It isn’t every day that Kentucky guard Joe Crawford takes a charge. So when he took one against Texas Southern with 10:56 to play and UK ahead 63-26, that qualified as noteworthy.
“We have to compete every play,” Crawford said to explain his motivation to take the charge. “Coach really stresses that. You don’t think of the score when you’re out there.”
When asked how many charges he’d taken in his UK career, Crawford smiled and said, “I probably can count them on two hands.”
UK Coach Billy Gillispie was not overjoyed by the sight of Crawford taking a charge.
“It said somebody got beat on a straight-line drive (to the basket),” Gillispie said. “That shouldn’t happen.
“We’re proud of Joe for putting his body in there and sacrificing his body for the team. But when you give up straight-line drives, it makes you need to take a whole lot of charges.”
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.
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