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Inside The Numbers: 2011-2012 UK Basketball Season

By Corey Price

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Tonight at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports South, the Kentucky men’s basketball team will begin their 109th season against the Marist Red Foxes in the Basketball Hall Of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. Here are some numbers, facts, and milestones heading into this season to be aware of:

Team Milestones, Records, Etc.

30-Win Seasons

With the amount of talent that Kentucky has this season, it’s not completely out of the question to see the Wildcats have a 30-win season. If so, it’ll be UK’s 13th 30-win season in the program’s history, the most of any other school. Here are UK’s previous 30-win seasons:

  • 36 wins: 1947-1948
  • 35 wins: 2009-2010, 1997-1998, 1996-1997
  • 34 wins: 1995-1996, 1946-1947
  • 32 wins: 2002-2003, 1985-1986, 1950-1951, 1948-1949
  • 30 wins: 1992-1993, 1977-1978

NCAA Tournaments Wins

Heading into this season, both UK and UNC have 105 victories all-time in the NCAA Tournament. So hopefully we can be on the top of that list at the end of this season.

SEC Regular Season Titles

The Wildcats have amassed 44 regular season SEC titles in the school’s history. All the other schools that have been in the SEC have a combined 44 regular season SEC titles. Maybe this season UK can get back to having more SEC titles than all the other schools combined.

900 Regular Season SEC Wins

According to the SEC Media Guide, UK has 885 regular season SEC wins all-time. So, if the Wildcats win at least 15 of their 16 SEC games this season, they’ll be the first SEC school to 900 all-time regular season wins.

2nd Longest Home Court Win Streak

Heading into this season UK has won 34 consecutive games at home, including the NIT game against UNLV at Memorial Coliseum in 2009. UK’s school, and NCAA, record of 129 consecutive home wins will never be close to being broken, but the Wildcats can have the 2nd longest home-court winning streak in school history if they win their first 6 home games this season. UK’s 6th home game this season is Chattanooga on December 17th.

100th Win Against Ole Miss

Going into this season, UK has 98 wins all-time against Ole Miss. If the teams were to meet in the SEC Tournament, UK has a chance to win their 100th game all-time against the Rebels.  UK already has at least 100 wins all-time against 4 other SEC schools: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.

John Calipari 5th All-Time In Wins

Through his first two seasons at the school, John Calipari has 64 wins at the University of Kentucky, only 25 wins away from moving ahead of Eddie Sutton for 5th most wins all-time at Kentucky. Here are the top 5:

  • 1 Adolph Rupp – 876
  • 2 Joe B. Hall – 297
  • 3 Tubby Smith – 263
  • 4 Rick Pitino – 219
  • 5 Eddie Sutton – 88

25 Wins At Auburn

On January 11th, the Wildcats travel down to Auburn to take on the Tigers. UK has 24 wins all-time against Auburn at their current arena, Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. With a win it would be the 4th current SEC opponent arena that UK has at least 25 all-time wins in. Here are the other 3:

  • 1 Memorial Gymnasium (Vanderbilt) – 41 wins
  • 2 Stegeman Coliseum (Georgia) – 32 wins
  • 3 Tad Smith Coliseum (Ole Miss) – 25 wins

60 Wins At Freedom Hall

UK plays Arkansas-Little Rock at Freedom Hall on January 3rd with a chance to get their 60th all-time win at Freedom Hall. With that win it would be the 2nd non-home arena in school history with at least 60 all-time wins, joining the Louisville Gardens (61 wins, between 1937 and 1956).

6,000 Made 3’s

The college basketball game has had the 3-point line for the past 25 seasons. Heading into this season, UK has made 5,818 3-point field goals all-time. That means UK has a very good chance to make their 6,000th 3-point field goal all-time this season. Based on last year’s average made 3-point field goals per game, UK could reach the 6,000 3-point field goals made mark in the 25th game of the season, which would be against Florida at Rupp Arena on February 7th.

25 Wins Against Billy Donovan

Billy Donovan is about to begin his 18th season as a head coach. Heading into this season, UK has 22 wins all-time against teams coached by Billy Donovan. If the teams were to meet in the SEC Tournament, it is possible for UK to get to 25 wins all-time against Billy Donovan. He would become the 5th coach ever to have at least 25 losses against UK. Here are the other 4:

  • 1 Dale Brown (LSU, 1973-1997) – 33
  • 2 C. M. Newton (Alabama and Vanderbilt, 1969-1989) – 32
  • 3 Hugh Durham (Florida State and Georgia, 1972-1995) – 30
  • 4 Emmett Lowery (Tennessee, 1948-1959) – 25

300 Wins In March

Heading into this season, UK has won 296 games all-time in the month of March. With 4 wins in March this season UK could have 300 all-time wins in the month of March. The earliest that could happen would be the 2nd game of the SEC Tournament.

Players’ Milestones, Records, Etc.

Darius Miller

  • Has made at least one 3-point field goal in 25 consecutive games. The school record is held by Tony Delk at 34 games. So Kentucky’s 10th game could be the record breaker, which would be Chattanooga on December 17th at Rupp.
  • Has played in 112 games while at Kentucky. The school record for games played is 151 by Wayne Turner. So, if UK were to make it to the SEC tournament final with a bye, make it to the national title game of the NCAA Tournament, and Darius Miller stays healthy and appears in every game, he’ll have the school record for career games played at 152.
  • Has 851 career points, 149 points away from being the 58th player in school history with 1,000 career points
  • Has 86 career blocks, 14 blocks away from being the 16th player in school history with 100 career blocks
  • Has 119 career made 3-point field goals, on pace to be 10th place all-time in career 3-point field goals made

Terrence Jones

  • Has 72 career blocks, 28 blocks away from 100 career blocks
  • Has 595 career points, 405 points away from 1,000 career points

Doron Lamb

  • Has 68 career made 3-point field goals, 32 made 3-point field goals away from being the 23rd player in school history with 100 career 3-point field goals made

Freshman Scoring Record

Rex Chapman’s freshman scoring record of 464 points stood for 23 years, and in the past 2 seasons, 5 freshmen have broken the record (Brandon Knight, John Wall, Terrence Jones, DeMarcus Cousins, and Doron Lamb). Which freshman will score at least 465 points this season?

Freshman Rebounds Record

Chris Mills freshman rebounding record of 277 stood for 21 years, and in the past 2 seasons, 2 freshmen have broken the record (DeMarcus Cousins and Terrence Jones). Which freshman will pull down at least 278 rebounds this season?

Freshman Assists Record

Dirk Minniefield’s freshman assists record of 126 stood for 30 years, and in the past 2 seasons, 2 freshman have broken the record (John Wall and Brandon Knight). Which freshman will record at least 127 assists this season?

Freshman Free-Throws Made Record

Dwight Anderson’s freshman free-throws made record of 131 stood for 31 years, and in the past 2 seasons 4 freshmen have broken the record (John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Terrence Jones, and Brandon Knight). Which freshman will make at least 132 free-throws this season?

Freshman 3-Point Field Goals Made Record

Rex Chapman’s freshman 3-point field goals made record of 68 stood for 24 years, and last season 2 freshmen tied or broke the record (Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb). Which freshman will make at least 68 3-point field goals this season?

And to end this, I look ahead to our annual battle against the North Carolina Tar Heels on December 3rd at Rupp Arena. UNC is ranked #1 and UK is ranked #2 in the preseason AP Poll. It’s safe to say that both teams will still be in the AP Poll top 2 going into the game. If so, it will be 7th game in Kentucky’s history that they’ve played in a game where it was a #1 vs. #2 matchup according to the AP Poll. Here’s how the Wildcats fared in the previous six #1 vs. #2 matchups:

  • March 26th, 1949: #1 UK – 46 #2 Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) – 36 Edmundson Pavilion (Attendance: 12,500) (NCAA Tournament National Championship)
  • December 17th, 1951: #1 UK – 81 #2 St. John’s – 40 Memorial Coliseum (Attendance: 13,000)
  • March 18th, 1966: #1 UK – 83 #2 Duke – 79 Cole Field House (Attendance: 14,253) (NCAA Tournament National Semifinals)
  • March 31st, 1975: #1 UCLA – 92 #2 UK – 85 San Diego Sports Arena (Attendance: 15,151) (NCAA Tournament National Championship)
  • December 26th, 1981: #1 UNC – 82 #2 UK – 69 Brendan Byrne Arena (Attendance: 18,116)
  • March 30th, 1996: #1 UMass – 74 #2 UK – 81 Continental Arena (Attendance: 19,229) (NCAA Tournament National Semifinals)
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