< Previous10 @KentuckyMBB 2020 UK Sports Partnership Football Program Ad (8.5x11) 265-20801.indd 12020 UK Sports Partnership Football Program Ad (8.5x11) 265-20801.indd 111/13/20 11:01 AM11/13/20 11:01 AMWEEKNIGHTS 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY 9:00 a.m.110920 BBN Tonight RUPP Ad.indd 1110920 BBN Tonight RUPP Ad.indd 111/9/20 4:39 PM11/9/20 4:39 PMAround the SEC Around the Country 2020-21 SEC Standings Team SEC Overall Home Road Alabama 3-0 8-3 5-1 1-0 Kentucky 2-0 3-6 2-2 1-2 South Carolina 1-0 3-2 2-0 0-1 Tennessee 2-1 8-1 7-1 1-0 LSU 2-1 7-2 6-0 0-2 Florida 2-1 5-2 2-0 1-2 Mississippi State 2-1 7-4 6-1 1-0 Ole Miss 1-1 6-3 5-1 1-2 Arkansas 1-2 9-2 8-1 1-1 Missouri 1-2 7-2 4-1 2-1 Texas A&M 1-2 6-3 6-0 0-2 Georgia 0-2 7-2 7-1 0-1 Auburn 0-3 6-5 4-1 0-3 Vanderbilt 0-2 4-4 4-2 0-2 Scoring Player-Team ...................................................................PPG Cameron Thomas, LSU ..................................................24.8 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY ...............................................22.0 D.J. Stewart Jr., MSU ......................................................18.8 Emanuel Miller, TAMU ..................................................18.5 AJ Lawson, USC ............................................................17.8 Rebounding Player-Team ...................................................................RPG Dylan Disu, VANDY ........................................................9.0 Tolu Smith, MSU .............................................................8.9 Toumani Camara, UGA ...................................................8.9 Emanuel Miller, TAMU ....................................................8.3 Darius Days, LSU ............................................................8.2 Assists Player-Team ...................................................................APG Sahvir Wheeler, UGA ......................................................7.7 Scotty Pippen Jr., VANDY .................................................5.0 Justin Powell, AUB ...........................................................4.7 Jalen Tate, ARK ................................................................4.4 Tre Mann, UF ..................................................................4.3 Steals Player-Team ................................................................... SPG Justin Kier, UGA ..............................................................2.3 Luis Rodriguez, MISS .......................................................2.1 Devontae Shuler, MISS ....................................................2.0 Jermaine Couisnard, USC ................................................2.0 Josiah-Jordan James, UT ..................................................1.9 Blocks Player-Team ...................................................................BPG Isaiah Jackson, UK ..........................................................2.7 Yves Pons, UT .................................................................2.2 Connor Vanover, ARK ......................................................2.2 Abdul Ado, MSU .............................................................1.8 Scottie Lewis, UF .............................................................1.6 2020-21 Associated Press Rankings As of Jan. 3, 2021 (week 7) Team Record Points 1 Gonzaga (63) 10-0 1,599 2 Baylor (1) 9-0 1,537 3 Villanova 8-1 1,453 4 Texas 8-1 1,415 5 Iowa 9-2 1,298 6 Kansas 8-2 1,224 7 Creighton 8-2 1,140 8 Wisconsin 9-2 1,085 9 Tennessee 7-1 1,076 10 Michigan 9-0 1,039 11 Houston 8-1 977 12 Illinois 8-3 878 13 Missouri 7-1 747 14 West Virginia 8-3 706 15 Rutgers 7-2 703 16 Minnesota 10-2 559 17 Oregon 8-1 545 18 Texas Tech 8-3 445 T-19 Clemson 8-1 411 T-19 Virginia Tech 8-1 411 21 Duke 3-2 280 22 Virginia 5-2 258 T-23 Saint Louis 7-1 133 T-23 Michigan State 7-3 133 25 Florida State 5-2 120 14 @KentuckyMBBFrom Press Row 16 @KentuckyMBB Rare January Tip With the Gators Kentucky plays Florida in January for the first time in 11 seasons. Saturday's game marks the earliest Florida and Kentucky have met since Jan. 2, 1999 and the earliest game in Gainesville since Jan. 3, 1979. Recently, UK has won four straight games in the series and is seeking its first three-game winning streak in Gainesville since a three-game run from 2002 to 2004. Brooks Medically Cleared to Return to Competition Sophomore forward Keion Brooks Jr. -- the only returning scholarship player who played a season ago -- has been medically cleared to return to competition after miss- ing the first nine games of the season with a left leg injury. Brooks will be in uniform at Florida and will be available to play. Although Brooks has been conditioning and participating with the team in non-con- tact drills, Thursday was his first full practice since the injury. Brooks averaged 4.5 points and 3.2 re- bounds in 31 games, including six starts, in 2019-20. He shot 47.2% to go along with 13 blocks and 11 steals. As a freshman, he had five double-figure scoring games, maybe none bigger than his 10-point game at – coincidentally, given his scheduled return – Florida. In a career-high 27 minutes, Brooks helped engineer a 17-point second-half comeback with two important 3-pointers in Gainesville, Florida. Mintz's Late Three Lifts Kentucky Past Vanderbilt Davion Mintz had seen this script before. Two Olivier Sarr game-winning shots go in and out. Late-game droughts doom oppor- tunities for quality wins early in the season. A tough break here and there. "Buzzard's luck," the Wildcats were call- ing it, albeit much of it self-inflicted, resulting in one of the worst starts in school history. Perhaps, as John Calipari had suggested and hoped, it's beginning to even out. After a double-overtime comeback victo- ry at Mississippi State last weekend snapped a six-game losing streak, the Wildcats (3-6, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) squeezed out another down-to-the-wire win with a 77- 74 victory over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night in Rupp Arena. Mintz hit a game-winning 3-pointer from the left corner to preserve an- other come-from-behind win over the Com- modores, the sixth time Kentucky has rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Vanderbilt (4-4, 0-2 SEC) during its nine-game winning streak in the series. Wrapping Up After Vanderbilt UK team tidbits following the Vanderbilt game include: • Kentucky won consec- utive games for the first time this season. • The Wildcats snapped the first two-game skid at home of the Calipari era and prevented the first-three game home losing streak in 45 sea- sons in Rupp Arena. • The Wildcats made 26 of 32 foul shots, season highs in both categories. • UK made only two turn- overs, the fewest since two turnovers vs. Cincinnati in a 24-11 win on Dec. 20, 1983 (before the shot-clock era). Both miscues were in the sec- ond half. • The Wildcats won points off turnovers 12-4. • Kentucky got 21 fast-break points, 16 of which came in the decisive second half. • UK blocked nine shots and has 19 in the last two games. • UK won despite being outrebounded 42-29. • The minus-13 margin is the eighth worst in the Calipari era. • Despite the disparity, second-chance points were tied at six for each team. • After losing three games by three points or less in December, UK has now won by three points and in overtime in the last two games. Mr. Jackson is For Real The blocked shots standard at Kentucky starts and stops with Anthony Davis. In 2011-12, en route to nearly every ma- jor national player of the year award, the freshman blocked 186 shots, smashing the previous school record held by Andre Rid- dick and Melvin Turpin and threatening the NCAA Division I mark. Just a year later, Nerlens Noel was on pace to challenge the record before a knee injury ended his season early. And coincidentally, just a season after that, Willie Cauley-Stein put up formidable numbers. They are the only players in school history with 100 or more blocks in a single year. Since those three players left for the pros, Kentucky hasn't had the type of elite rim pro- tection that those three provided. Enter Isaiah Jackson. The freshman for- ward has the ability to be an elite shot block- er and has shown at times to be just that. In the second game of the season, vs. Kansas, Jackson blocked eight shots, the most for a UK player since Cauley-Stein had nine against Boise State on Dec. 10, 2013. They are also the most ever by a Wildcat against an Associated Press top-10 oppo- nent in program history. After three straight appearances with just one block a game, Jackson has swatted a combined nine shots over the last three games to give him a total of 24 for the sea- son. That's behind the pace of UK's all-time best rim protectors, but his block percentage compares favorably to Davis, Noel and Cau- ley-Stein. Davis had a 13.8 block percentage during the 2011-12 season, Noel posted a 13.2 in 2012-13 and Cauley-Stein was at 12.3 during 2013-14. Jackson is right there at 13.1%, ranked 18th nationally (through games on Jan. 6), and his 5.0 blocks per 40 minutes just barely trails Davis (5.8) and Noel (5.5). Where Jackson needs to improve to catch up to his predecessors, and more importantly, to help UK win, is staying out of foul trouble. Jackson is averaging 5.9 fouls per 40 minutes. By contrast, Davis averaged just 2.4 and Noel was at 3.2. The foul trouble is what has limited Jackson from reaching his dominant po- tential. He's played no more than 21 min- utes over the last five games because of foul trouble and has fouled out in two of the last four. 2020-21 Basketball Schedule Texas A&M Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday February 23 Florida Lexington, Ky. 4 p.m. Saturday February 27 Ole Miss Oxford, Miss. 9 p.m. Tuesday March 2 SEC Tournament Nashville, Tenn. TBA Wed.-Sun. March 10-14 NCAA Tournament Final Four® Indianapolis | TBA March- April TBA Auburn Auburn, Ala. 2 p.m. Saturday January 16 LSU Lexington, Ky. 6 p.m. Saturday January 23 Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7 p.m. Tuesday January 26 Texas Lexington, Ky. SEC/Big 12 Challenge / 8 p.m. Saturday January 30 Missouri Columbia, Mo. 9 p.m. Tuesday February 2 Tennessee Lexington, Ky. 8 p.m. Saturday February 6 Arkansas Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday February 9 Auburn Lexington, Ky. 1 p.m. Saturday February 13 Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. 7 p.m. Wednesday February 17 Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. 1 p.m. Saturday February 20 Georgia Athens, Ga. 7 p.m. Wednesday January 20 Morehead State Lexington, Ky. W, 81-45 Wednesday November 25 Richmond Lexington, Ky. L, 64-76 Sunday November 29 Kansas Indianapolis L, 62-65 Tuesday December 1 Notre Dame Lexington, Ky. L, 63-64 Saturday December 12 North Carolina Cleveland L, 63-75 Saturday December 19 Louisville Louisville, Ky. L, 59-62 Saturday December 26 Mississippi State Starkville, Miss. W, 78-73 (2 OT) Sunday January 3 Vanderbilt Lexington, Ky. W, 77-74 Tuesday January 5 Florida Gainesville, Fla. 5 p.m. Saturday January 9 Alabama Lexington, Ky. 9 p.m. Tuesday January 12 Georgia Tech Atlanta L, 62-79 Sunday December 6 Home Away/Neutral 18 @KentuckyMBB Next >