Young Lady Panthers reach title game
Barb Gregory’s Knox Central Lady Panthers braved Mother Nature and managed to pull out a convincing 11-1 win over Pineville in the first round of the 51st District Tournament Monday.

May 22, 2012
More Local Sports Headlines

Local Sports

Search Results

Discussion

Wildcats will play Transy today at Rupp Arena

Site Map

Contact Us