Patrick Patterson out for season
February 29, 2008
Patrick Patterson came into the press conference on crutches on Friday after he found out he had a stress fracture in his left ankle. He will sit out the remainder of the season. Photo by Brad Luttrell | Staff
Story by Travis Waldron | Staff
UK freshman forward Patrick Patterson will miss the remainder of the season after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left ankle Friday morning, UK Athletics announced.
“Tough day for us,” head coach Billy Gillispie said. “It’s unfortunate, mostly for him as a person. He means so much to our team. I have not been around a freshman that’s been asked to do more and has been there for the team.”
Patterson said he felt pain in the ankle Tuesday morning but that it had subsided enough for him to play Wednesday night against Ole Miss. After the game, it was sore again and the pain didn’t go away. UK’s team doctor suggested the X-Ray this morning, and doctors found the stress fracture.
Patterson will be in a cast for 1-2 weeks before getting an MRI and CAT Scan to monitor progress in the injured ankle.
Patterson is the only freshman in the SEC ranked in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. He is averaging 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Patterson could become the first SEC freshman to finish in the top 10 in both categories since Georgia’s Jumaine Jones did so in 1997-98, and he is the first SEC freshman post player to average more than 16 points per game since Florida’s Ronnie Williams did so in 1980-81.
The Huntington, W.V. native will now finish the season as the fifth-leading freshman scorer in UK history, only 53 points behind Rex Chapman’s record 464 points in 1987. Patterson is also the fifth-leading freshman rebounder in UK history with 192. He needed just four rebounds to pass Jamal Mashburn for fourth all-time.
Patterson has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times this season and was in the running for the SEC Newcomer of the Year award, annually given to the SEC’s top freshman or transfer of the season.
Lacrosse team making strides
February 29, 2008
Story by Metz Camfield | Staff
What happens when you mix football, hockey and soccer?
Lacrosse - a sport with roots on the East Coast that is slowly spreading its way westward. UK has had a club lacrosse team for a while now, but the team is starting to round the corner and is beginning to be taken seriously.
“Lacrosse is very fast-paced and intense,” said head coach Jacob Knight, who is also the Kernel’s advertising adviser. “There’s just as much contact as hockey; a lot of plays are similar to hockey and football; the offensive and defensive matchups are similar to basketball. It’s something new that you don’t see a lot in Kentucky.”
Club lacrosse started at UK in the ’80s, but didn’t really pick up until recently, Knight said.
“It varied in the commitment of the team, but the last three or four years it has become more serious,” he said. “More come to play and try out.”
The team practices three times a week and has its games at the Club Sports Field by the soccer and softball complex on Saturdays.
“Our goal is always to win a national championship,” said junior long-stick middle Andrew McCarthy. “We want to continue making a name for Kentucky lacrosse.”
Andrew McCarthy, left, and team captains Kyle Kuylan, center left, Ben Chessler, center right, Michael Swindall, far right, along with the rest of the lacrosse team, will face Ohio University Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Photo by Ed Matthews | Staff
McCarthy hails from Boston, Mass., where lacrosse is more of an everyday sport, and is trying to incorporate his knowledge into the team. Now in his third year playing for UK, McCarthy knows teamwork, as in most sports, is essential in lacrosse.
“We want to play more as a team,” he said. “Focus less on the individual talents and more on the teamwork.”
The Cats play against seven other teams in the Midwest South region, one of 12 in the National College Lacrosse League. The team goal is straightforward: win.
“We want to win the championship,” senior defenseman Tommy Brummet said. “Last season, we made it to the final eight for Division II club teams. We brought a lot back, so our goal is to win the tournament. Considering all the players we have, I think we can.”
Brummet came to the UK as a kicker for the football team, but after he was injured he decided to come back to the sport he had played for 10 years.
“I had played lacrosse in high school and it was my favorite sport,” he said. “Football didn’t work out, so I came out for the club lacrosse team, and I’m happy with my decision.”
While the Cats’ record is currently 2-3, they believe the losses will help in the long run.
“We’ve played some tough teams, which is what we need to do,” Brummet said. “We fully expect to get to the playoffs. Our record doesn’t reflect our potential, and we can turn it around.”
UK faces the Ohio University Bobcats, a team the Cats have never beaten, tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.
Remaining Games
Mar. 1 Ohio University 4:30 p.m.*
Mar. 22 Western Kentucky 1:00 p.m.*
Mar. 28 Louisville 8:00 p.m.
Mar. 29 Xavier University 3:00 p.m.*
Apr. 4 Midwest Tournament TBA
Apr. 5 Midwest Tournament TBA
*All home games are played at the Club Sports Field
sports@kykernel.com
SEC East hopes on the line in Knoxville
February 29, 2008
Story by Travis Waldron | Staff
As a senior, guard Ramel Bradley would love the chance to play for the SEC East title on senior night at Rupp Arena. That possibility is closer than most would have thought at the start of conference play.
UK’s win over Ole Miss Wednesday night and Tennessee’s loss at Vanderbilt on Tuesday have put the Cats just one game behind the Volunteers in the SEC East division standings.
With UK traveling to Knoxville, Tenn., to play the Volunteers on Sunday, the stakes are obvious: win, and the Cats take first place in the East.
For a team that limped to a 6-7 start on the season and began its SEC schedule 1-2, a shot at a conference championship is an opportunity it does not want to waste.
Senior guard Ramel Bradley talks to head coach Billy Gillispie during UK’s close win over Ole Miss Wednesday. Photo by Keith Smiley | Staff
“It would be an unbelievable feeling,” Bradley said. “If we put ourselves in the position to win a game and win the SEC, to do it at Rupp Arena on senior night, it would be unbelievable.”
The Cats are now 10-3 in Southeastern Conference play, assuring themselves of a better conference record than in each of the past two seasons.
UK defeated Tennessee 72-66 earlier this season, beginning a stretch of nine wins in its next 10 games.
But the Vols, 11-2 in the SEC, will be looking for revenge when the Cats visit Knoxville, a challenge senior guard Joe Crawford said he is ready for.
“They’re going to be gunning for us, just like Vanderbilt,” Crawford said. “It’s going to be a hostile environment. We’re going to have to come out and play like it’s a championship game.”
Last time UK went on the road, it was in a similar situation. Facing a ranked opponent it had already defeated at home, the Cats came out flat and were blown out by Vanderbilt. The ‘Dores held the Cats to just 11 first half points in route to a 41-point win, the largest margin of defeat to an SEC team ever for UK.
But the Cats bounced back and have won two straight over quality opponents - Arkansas and Ole Miss - setting up the meeting with No. 1 Tennessee.
The Cats will face one of the most raucous environments in the SEC on Sunday, Crawford said.
“It’s going to be very emotional,” he said. “I think Tennessee is the loudest environment we play in every year.
“They’re focusing in (after the loss). We’re going to have to go out there and fight.”
During the SEC coaches teleconference yesterday, head coach Billy Gillispie acknowledged that though he was not sure his team would end up this close to first place, he knew it would improve after battling through injury troubles that have plagued UK all season.
“If we knew that we were going to have relatively good health, I would’ve thought that our team was going to improve greatly. You never know how that’s going to equate to wins and losses,” Gillispie said.
“I never really think about where we’re going to be, a certain record at this point in the season, but I knew we were going to improve greatly,” he said.
twaldron@kykernel.com
Rise to the top - climbing competition
February 29, 2008
Agricultural economics freshman Laura Leavell climbs the white route, which was worth 88 points, last night at the Johnson Center climbing competition. Photo by Elliott Hess | Staff
Climbers of all skill levels competed for hundreds of dollars in climbing equipment at the Johnson Center’s rock climbing competition last night. About 70 competitors were divided into four classes: beginners, advanced, ladies only, and a faculty and staff group. The athletes were judged based on a points system while attempting to climb pre-planned routes that were marked with colored tape. The Johnson Center’s rock wall is open Monday through Friday, 12 -10 p.m. and 2-7 p.m. on weekends.
Cats survive last minute scare
February 27, 2008
Story by Travis Waldron | Staff
The UK basketball team certainly has a flare for the dramatic.
After nearly squandering a 23-point first-half lead, the Cats held off Ole Miss 58-54 in front of 23,330 fans at Rupp Arena last night. The Cats earned their 10th win in the Southeastern Conference, all of which have been by 10 points or less.
“I just think we play really good, we just need to put a whole game together,” senior guard Ramel Bradley said. “We have lapses at times, but I think when we’re able to put together a whole 40 minutes, it’s going to look really good.”
Ole Miss’s comeback was built on UK’s inability to hit shots, not a lack of effort or intensity, UK head coach Billy Gillispie said.
“We couldn’t make anything in the second half,” Gillispie said. “They made some shots, we made some mistakes. But believe me, I’m really happy about this win and … I’m really excited about where it puts us.”
UK (16-10, 10-3 SEC) built a 31-8 lead before halftime as Ole Miss made just three of its first 21 shots. Ole Miss (18-9, 4-9 SEC) didn’t make it to double digits until there were less than two minutes to play in the first half.
But the Rebels weren’t finished yet.
Spanning the end of the first and beginning of the second halves, Ole Miss made 8-of-13 shots to pull within four at 33-29. Ole Miss outscored UK 21-2 during the stretch, which included a UK field goal drought that lasted more than six minutes to begin the second half.
With the mood in Rupp Arena growing tense, freshman forward Patrick Patterson woke the Cats up. Patterson scored seven of UK’s next nine points to push the lead back to 42-31.
Patterson finished with 15 points as he and senior guard Joe Crawford led the Cats in scoring. But nothing came easy in the paint for Patterson.
“It was real tough and real physical,” Patterson said. “They’re able to push you down low, push you underneath. They’re huge guys with huge bodies.”
The Rebels still didn’t go away after Patterson’s surge.
Freshman guard Chris Warren led the Rebels back again, scoring 23 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.
“We got him by four,” Gillispie said with a laugh, alluding to UK’s 27-point second half.
Ole Miss chipped away at that lead, eventually cutting it to 56-54 with 24.1 seconds to play. Senior guard Ramel Bradley then missed two free throws on the ensuing possession, and Ole Miss came down the court with a chance to tie.
Warren came up short on a drive to the basket, but Dwayne Curtis gathered the rebound and kicked it to Trevor Gaskins for an open 3-point attempt. Gaskins’ shot appeared to be on target but clanged off the back of the rim, and Bradley gathered the rebound and was fouled.
“I was just like, ‘God, don’t do this to me. Please don’t do this to us right now,’ ” Bradley said. “It looked good.”
Gillispie called the play his favorite of the game.
“It wasn’t my favorite play of the game,” Bradley said.
This time, the senior guard swished both free throws, and the Cats escaped with their seventh consecutive home victory and their 18th win in 19 home games against the SEC West.
Though the Cats had to hold on to earn the victory, Gillispie was still happy with the win.
“Guys, we won,” Gillispie said. “I’m glad we’re to the point now where we’re not earning style points for winning. We’ll take any of them we can get any way we can get them.”
The win sets up a battle for first place in the SEC East when UK visits Tennessee Sunday. That’s something that has Bradley chomping at the bit to get back on the court.
“I’m excited to go down there and play,” Bradley said. “It’s a really big game for us. We’re going to get in, prepare the right way and go down there and see if we can get a win.”
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