Courtside with the Kentucky Wildcats
During a news conference on Monday, UK Coach Billy Gillispie had no update on the condition of Derrick Jasper and Jodie Meeks.
Jasper strained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee against Vanderbilt on Saturday. He had to be helped off the court.
Meeks sat out the game after earlier aggravating a strained hip flexor.
Neither practiced Sunday or Monday, Gillispie said. Both will make the trip to Mississippi State.
For the game at Mississippi State on Tuesday night, Kentucky faces a defense that has posted cartoon-like numbers.
Opponents shot 22.9 percent overall and 14.7 percent from three-point range in the first two Southeastern Conference games.
Jarvis Varnado blocked 16 shots against Georgia.
But Kentucky won’t change its approach to try to deal with Varnado or State. “We went against Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) when he was a junior in high school,” UK Coach Billy Gillispie said. “He ended up with 20 blocks.” (Hear Gillispie’s pre-Mississippi State press conference.)
State’s shot blocking “is not going to be the determining mindset” for UK, Gillispie said. “If you try to change your mindset, you’re already beat before you get started.”
Kentucky, 7-7 overall and 1-0 in the SEC, has lost its two previous games on the opponent’s court: at Indiana and at Houston.
Although this is his first swing through the SEC, Gillispie said he will not talk to anyone about the various arenas or other issues that might be specific to the league.
“The baskets, I’m sure, are 10 feet high,” he said. “The court is 94 by 50. If not, we’ll ask them to play somewhere else.”
Gillispie brushed off a question about how Kentucky might handle its first big on-court success of the season, the 79-73 double-overtime victory over No. 13 Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Cats won’t rest on that laurel, he said.
“They’re going to be tough,” Gillispie said of his players. “They’re going to be tough throughout the remainder of the season. They’re getting tougher, as we speak.”
UK will wait to see how Derrick Jasper responds to treatment before determining his status for the game at Mississippi State Tuesday night.
Jasper strained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee against Vanderbilt on Saturday. UK will probably wait until close to game time before deciding if Jasper can play at Mississippi State, spokesman Scott Stricklin said on Sunday.
Guard Derrick Jasper injured his left knee late in the second half against Vanderbilt on Saturday. He sprained the medial collateral ligament in the knee, the same knee he had surgically repaired in June.
The injuries are not related, UK spokesman Scott Stricklin said. Jasper’s status for UK’s next game — Tuesday at Mississippi State — is unknown.
The injury occured with 1:06 left in regulation. Jasper was guarding Alex Gordon, who bulled into the UK player. The contact forced Jasper backward and he tripped over fallen teammate Perry Stevenson.
Add Michael Porter the list injured Kentucky players this week. A sore back caused Porter to miss practice time.
Other UK players missing practice time this week were Jodie Meeks (hip), Derrick Jasper (toe) and Joe Crawford (foot). All practiced on Friday.
Porter’s injury did not occur in practice or a game, UK Coach Billy Gillispie said on Friday.
Injuries have mounted as Gillispie, a first-year coach, introduces his brand of tough practices to UK basketball.
On Thursday, Gillispie said he had no intention of dialing back the intensity of practices. He noted that UK would practice Saturday morning before the Vandy game. He said he did not know how long the Cats would practice.
Although Kentucky is saddled with its worst pre-conference record since 1988-89 and has more pre-conference home losses (four) ever, guard Ramel Bradley was thinking happy ending on Friday.
“We can be a good story,” he said to reporters the day before Kentucky begins Southeastern Conference play against unbeaten Vanderbilt.
Kentucky has the worst Ratings Percentage Index of any SEC team. That would seem to make a victory over Vandy — or someone, soon — necessary to keep the Cats believing in themselves, first-year coach Billy Gillispie and the notion that Bradley’s “good story” can come true.
“I think our team is a little tougher than you want to give them credit for,” Gillispie said. “Our guys have been fantastic. The past is the past.” (Hear Gillispie’s Friday-afternoon press conference.)
As for the future, Kentucky will look to make further progress in establishing a consistent style offensively and defensively. “We’re getting closer,” Gillispie said.
Vandy, 16-0, features the nation’s best three-point shooting accuracy (44.3 percent) and an SEC Player of the Year candidate in freshman center A.J. Ogilvy.
Asked how UK can defend both the perimeter shooters and Ogilvy, Gillispie said, “It’s tough.”
Plus, Vandy surrounds Ogilvy with veteran players (three seniors and a sophomore) who execute well, as evidenced by a scoring average of 86.8 points per game. By contrast, UK has scored that many points once: 92 against Florida International.
Senior forward Shan Foster leads the SEC in scoring (20.6 points) and is Vandy’s career leader with 298 three-point baskets.
Kentucky’s lengthy injury list grew by three names on Wednesday. Jodie Meeks, Joe Crawford and Derrick Jasper came up lame.
UK Coach Billy Gillispie saw no link between the mounting injuries, many stress-related, and his signature physically demanding practices.
“I’m never going to get into dialing down the intensity,” Gillispie said on the SEC Coaches’ teleconference on Thursday. The UK coach noted that he can lighten the load on the players by reducing the time devoted to practice, not the intensity.
Meeks re-aggravated a strained hip flexor and did not practice Wednesday and might not practice Thursday or Friday, Gillispie said. The coach wasn’t sure if Meeks will play when Kentucky opens SEC play against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
“He’s got too many muscles,” Gillispie said, light-heartedly, when asked about Meeks. “Like a football player. It’s nothing to do with practice intensity.”
Jasper and Crawford appeared to be improving from toe and plantar’s facsia injuries, Gillispie said. Each was more likely to play against Vandy.
Kentucky’s injury list had grown three names longer, Coach Billy Gillispie revealed on his weekly radio show.
Jodie Meeks, Derrick Jasper and Joe Crawford either missed or hobbled through practice on Wednesday, a development termed a “major setback” by the coach.
“I don’t know what I’ve done . . .” Gillispie said as if cursing the basketball gods. “I couldn’t believe we weren’t more healthy than we are.”
Meeks re-injured the strained hip flexor that caused him to miss the Tennessee Tech game.
Jasper could “barely walk” because of a “terrible toe,” Gillispie said, in which the nail remains barely attached to the toe. Crawford aggravated a plantar fascia condition that had already been giving him problems.
“Very, very painful,” Gillispie said of Crawford’s situation. “There’s not much you can do.”
The latest injuries interrupt what Gillispie suggested has been a week of progress in practice.
The Cats had reduced the number of walk-ons participating in practices in order to improve conditioning and get more work for the scholarship players, the UK coach said.
Kentucky, 6-7, returns to action Saturday against Vanderbilt in its Southeastern Conference opening game.
Despite the injuries, Gillispie made an upbeat comment on the game: “We’ll play better on Saturday,” he said.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.