by Zach Rosen
I vomited in my mouth a little finding this. Use as needed for weight loss and self-inflicted pain.
It seemed as soon as the final buzzer sounded on Thursday night’s win over South Carolina, Kentucky coach John Calipari was already fielding questions about the next game, less than 48 hours away in Knoxville, Tennessee. When asked about the schedule, Calipari noted, “For us we have a back-to-back game, the other team, I believe, played Tuesday…think they’re up there waiting on us”. The last meeting between the two teams resulted in a 73-62 victory for the blue and white, with John Wall and Eric Bledsoe scoring a combined 40 points in the game and providing a spark for the late game victories this team is adopting as their trademark. This time there will be no Gameday TV crew, no mid-day hypefest to inspire the team, and little to no support from the fans in the stands. The near empty gas tank combined with the hostile environment they will face in Thompson-Boling Arena will be a very good barometer of the kind of grit this team will have, especially with conference tournament play starting soon and the NCAA tournament after.
Tennessee is coming into this game at .500 in their last ten, which isn’t horrible, but when you look at the loss to Florida earlier this week you can tell this is a team that is losing the fighting spirit. Senior center Wayne Chism is rumored to be at less then %100 but is still listed as a probable starter, but you have to wonder how effective an injured Chism will be. The UT center was listed as injured in the last game against the Cats but still played 30 minutes, including time missed for a bruised hip incurred during the second half. He ended the game with 12 points and five rebounds but was not as productive as he normally is. In order for the Vols to pull off the upset, Chism will need to be a monster, or at least play Demarcus Cousins to a wash, and Bobby Maze will need to pull of his best Devan Downey impersonation. But we all know that it will be a very hard battle to win for the the Fighting Pearls, with no player in the starting lineup averaging over 13 points per game (Kentucky has three). Still, Bruce Pearl has coached UT to a better final conference rank the last four years straight, an historic event that no other team has been able to accomplish since the modern SEC was formed. Maybe Ol’ Bruce has a trick or two up his sleeve that he will pull out for the game Saturday, 12 pm on CBS. Just please don’t paint your chest orange or wear that painfully obnoxious blazer.
Quick note: Contrary to the statement made on UKAthletics.com, Kentucky did not win a share of the conference title with the win over South Carolina. A Vanderbilt loss would have given UK a share of the trophy, but a win over Tennessee will earn that honor, UK’s 44th in its history.
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