2018-2019 Kentucky vs Monmouth (Game 7)

bunch and welcome to lexington kentucky tonight the wildcats at home hosting the monmouth hawks kentucky 10th in the country 5-1 on the season monmouth looking for its first victory of the year the cats are in their house rough arena where under john califari they have lost just eight times in ten years good wednesday night and welcome to college basketball on the sec network alongside barry booker i'm richard cross the talk in these parts all week long has been how can kentucky get better on the defensive side of the ball not just the season opener against duke but in all six of their games they've struggled very defensively that's where john calipari has been focused all this week yeah he has shown his team film of his great defensive team the 2015 club that made it to the final four outstanding club defensively this team giving up 21 more points per game than that one and the really bad stat here over 43 on opponent's three-point percentage and it has been almost every team that kentucky has played knocking down a three-point shot coach cal perry says that to improve that it starts with guarding the basketball and that happens with the point guard emanuel quickly needs to get this club off to a good start by dnr i think your point about why he picked the 2014-15 season is a good one that's probably the best defensive team that john calipari has had certainly here at kentucky with guys like the harrison twins and devin booker and carl anthony towns and willie cauley stein who was a junior on that team find the best show your guys what you wanted and see if they can go execute it but on this team they have shot blockers they have good size on the back line so they should be able to be aggressive get out get after it defensively but they're they're so young that they're not able to anticipate what's coming and that's part of their problem at the defensive end all right let's play some basketball monmouth oh and seven on the year they are in blue kentucky the home team in white harold williams our lead referee tossing it up in the center circle kentucky gets the opening toss glad to have you along on this wednesday night from rough arena in lexington [Applause] monmouth in their man-to-man defense in kentucky being patient moving it from side to side time to attack now under 10. quickly lobs it reed travis rolls across the back iron a whistle and a foul on monmouth travis the graduate transfer from stanford pre-season first team all sec the foul goes on mustafa treyarch nice execution that time by kentucky emanuel quickly using that screen setting up reed travis back in the starting lineup able to get to the basket and draw that foul early one area this kentucky team has been good this year free throw line they're shooting 74.4 percent on the season excuse me two strips for this club rebounding and getting to the foul line this is a physical basketball team at kentucky and monmouth not very physical not shooting the basketball very well at all we'll see if they can get it going as others have against the cats i saw the lineup there for monmouth salmone hammond treyor rutherford and mcclary first five out for the guys out of west long branch new jersey the metro athletic conference metro atlantic athletic conference shot off down to two nice fine down low treyarch for the jam a beautiful job by monmouth moving the basketball around running that shot clock down and salne good pass inside for the easy bucket johnson quickly hero travis and pj washington the starters for kentucky and calvin johnson who's really been playing well as of late goes high off the window kentucky aggressive on both their trips down the court moving the ball inside but this is the end that they where they need to focus defensively [Applause] sal nave on the drive against reed travis on a done trip there for the hawks kelton johnson into the lane [Applause] bounce out on the screen and sounded charged for his first [Applause] kentucky running this pick and roll and just shaken loose getting all the way to the basket treyarch kentucky did not handle that pick and roll play well at all two men covering the basketball easy bucket vermont a.j washington a little high-low action reed travis nice footwork a pretty little hook shot unselfish wildcats moving the basketball getting it inside to their big guys where they have such an advantage here tonight is coming off a three-point loss against princeton on saturday led by 12 in the second half in that game [Music] the hawks have been competitive they've been in these games they just haven't been able to hang in there and finish one of them yet offensive foul on mustafa treyor 10th season for john calipari at lexington the first ballot nee smith hall of famer how about that 155 and eight in this building with the head coach he has been this phenomenal here as head coach at kentucky [Applause] coach he's the james brown of college basketball coaches the hardest working man in the business is he has to replenish that roster every year lots of guys leaving early he has recruited many more players than anybody else in college basketball over these years obama trying to run off the miss and sal dave able to corral it and lay it in king rice former point guard in north carolina his club wants to run they want to get out here's another opportunity kicks it out dion hammond for three see monmouth they're not afraid to get up and down the court against kentucky when they have the opportunities johnson [Applause] and again monmouth looking to run mclare he had it stripped got it back and then he's fouled [Applause] earlier today we were talking with king rice and one of the things he said was we're coming in here to play we're not going to try and slow the game down if we can get a rebound if we can get a steal we want to run absolutely mama obviously they're going to be patient when they have to face the set kentucky defense in the half court sets but when they have the opportunities they are proving what king rice said this morning that they are going to get out push the ball down the court and it's led to some good scoring opportunities coach rice in his eighth season at monmouth 117 wins 119 losses back-to-back nit trips in the 15 and 16 seasons there's another strip it's taken away by mcclary clary just missed two foul shots he was eight for eight on the season before those last two misses [Applause] green trying to get in and come up with a steal here's a three from the corner off the mark from rutherford salve grabs the loose ball and flips it over the rim we're tied at 6. monmouth they've come in and they are competing against these wildcats they're battling on the backboards where you would expect kentucky to have a huge advantage and doing a good job pushing the ball down the court when they have opportunities [Applause] juani green and ashton hagins have both checked in for kentucky that's hagen's now hero his first shot attempt dead center [Music] hero has struggled some from outside only 29 on the season coming into this game but able to drill that shot obviously a very good shooter is finding his way at the college level and now hero comes up with a steal he'll go a little euro step flips it up that's five quick ones for tyler hero and kentucky leads it by five coach cal perry talking about his club how they he he looks at other teams around the country and he sees you know similar talent among the elite level clubs but his team just not playing as hard as he wants them to play hero giving his club a spark these last couple of trips for the cats [Applause] shot clock at five [Applause] [Music] hugo quinn had it turned away but an offensive rebound sounded to the free-throw line too strong [Applause] hero in transition got another one seven straight points for tyler hero as kentucky's pushed the lead out to eight and now the cats come up with another steal this time it's quite a green for three months trying to get to a media timeout they can't wait they will take the time out themselves kentucky heating up tyler hero taking charge for the cats giving him a spark hitting this three-point shot and making a great defensive play didn't shoot the ball on that third trip down the court when the crowd was urging him to made a pass to set up a teammate catch rolling early on saturday an sec nation will get your day started at 1 eastern noon central the traveling pregame show with laura marcus paul tim and lauren will be in atlanta it's number one alabama number four georgia they will break it all down sec nation presented by dr pepper here on the sec network and streaming on the espn app tyler hero is that kind of a cold start to the season 3 of 13 from behind the arc first four games has heated up a little bit the last couple of games great start tonight and that pull-up shot is a very difficult shot at first when they got things rolling for the cats caught it on the break pulling up from three that is a professional grade from tyler hero knocking down that one that got this team rolling the cats on a spurt here to take a double-digit lead here early kentucky going to its bench as ej montgomery will come into the game for the first time tonight kelda johnson back on the floor that's ashton hagan's guarding the ball out front also got reed travis at quade green knocked away but monmouth keeps the possession hammond tough shot at the lane gets his own rebound [Applause] quinn a couple of ball fakes and he draws the foul diego quinn senior center from new york city plays sparingly but because of early foul trouble he is in the game ej montgomery picks up the foul quinn is a returning player he has had a illness issue and had a left ankle problem you see that he still doesn't have the doesn't have the lift but able to get to the foul line there patient we see kentucky they're more active with their hands knocking the ball away getting some deflections but not doing the job on the defensive glass the way they usually do [Music] the kentucky trainer was taking a look at tyler hero's left wrist maybe for a scratch looks like they're kind of [Applause] also believe martin in for the first time tonight those two free throws snapped an 11-0 run for kentucky green got another the cats knocking down the three-point shots here early on they have seen their opponents go crazy from three-point range kentucky getting the job done here early four tonight six from deep to start this game for kentucky almost every trip down monmouth is getting deep into the shot clock tough runner with the left hand there for martin off the bench [Applause] martin the runner taking it off the glass that's what you want to do in a tough shot situation how's he going to get there go through the window that's the way to get it done all the way inside there's the follow for diego quinn quinn averaging just three points per game this season he's got four already tonight monmouth really getting after it competing in this ballgame that's what king rice wanted to see from his club get out get out here and fight and a foul on hagins long way from the offensive end 20-12 [Applause] kentucky with an eight-point lead over monmouth 11 56 to play half number one at ruff arena you know sometimes you look at the benches and you wonder what all those clipboards are where they're they're writing stuff down one of the things that kentucky is charting tonight is what they're calling kills three consecutive defensive stops part of the emphasis on defense and they have done it here it is the three trips in a row got a steal from hero a defensive rebound and then able to get another steal a kill as the cats referred to it there those have uh that's probably the only one in the first half tonight as uh monmouth when kentucky has slowed it down they've been patient moved the basketball around been able to get some good shots and offensive rebounds four for monmouth monmouth seven rebounds overall to kentucky six that should not happen to the much bigger and more physical cats second meeting all time but between these two teams but it's the second consecutive year they played last year played at madison square garden in new york 93-76 kentucky won that game a bit of a homecoming for hamanu diallo he went off for 23 points dj washington had 20 in that game [Music] good shot fake and a nice little touch there on the turnaround from louis polari excellent move by polari these you can see the inexperience with these cats a little shot flake shot fake and two wildcats go flying by experience a polari use that shot fake put the shot in hero finds kelvin johnson on the baseline there for the follow ej montgomery kentucky starting to assert themselves with the size at the defensive end here coaches talk about swinging the ball from side to side sometimes they need a little arithmetic assistance because they talk about moving it to the first side then the second side to the third and fourth side but uh monmouth moving it around kentucky just not maintaining that defensive intensity that's sounding nice touch from just inside the arc six points for sounding he is the toughest guy on this team likes to drive to the basket new york tight guard [Applause] bonus gets a stop long pass ahead but hero there for the steal kelden johnson and it's stripped on the way up and that's going to be monmouth [Music] basketball [Music] johnson the reigning freshman of the week has played so well of late for the cats 20-point games last week but not having his best night so far [Music] tonight halfway through the first half a six-point lead for kentucky over monmouth [Applause] working against montgomery finds martin down low martin left it short but tipped it up and in [Applause] mama's still hanging in competing hustling and gaining confidence with each passing minute as they stay close in this game no block out there the miss from hero but pj washington there to clean it up and then hero comes up with another steal and he's fouled tyler hero came to play this evening as it pj washington kentucky hitting the offensive glass hero missing that jumper but pj washington right there to stuff it back home tyler hero eight points on three of four shootings hit a couple of threes and adds one from the free throw line he's also got three steals in the ball game you can see the development of these young players with kentucky hero really having a good game tonight getting that confidence with his shot calipari telling us that he had been you know coming to this level at the high school level he had been able to just take his time get anything he wanted as far as offensively but in this league at this level have to get those shots off quickly you can't sit there and evaluate you got to be ready to shoot it and know when your shots are coming fourth time this season that tyler hero has gotten into double digits and he's done it not quite 11 minutes into this game [Applause] not entirely sure what they're looking at here [Music] doug shouse vladimir voyar tadal and gerald williams our referees tonight looking to see if there was an elbow that made contact during that uh rebound situation at the foul line and a huge emphasis this year for the officials and you're going to see this throughout the season they are looking at hook and hold when you get those elbows locked you see down low with reed travis and sam ibizabe had the discard there by reed travis kentucky that's his first and the team's was washington on that uh on that block underneath that had the got his left arm around the monmouth player and just uh pitched him to the ground ruling that there was not not sufficient contact to the head area to warrant a flagrant foul there pilari with the drive nice job contesting the shot without fouling by reed travis strong move by travis but he's called for the offensive foul kind of lowered his shoulder ibiza bay stood in and took the charge travis made the great defensive play and looked like he was going to get the big finish here but dropped the shoulder headed to the basket good job by ibiza bay selling it [Music] they say touched last by monmouth now it's it's kentucky touched it last year excuse me touched last by kentucky looked like that ball was thrown off the leg of the monolith player yeah hagin's the official looking at hagan's feet he said that hagan stepped on the sideline as he was banging that ball off the monmouth player that's why it goes to the hawks [Applause] kentucky crowd didn't see it that way they did not know the reaction eight-point lead for the wildcats hilary too strong [Applause] monmouth they have they have had some good shots some good scoring opportunities a team that does not shoot the basketball well only 38 on the season 25 percent from three-point range freshman from cartersville georgia hagan skipped his senior year of high school enrolled a year early here at kentucky mr basketball in the state of georgia a season ago [Applause] higgins and quade green on the court at the same time couple of point guards out there for the cats pizza bay tried the quick turnaround and left it short juane green looking for his third triple [Applause] no this may be the most active you've seen kentucky on the defensive end all year yeah they've had a nice stretch here played well defensively these last few minutes to extend to an 11-point lead if you love that career a great addition to the monmouth coaching staff for king rice king rice says that j.r.e has been like a big brother to him since they were in college said jr was interested in getting into coaching he had an opening in his staff when he had a former assistant that moved on to seton hall asked jr if he was interested and said he certainly has been there's a backcourt violation so an immediate turnover for monmouth coming out of the timeout i'm talking about king rice and j.r reid man it makes a difference have a big guy as a big guy being coached by another big man with experience this is king rice's resume i got to know him pretty well when he was an assistant at vanderbilt those six seasons there on kevin stallings cat staff a lot of great experience for king rice rims out for tyler hero but kentucky will get another chance on the offensive end you know king rice played a couple of times against kentucky he was actually 2-0 as a player his best game against the cats came in 1989 they played it in louisville assembly hall 13 assists that was a career high 22 points three steals and five rebounds in 31 minutes how about reed travis [Applause] heating up offensively knocking down a few three-point shots tonight got to make them feel good and should help them at the defensive end of the court as well kentucky has six threes in the first half their season high seven that was against winthrop [Applause] [Applause] by monmouth and kentucky is not sustaining that defensive intensity not making monmouth uncomfortable about putting that pressure on [Applause] travis found on the drive kentucky moving the basketball around swinging it from side to side travis open in the corner the graduate transfer from stanford knocking out that three-point shot [Applause] first foul on sam ibizabe fifth on monmouth diego quinn back in as ibiza bay goes to the bench montgomery it's all little space what pretty touch there see the size that kentucky has with the pass inside from reed travis to ej montgomery montgomery a good shot blocker and showing he can do some things offensively as well showing off that six foot 11 inch wingspan he got way up for that shot [Applause] kentucky another steal travis gives it away foul on the drive and emanuel quickly headed to the free throw line after the foul by sounding the second here's kentucky pushing the ball down the court quickly taking the hit cat's able to force that turnover and immediately push it down the court that's one thing monmouth one neither team can afford to have those live ball turnovers let their opponent get running and get those easy scoring opportunities ashton hagen started the season opener against duke as the point guard he's come off the bench in the last six games he and emanuel quickly have kind of flip-flopped as quickly as started the last six at the point for the wildcats coach calipari talked about trying to get his guys more time playing with each other get these get these players more comfortable with one another get that chemistry going as we look at the point guard situation coach calipari has coached some great ones shea gill just alexander having an outstanding start to his nba career out at sacramento outside point guard for the cats last year and the three-headed monster quad a green higgins and quickly trying to fill that void at the point spot alexander it took him some time to develop took him about 10 games before he became a starter and he really came along as a defender and that's when the cats took off when shea gilges alexander became that locked down defender at the point guard position he is looking for that sort of activity from his three point guards this season johnson headed to the free throw line he's got such an explosive first step and he is an outstanding athlete he uh walked past him and shoot around the day and he is at least six six sometimes the the listing in the program isn't quite accurate but uh but usually it's the other direction exactly but kelvin johnson a uh excellent athlete great quickness [Music] wing players are premium in the nba these days kelvin johnson coming off the career high 27 against tennessee state gatorade player of the year at oak hill academy in virginia smart guy too there national honor society nick richards just came into the game for the very first time he's actually started the last two games in place of reed travis not because of anything that travis had done but because john calipari was trying to get nick richards going almost 16 minutes in before he comes into the game tonight another steal for tyler hero after the missed three he hit his first two he's missed three in a row from deep aj montgomery too strong with the three got it back drives it in how about the follow for nick richards kentucky has pushed the lead out to 19. [Applause] nice hustle by the cats keeping the basketball alive the big finish from nick richards getting that slam keeping it alive keeping those shots at the basket kentucky in charge [Music] tomorrow at 11 eastern 10 central marty and mcgee get you covered with everything it's going on in the southeastern conference you can never get enough for the m m boys like everything else you can see them live on the espn app wherever you are i wouldn't be shocked to see one of those guys spinning records as the dj insider upper arena kentucky shooting it well tonight from deep and six of 13 from behind the arc five is the season high it started out with tyler hero but juani green got into the act as well yeah the cats we see five of their three-point shots that they've made out of the six tonight doing a nice job knocking down those three-point shots six of 13 46 percent these cats if they're gonna have a great season this year they're gonna have to get to their potential as far as shooting the basketball this team can perform well beyond that three-point line and we're seeing it tonight against monaco in the summer leading up to the start of the season john calipari thought that this was going to be his best three-point shooting team maybe in the time that he had been here in kentucky the early numbers though have not backed that up cass shooting 33 they're an offensive foul on diego quinn nick richards coming in making a nice contribution for the cats drawing that charge he had the slam a few minutes ago richards making some good plays for the cats want a green back in tyler hero goes to the bench hero had 10 quick points in this game [Applause] also got four rebounds and four steals there's the lob too tall though for richards green saying his fault on that one had that ball outside the the backboard outside the plane of the backboard that was going to be a tough catch and dunk for nick richards hey he got two hands on it when you go too tall for a guy at 6 11 with a wingspan of almost seven and a half feet you've really let one get away richards with a block sounded got it back and then a foul nick richards got the blocked shot kept his hands high the first time around but the second time this couldn't resist reaching in is that drive that's what ray salnev loves to do put it on the deck get that head down just take it to the rack not backing down from nick richards stayed with it and able to get two foul shots [Applause] [Music] makes the first he's got seven tonight finally stop the bleeding for monmouth kentucky a nice run going there talk about the three stops in a row that coach calipari was looking at the cats have put several stops in a row together these last few minutes before those foul shots if your mamas will take points of any kind quantity green short with a three and then quinn is going to be called for the foul underneath [Applause] i like to see the cats put the ball on the floor try and get it to the paint and attacking this zone defense you have a lot more success knocking down the three-point shots if you get into the lane first either through the pass or by driving it inside to set up the scoring opportunity outside richards has been quite productive since entering this game he's indeed getting to the foul line he has been active defensively coach and his staff rick callahan also a long time assistant in the sec with eddie fogler over the years on the king rice staff looking for some answers this was certainly going to be a challenge tonight coming into this environment and playing this team there's another block for richards bonneville got it back shot clock down to two on a dream with a rebound but they were excited about the opportunity to get to come play in a place like rupp arena kind of interesting the way this game was set up there's not a blocking foul they were scheduled to play a year ago and i think monmouth originally thought it was going to be here in lansington well kentucky reached out and said hey we've got a game we need to play it at madison square garden will you play us there and they said well of course we'll play you there but we really were hoping to bring this team to lexington to play in rupp arena to let them have that experience john calipari said that's fine come to our place next year so two years in a row that's the reason you've gotten these games in back-to-back years king rice just gushing about coach calipari and his relationship with him coach calipari was recruiting king rice when coach cal was at pitt back in the late 80s as a young assistant coach he's king king said he's known coach cal since he was in eighth grade and that relationship has persisted over the years and that what what leads to this matchup two years in a row [Applause] three won't go that time for dion hammond [Applause] oh back into the zone defense for monmouth and kentucky again not attacking that zone just keeping the ball out on the perimeter that makes them easy to guard yelling at his club about moving moving the basketball moving bodies on the court and we as we saw the foul from nick richards trying to get to the glass that was one of those where it was like he was trying to get low but he couldn't get his hip at the right spot so he finally just put his hand on his shoulders and threw him down get out of the way little fella got a rebound to get to coach calipari just frustrated with quad a green who is you know just pulled up taking a taking a few three-point shots without attacking that defense that's what you got to do against the zone get into the paint get into the lane making that defense shift don't just settle for the three-point shots that's monmouth back in the man man we'll see if kentucky's more comfortable attacking the man defense [Applause] turned over there by kentucky salve tries to push it up the floor kentucky able to get the loose ball and now the cat's in transition oh when martin defended that well hero was trying to throw the law for montgomery everyone in the building was expecting the law they knew what was coming but even when you see it coming it's hard to stop it malik martin able to swat that ball away [Music] stop the slam by kentucky force him to attack the set [Applause] a great ball movement again by kentucky they pass an end to a big man in the corner reed travis who can just look right over the double team from monmouth not phased by it whatsoever move the basketball easy basket for hiro kentucky has been giving up just a hair over 10 made threes per game and opponents shooting 43 percent from behind the arc on the season monmouth over five in the first half and kath before the break but a 22-point lead for the kentucky wildcats staff to break tyler hero leading the way with 12. a lot of guys in the scoring column katz 44. monmouth 22. we'll be back with our halftime report right after these messages on the sec network can lexington kentucky just about time for the start of the second half the kentucky wildcats leading it by 22 over the monmouth hawks out of the mac we talked a lot about defense in half number one it's what kentucky wanted to see this is what it looked like well kentucky tyler hero made some good plays in the first half to get his club going you see that wide open shot though he missed it sound they've missed that shot but you don't want to see those wide open shots there's another one off by a little head fake two kentucky players flying by this is too easy here the pass going inside to mcclary finishing over a smaller defender but the numbers look much better for tonight for kentucky officially they're shooting it better at 55 their opponents are not achieving it as well holding them to 33 percent three-point field goal percentage the cats have knocked down six of them and allowed none for monmouth so far in this long tyler hero there and there you see him again kentucky had five steals in the first half four of them tyler hero freshman from milwaukee fourth game this season that he has gone into double figures [Applause] monmouth ball to start the second half see if kentucky will maintain their intensity will focus play the defense that they are capable of playing and continue to improve that's what what they have the opportunity to do here in the second half of this ball game just get back [Music] turnover for monmouth first trip down the floor in the second half that's their 11th of the game 16 kentucky points off of 10 first half turnovers for the hawks monmouth not handling the basketball well not a good shooting team is a recipe for get torched here in lexington tonight by these cats [Music] whistling to foul ej montgomery starting the second half for kentucky in place of pj washington first on rutherford for monmouth [Music] nice ball movement good entry pass from ej montgomery setting up travis for the easy buck nine points now for reed travis a lot of ball pressure mama's not not doing much with the basketball so far but kentucky's allowing them to be comfortable just pounding it clary shot off the mark quickly [Music] kentucky dropped the season opener to duke lost that one 118-84 since then five straight wins quickly with the bucket they beat in southern illinois north dakota vmi winthrop tennessee state and they're on their way to another one tonight against monmouth now leading it [Applause] by 26. wanted to come quickly out of the locker room they've done just that little give and go emanuel quickly dot org slash donate don't give up don't ever give up founded in 1993 by jim valvano the legendary nc state coach and espn accommodator commentator the v foundation has awarded more than 225 million dollars in research grants coach ravano passed at only 47 years of age due to cancer and cancer has definitely touched my family i have two sisters that have passed away as a result of complications with cancer got a brother that's uh just bouncing back from a prostate cancer surgery my big family 12 of us definitely excited about what the jimmy b foundation is doing and what is going on with cancer research and making progress there don't give up don't ever give up fighting cancer did you say 12 of you 12 of us i'm the 12th the 12th of 12. 12 college graduates wonderful parents and a gracious god yeah only 10 remain cancer it's not friendly it's not discriminating [Music] tyler hero shot clock winding down hits the baseline jumper hero now with 14 points tonight to lead all scorers don't forget if you can donate if you want to donate if you're willing to donate v dot org donate every dollar raised goes directly to help fund cancer research how about kelden johnson quiet evening so far for kelton johnson got the easy finish off the quick push by the cats trailer left it short within a foul on the rebound that's going to go against ej montgomery a couple of fouls now on montgomery [Music] [Music] [Applause] clary ran into traffic just flipped it up over reed travis and then a foul on marcus mcclary he may have gotten the worst of that second foul on marcus mcclary a nasty scream from mustafa treyor that really rattled the teeth of ej montgomery he's still trying to shake that off that's why i played basketball with a mouthpiece with those kinds of collisions tougher for a guard though you're at the at the level of the big guy's elbows at about 6-3 so be dangerous out there hero into the lane tough shot kentucky will get another chance [Applause] cats in charge here in control going on there with ashton higgins a little hot potato everybody having trouble hanging on salve too strong with the jumper follow won't go for mustafa treyore [Music] washington strong move inside count the basket bj washington a load down low kentucky getting the opportunity inside pj washington willing his way to the basket able to toss that one up for two the cats have taken charge in in control 15 and a half minutes to play tonight at rough arena wildcats hosting monmouth who's still looking for its first win of the season came into this year and there were big big expectations for the sec five teams ranked in the preseason top 25. you rewind the year only three in the preseason top 25 but you finish up with eight a record for the sec in the ncaa tournament can you get back to that number this year it is going to be a challenge the way things have started off for these sec teams this year but man eight teams setting that record previously at six uh sec had a great year getting to the eight teams in the ncaa tournament only eight and eight with those teams in the in the ncaa tournament man not a great start for the sec clubs this year we still got some non-conference play to go we still got uh the sec big 12 challenge coming up in late january so still some opportunities for the sec to pick up some quality wins you look across the 14 teams in the league and they're it's not that they're a bunch of bad losses there are a few bad losses that are mixed in for different teams around the league the the problem is that you've had some opportunities for really big marquee wins and you just haven't been able to get it quite done opening night of the season arkansas really close with texas they can't quite get it done i think that game goes to overtime and obviously duke and kentucky that one didn't go the way the wildcat fans wanted tennessee had a chance over the weekend with kansas playing in the barclays center in new york and just been a bunch of those games at this point that have not gone the way sec fans would have liked to have seen but there are a bunch more opportunities to come because of the way all 14 teams in the league have scheduled yeah ole miss had a game at butler that they really had a great chance to win but you'd see the sec fourth in non-conference schedule so far as far as win percentage and you know weld down that list at fourth a big gap between third and fourth this league will have to step it up here as we move on through into and through december auburn may have the best two wins of anybody in the sec that home win they had against washington who was in the top 25 at the time and then beating arizona on a neutral floor auburn played tough with duke they couldn't get over the hump in that ball game out in maui a week that's a good ago auburn's a very good team great back court down on the planes for bruce pearl and mississippi state there they are very impressive with uh some really good recruits some good big recruits down there's freshman on that team [Applause] lsu a pretty good squad you know you go up and down the list of the teams in the sec it's a lot of talent getting a little chippy out here a little conversation underneath the basket between ray salnave i think it was washington chatting with him but a good drive by kelvin johnson getting to the basket and what he does so well getting in there to the rack finishing mustafa trejor fouls out 14 minutes 13 seconds to play in the game and treyor is done for the night for monmouth calvin johnson after that bucket goes to the bench he's got seven points tonight excuse me kelvin johnson the free throw liners hagans that i was looking at over on the bench kelvin johnson looking for his eighth point of the game he got it right there let's see higgins get back in the game though he uh taken a shot to the face earlier in the game but able to get back out on the court not showing in the ill effects lori off the mark with that three in kentucky out in transition tyler hero what a move and with a little english spinning it in off the glass hero finishing strong [Applause] lay in there for ray salney tyler heroes got 16 points in the game tonight for kentucky he's two off his season and career high [Music] [Applause] emanuel quickly just a little too strong and a foul on kentucky underneath tyler hero in the open court he is outstanding a lot of people have compared him to rex chapman chapman though a much better athlete and finisher than tyler hero but hero looked good on that one loves that euro step getting to the basket hero might say i don't know about much better barry oh oh they had the face rex rex rex the type of athlete that could win a slam dunk contest he is uh a high riser that's all right before the game tonight looks great looks like he can play today doesn't he kinda like you oh mercy could play fullback hagen's off the mark with the three kentucky cold from behind the arc here in the second half we were talking about opportunities coming up for the sec this kentucky schedule moving forward there are a ton of opportunities for big wins there they've still got north carolina kansas louisville seton hall and utah coming up and you look the weekend not this weekend but the following weekend is going to be a big one for the sec south carolina goes to michigan florida hosts michigan state kentucky and seton hall will play at madison square garden mississippi state and clemson going to play in new jersey ole miss goes to illinois state dayton that's a good team is at auburn you got arizona and alabama tennessee tennessee and gonzaga oh that's big number one team in the country the vols hitting the road to take on gonzaga so yeah with sec certainly still have some strong opportunities to get quality wins but uh the clock is ticking that's for sure and always big for kentucky the cats as the gold standard in the sec and they play that tough schedule every year have those uh great opportunities for wins as you mentioned richard let's see if the cats can pull off some of those wins and pull the rest of the sec up along with them and maybe good news for tennessee they don't actually have to go to the kennel they're going to play gonzaga in phoenix i guess that's a neutral sight reed travis and he was fouled on the way up [Music] ray salney picks up his third the cats continuing to move the basketball continuing to show that unselfishness that is a very good sign for this club as far as whether they can get to their ceiling offensively the unselfishness is big travis now in double digits makes one of two [Music] tough shot for sounding nice touch with the teardrop marie cellmate does that so well penetrating getting to the basket that's a challenge for kentucky guarding the basketball stopping that gerbil penetration see the cats do a better job handling just guarding the basketball so kentucky is going to shoot free throws the rest of the way cats shooting 74 for the year coming in and tonight from the free throw line kentucky 13 of 16. george pappas comes into the game for monmouth replacing louis palari and kelton johnson at the line oh [Applause] yeah i am impressed with these cats you can see the the shooting you can see the athleticism they have size around the basket a couple of guys who could score around the basket mentioned the unselfishness quite a few times they are going to get better defensively a lot of a lot of good things going on with these kentucky wildcats johnson now in double figures joining reid travis and tyler hero for kentucky samuel chapu's coming to the game for the first time tonight for monmouth as well chapu drives along the baseline dumped it off to diego quinn he's fouled before the shot 32 point lead for kentucky and eastern 9th central it's a special edition of thinking out loud with greg mcelroy and marcus spears the boys will be at the sec championship game in atlanta they'll talk about the match up and they want your participation via social media throughout the show it's also available streaming live on the espn app all right so let's rewind to 1977. rough arena was scheduled to host an elvis presley concert they sold out the entire lower bowl in 45 minutes they asked permission to sell the upper bank ultimately 21 000 tickets were sold for a concert that was going to happen on august 23rd 1977. unfortunately elvis presley died a week before the concert august 16 1977. so a little rough arena history there for you why do we bring up 1977 well that's also the last time that the kentucky wildcats football team had a winning record in the sec they finished five and three this year and finished second in the sec eastern division great year for the kentucky wildcats football team 9-3 outstanding season and expecting the head down to florida maybe citrus bowl maybe outback bowl for the cats probably probably citrus citrus bowl looks like a possibility if the sec gets both lsu and florida into new year six bowl games based on kind of the college football playoff rankings that came out earlier this week looks like that's a real possibility kentucky put an exclamation mark on the end of the season with a 56-10 victory against their in-state rival louisville you want to talk about standout individual performances benny snell rushed for 1305 yards and 14 touchdowns and oh by the way through a touchdown pass as well and josh allen linebacker for the cats 84 tackles 18 and a half tackles for loss and 14 sacks he's a finalist for the neric award the buckets award in the nagarski award that's a player oh cats getting done on both sides of the ball and they'll be pulling hard for the sec east representative georgia the dogs win that would be two sec teams uh heading to the playoffs diego quinn just threw one up before trying to draw a foul looked like the score there still trying to come back from the injury trouble [Applause] this foul underneath i think that's going to go on montgomery montgomery picks up his [Music] fourth so nine wins in the regular season this year for the kentucky football team that's the first time since 1977 first time with a winning record in the sec since 77 and they for the first time in school history at least four wins in the sec in three consecutive years congratulations to mark stoops and that entire kentucky team heck of the season good d back quickly getting out in the passing lane getting another deflection and a good d by three traps the block and keeping it in play and then coming up with a steal off of i it you probably don't get credit for the block and the steal yes you do get them both yeah that's filling up the stat sheet [Music] third three of the game for quad a green he's got nine points when he waits for his teammates to set him up for those three point shots he is a deadly three-point shooter here's reed travis block shot deflects it off the backboard and able to corral the basketball and that leads to the open jumper by quad a green as i say when he tries to create his own shot it's so much more difficult has a tough time scoring but when he's off the pass he is deadly from that three-point line nick richards back in for kentucky quad a green he's feeling it that's number four you might have heard me talking about him is off this off the dribble shooting ability he stepped into that one and knocked it out [Applause] that's a new career record for quantity green with four made threes in a game five times previously he had hit three threes in a game first time he's knocked down four big night for green [Applause] [Applause] starts on the defensive end quad a green in transition pulls up bottom of the net kentucky leading it by 35. [Applause] every day the sec now team will be back at 7 eastern 6 central to recap the sec championship game between the crips and tide and the georgia dogs highlights analysis interviews and everything else nobody covers the sec like we do you can also see it streaming live on the espn app money green at the free throw line 7 53 to play kentucky in control tonight against monmouth they now lead it by 36. john calipari there was a recruit that decided to go somewhere else a week or so ago john calipari said i think i'm overrated as a recruiter we've had kids that made the decision to come here and it's played out well for almost all of them my thing is i want to be able to sleep at night i want to make sure i'm telling the truth i want to make sure i'm sticking with my guys interesting quote from john calipari who has recruited at an elite level 10 years in kentucky every single recruiting class he's had has been either number one or number two you're not going to win them all no no and it's hard to hard to call him overrated as a recruiter man all those guys that he has in the uh in the nba first or second look at that unbelievable one one one two one two two one two two that's how you win at the level that kentucky has won under john calipari but the whole sleep at night thing i think has less to do with what some people might infer with regard to how other people recruit and more to do with the fact that calipari says i'm not going to promise guys something that might not be the case i'm not promising a kid that he's going to come in and get 20 or 25 or 30 shots a game there are places where coaches will promise that and they may or may not deliberately he said but that's probably not going to happen in the system that we're running with the number of high-level guys that are coming in every year yeah he's not giving out starting positions out on the recruiting trail that happens on the practice court it's nice visiting with uh carl towns today at carl towns played at monmouth of course carl anthony towns father carltown senior played at monmouth class of 86 outstanding rebounder good player for monmouth and he said he had a little wager with the sun straight up no points gonna be tough to uh pull that one off tonight straight up he didn't even get any points on that exactly carl towns and his mother jacqueline as well taking in a little rough arena tonight yeah jacqueline representing carl here carl had a game at uh carl anthony had a game at san antonio tonight wanted to be here with his dad to check out this game again sorry pops i'm a little busy yeah earning my 200 million plus dollar contract inside five rims out [Music] so all of john califari's classes have been ranked one or two this is the 2019 class currently ranked by our guys at recruiting nation cardi in that entire group does a great job fourth which is maybe cause for concern in the commonwealth especially when you look two spots above you and see louisville there is not where the cats are used to being still some time left there you don't think jay wright's guys are going anywhere do you oh i think they're coming and may have kind of gotten things back on the right track a little bit this past weekend played in the advocare invitational down in orlando a couple of big wins won that event yeah those wildcats villanova they're not going away gotta win against florida state to uh to win the championship it's a good florida state team took down the gators a week or so ago florida an interesting team saw them at battle for atlantis last week and feels like there's a little bit of a uh a little bit of a i don't know a tide shift with regard to who they're going to count on there are three freshmen on that florida team that can really play led by andrew dimbard the freshman point guard that's the highest rated recruits that michael white has signed in his time in florida but very it feels like those stories exist throughout the sec right now with the coaches that are in the league with the emphasis on basketball [Applause] and people are winning yeah these coaches that have come in the league these last few years you look at ben howland at mississippi state rick barnes at tennessee has pulled that team to sec title level in a big hurry a lot of talent and really good good guys on the sidelines as well on a great i lost the handle got loose with it there then had it taken away shampoo again look more like he was trying to kind of draw contact and get to the rim he draws the foul it's charged to pj washington and he's done that's his fear yeah tough call on pj washington there tapu definitely created that contact i don't know about that one that's that's a tough one to call pj washington's night is done he finishes with eight points and eight rebounds [Music] shampoo missed the free throw [Music] [Applause] johnson good look there on the three he's got 13 points tonight yeah started quietly but [Music] has has been patient finding his stroke he is a very good three-point shooter and that's getting better as this season goes along johnson did not fade in the spotlight right out of the gate he had 23 points in 30 minutes against duke in the season opener he's now gone for 10 points or more in six of seven games this season kelton johnson a competitor really wants to win when when things are going in a tough direction for kentucky kelvin johnson is a guy who is going to move forward and run toward the challenge not shy away that is turnover number 14 tonight for monmouth [Applause] what's the time with a big lead you can see some of that selfishness come out and players on the court but kentucky continuing to move the basketball continuing to try and help one another get shots not seeing the selfish play for his size reed travis great feet he's able to stay under control and he's got a chance for a three-point play look at this the strength that he has that barrel chest able to as you say richard stay under control get to the basket and the soft touch to get the finish reed travis graduate transfer veteran player for the kentucky wildcats although his first year in the system coach calipari once again having so many new guys on this team having to train him up and he said he kind of you know lost his his patience a little bit he had to change his expectations with this ball montgomery that's the exclamation mark kentucky completely in control leading at 82-37 that's up 45 with three and a half minutes to play salne wants to drive let's see if hero can stay in front of him tough shot along the baseline for george pappas it's kind of finishing up the reed trap most everybody probably knows this by now but you're talking about a guy that was two times two-time first team all pac-12 big veteran addition to this kentucky wildcat team cats on their way to their sixth straight win [Music] just a few more days to the sec championship game and that means sec nation live from atlanta join the entire crew laura marcus paul tim and lauren they will be in the atl for number one alabama and number four georgia they'll be breaking it all down from the gridiron to the grill sec nation presented by dr pepper here on the sec networks and streaming live on the secf john calipari was telling us earlier today about a dear friend that that he lost earlier this week joe baino passed away that is a name that is well known in high school basketball circles in new york his son bill bano was on john calipari's staff at umass bill is now an assistant coach with the indiana pacers they also had bruiser flynn on that staff who's now an assistant in indiana he followed cal as the head coach in umass and john robich who was on cal staff here at kentucky all of those guys had their dads as part of the umass program they were around they came to practices a lot of times they would sit on the end of the bench and so there were a lot of really close father-son relationships and it was like a big family joe was a high school coach in new york at valley central and at burke catholic died at the age of 84 with his entire family by his side john calipari and his wife ellen are headed to the funeral tomorrow and it's going to be one of those it's a celebration certainly sad to uh to lose a dear friend john also as he was walking away today told us that hey guys eight years ago today i lost my mom yeah that's that's hard to get over that's uh you know that story it really describes uh how coach calipari treats people how much uh people mean to him and you feel that when you're around him i i saw coach cal perry over the summer at uh coach newton's funeral down in tuscaloosa this summer and you know he just uh understands how difficult those sort of real life situations are and and uh reaches out to people and you know it shows that's how he builds those relationships and how he's able to recruit and do so well with these young people getting them on board so we certainly passed along our condolences to the bano family and on behalf of coach cow i know he'll be able to do that in person tomorrow i wanted to he wanted us to be sure that we mentioned that tonight kentucky monmouth has been outmatched tonight there's no question about that it felt like monmouth really in the first half they played well early and they kind of gave it everything they had this is one of those games that just kind of got away and kentucky's continued to make shots and they've been probably more engaged tonight defensively than at any point this season yeah it really is hard to measure kentucky based on this game it's mom of this church such a poor shooting team they are about 26 percent three-point shooting team they're shooting about 38 from the field on the season to kentucky they you know their monmouth about to cross the 40-point mark for this game but kent gave up some good-looking shots some good scoring opportunities but uh we're going to see how far the cats have come defensively over this next month they give them to some tough competition in december grace salde with the free-throw line kentucky going to the bench johnny david into the game emanuel quickly comes back in as well this is a time that over the last couple of years and not exclusively this time where you would have seen brad calipari come into the game as well john calipari's son he has elected the red shirt this season he's going to make the most of that college experience maybe not got a master's degree while he's in lexington dad's paying so there you go [Applause] 90 seconds to play kentucky has unc greensboro coming up on saturday that game on espn2 at one o'clock eastern time cats leading it by 47 but after that game things get a little interesting for kentucky i think that's when you'll be able to start measuring this team they'll play seton hall in new york they've got a home game with utah they're going to play north carolina and that will be uh in chicago they've got a road trip to louisville and then they jump into sec and oh by the way in the middle of sec play the sec big 12 challenge that's the kansas jayhawks this year yeah bring in the jayhawks nick richards with the follow do you think that'll be a tough ticket rupp arena kentucky kansas yeah late january i think uh i think these cat fans will will be very excited to see bill self bring his club over here and two great programs and two exceedingly passionate fan bases kelvin johnson getting instruction from the bench to back it up dribble it out kentucky will win by 46 tonight over monmouth the hawks fall to 018 on the year kentucky has now won six in a row since that season opening loss to duke and in a week where they focused on defense they played better defense tonight they certainly did and uh shooting the basketball better for the most part as well it will be interesting to see this young group of wildcats develop and continue to grow as this season goes along kentucky opponents coming into this game were averaging just a little better than ten three-point made baskets per game and they were shooting nearly 45 tonight monmouth shoots 13 from behind the arc on 2 of 16 from deep 90 to 44 the final we will come back and wrap things up from rough arena after this so the sec network [Music]

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Length: 82min 59sec (4979 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 09 2020