I have a special place in my heart for Delaware. One of my businesses is incorporated there, and they are a very friendly in general to commerce. But the reason I am talking about them right now is because the Delaware State Hornets are coming for a visit to Rupp Arena tomorrow at noon.
Basic facts about Delaware State:
- Conference: MEAC
- Head Coach: Greg Jackson
- Location: Dover, Delaware
- Enrollment: 3,756
- Nickname: Hornets
- Colors: Columbia Blue and Red
Team Statistical Comparison (Courtesy of StatSheet.com):
School | Kentucky | Delaware St. | Comments |
Conference | SEC | MEAC | |
State | KY | DE | |
Founded | 1865 | 1891 | |
School Type | Public | Public | |
Enrollment | 26545 | 3711 | |
Rankings | |||
Conf Standing | 2 | 2 | |
AP Rank | 0 | 0 | |
RPI | 0.31 | 0.25 | |
RPI Rank | 242 | 271 | Sheesh. |
SOS | 0.42 | 0.33 | |
SOS Rank | 176 | 207 | |
Wins & Losses | |||
Overall | 0-2 | 1-4 | |
Home | 0-1 | 1-1 | |
Away | 0-1 | 0-3 | |
Neutral | 0-0 | 0-0 | |
Conference | 0-0 | 0-0 | |
Top 25 | 0-1 | 0-0 | |
Scoring | |||
Pts Per Game | 80.5 | 55.4 | That's different |
Shooting | |||
FG Pct | 50.4 | 41.2 | Amazing that we are shooting 50% and are 0-2 |
FT Pct | 71.2 | 61.6 | |
3pt FG Pct | 21.4 | 35.4 | Ah. This could be why |
Rebounds | |||
Reb Per Game | 44 | 34.8 | No contest |
Off Rebs Per Game | 13.5 | 11 | |
Def Rebs Per Game | 29 | 22.2 | |
Assists, Steals, & Blocks | |||
Assists Per Game | 15.5 | 10.2 | |
Steals Per Game | 6 | 4.2 | |
Blocks Per Game | 10 | 3.8 | Ten (10) blocks per game over two games including the #1 team in America |
Turnovers & Fouls | |||
TO Per Game | 26.5 | 17.4 | Dear God ... |
Fouls Per Game | 20.5 | 14 | Nothing new here. |
Well, what can I say? Kentucky looks superior on paper just like they did to VMI, with the notable exception of 3-point shooting. The Hornets are a pretty good three-point shooting team, and you can bet they know that UK has been giving up the three like mad, and shoots it poorly.
I must confess, it is amazing for UK to be averaging ten blocks a game. I have never heard of that, especially since we had as many blocks against North Carolina as we did against VMI. I wonder how long that stat holds up at that impressive number.
UK is averaging 26.5 turnovers per game. That makes last year's 18 TO/game look like something to be proud of. On the other hand, one thing we can be proud of over last year is the 15+ assists we are averaging so far, a big improvement over the 12.7 we averaged last year.
Players
Lets have a look now at the players and their stats. Probable starters are highlighted in yellow:
Kentucky
Player | Yr | Pos | GP | GS | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | Per Game Averages | ||||||
Min | Pts | Reb | Ast | TO | STL | BLK | ||||||||
J. Meeks | Jr | G | 2 | 2 | 38.3 | 30 | 88.9 | 36.5 | 29 | 5.5 | 1 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
P. Stevenson | Jr | F | 2 | 2 | 61.5 | 0 | 77.8 | 32.5 | 11.5 | 10.5 | 1 | 2 | 1.5 | 3.5 |
P. Patterson | So | F | 2 | 2 | 73.3 | 0 | 71.4 | 31.5 | 13.5 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.5 |
R. Harris | Jr | F | 2 | 2 | 66.7 | 0 | 53.8 | 30 | 15.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 2 | 0.5 |
D. Liggins | Fr | G | 2 | 0 | 42.9 | 0 | 0 | 22.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 0.5 | 1 |
M. Porter | Jr | G | 2 | 2 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
D. Miller | Fr | F | 2 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 50 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3.5 | 0 | 0.5 |
Delaware State
Player | Yr | Pos | GP | GS | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | Per Game Averages | ||||||
Min | Pts | Reb | Ast | TO | STL | BLK | ||||||||
F. Sandidge | Jr | F | 5 | 5 | 32.3 | 20 | 56.7 | 32.8 | 7.6 | 6.8 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
D. Johnson | Sr | G | 5 | 3 | 39.6 | 37.9 | 92.3 | 31 | 12.2 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
M. Neal | Jr | G | 5 | 5 | 41.9 | 30.8 | 60 | 29.8 | 6.6 | 4.8 | 2 | 3 | 1.4 | 0.2 |
T. Welcher | So | G | 5 | 4 | 50 | 33.3 | 80 | 26.2 | 4.6 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0 |
F. Bouie | Jr | G | 5 | 1 | 38.9 | 33.3 | 54.5 | 24 | 8.2 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0 |
A. Dubois | Sr | F | 4 | 4 | 37.1 | 0 | 100 | 28.3 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0 | 2.8 |
K. Douse | Jr | F | 5 | 2 | 44 | 60 | 30 | 17.2 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
Delaware State does not have a player over 6'7" tall, so we are much bigger than they are -- which ought to be a caution to us, since the last team with that kind of statistics ran us all over the floor and came out victorious. Fortunately for the 'Cats, Delaware State does not seem like the kind of team that can really do that with a 55 point/game average.
Conclusion
There really seems to be no justifiable reason why UK should not dominate the Hornets, and if they don't, we will see even more recriminations than we have recently. UK is clearly a work in progress, but I am encouraged by Gillispie's recent conversation with Andy Katz of ESPN, and I am confident that Billy Gillispie knows what he is talking about.
The Big Blue Nation needs a Big Blue walkover, and I truly hope Gillispie has the Wildcats well prepared for the Hornets. Every small D-I school we play is thinking they have a shot at hanging a Wildcat scalp in their tiny arena after Gardener-Webb and VMI, and they are going to attack our weaknesses (which have been so obvious a Jai-Alai fan could identify them), so UK must find a way to get the ball up the floor and into the hands of Patrick Patterson.
By the way, the word is that Patterson has sheared his 'fro. Maybe it's a reverse-Sampson thing. We can only hope.