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Welcome, Big Blue Nation to the Hampton Pirates vs. Kentucky Wildcats, the first game of Kentucky’s (what we hope will be) historic 2015 NCAA Tournament. There are no more do-overs, no more "I hope we lose" comments from John Calipari to his players. All that stuff is water under the bridge. What lies before us now are (hopefully) six do-or-die contests, beginning tonight against Hampton.
General
Game Particulars
| Date: | Thursday, March 19th |
| Time | 9:40 PM EDT |
| Place: | KFC YUM! Center, Louisville, KY |
| TV: | CBS |
| Radio: | UK Sports Network |
| Live Video: | NCAA March Madness |
| Live Audio: | Westwood One |
| Live Stats: | Stats |
About Hampton:
Location: Hampton, Virginia
Conference: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Head Coach: Edward Joyner Jr.
NCAA Appearances: 5
Most recent NCAA appearance: 2015
Most recent NCAA win: 2015, Manhattan
Founded: 1868
Enrollment: 4,622 (2013)
Last season’s record: 17-17 overall, 8-8 Conference
How they got in: Won MEAC Tournament
Source: Wikipedia
Season so far for Hampton:
Hampton has been a .500 team almost all year long. It has winning streaks and losing streaks, but it went on a major run in the MEAC tournament to upset Maryland Eastern Shore and Norfolk State to win their way into the big dance.
Series history
This will be Kentucky’s first ever meeting with Hampton.
Source: BigBlueHistory.net
Stats
Hampton Roster:
| No. | Player | Pos. | Class | Ht. | Wt. | Status | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG |
| 11 | Deron Powers | G | Jr. | 5-11 | 165 | S** | 32.7 | 10.4 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| 34 | Reginald Johnson | G | Jr. | 6-2 | 190 | S+ | 27.6 | 12.0 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 |
| 3 | Quinton Chievous | G | Gr. | 6-6 | 215 | S+ | 25.1 | 10.2 | 6.4 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 14 | Brian Darden | G | Jr. | 6-2 | 183 | S** | 23.6 | 9.8 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| 30 | Jervon Pressley | F | Jr. | 6-8 | 250 | S** | 21.7 | 6.2 | 4.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| 21 | Ke`Ron Brown | G | Jr. | 6-3 | 215 | MR* | 22.1 | 4.6 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| 23 | Dwight Meikle | F | R-Jr. | 6-7 | 210 | MR* | 27.8 | 13.0 | 7.5 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Okoroba | C | Sr. | 6-8 | 225 | R* | 11.4 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| 31 | Charle Wilson-Fisher | F | Rf. | 6-9 | 205 | R+* | 10.4 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| 4 | Lawrence Cooks | G | So. | 6-1 | 175 | R* | 9.8 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| 33 | Phillip Reed | C | So. | 6-10 | 210 | R* | 9.4 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| 32 | Dionte Adams | F | Jr. | 6-7 | 215 | R* | 8.4 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| 2 | Breon Key | G | Jr. | 6-2 | 185 | R* | 7.3 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| 1 | Keith Carroll | G | Fr. | 5-11 | 160 | R@ | 5.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| 13 | Gregory Hayden | G | So. | 5-7 | 160 | R@+* | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| 0 | Donald Ralls Jr | G | Fr. | 6-0 | 185 | R@* | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Status | ||||||||||||
| S | Starter | |||||||||||
| MR | Major reserve | |||||||||||
| R | Reserve | |||||||||||
| * | Returning player | |||||||||||
| ** | Returning starter | |||||||||||
| + | Eligible transfer/red shirt | |||||||||||
| - | Ineligible | |||||||||||
| @ | Walk on | |||||||||||
| & | Injured, not available | |||||||||||
Source: Hampton Pirates Athletics
Team Comparison
| Rank and Records | HU | UK |
| RPI | #244 | #1 |
| Strength of Schedule | #333 | #40 |
| Overall | 17-17 | 34-0 |
| Conference | 8-8 | 18-0 |
| Home | 6-5 | 19-0 |
| Away | 5-12 | 10-0 |
| Top 25 | 0-0 | 5-0 |
| RPI Top 50 | 0-1 | 12-0 |
| Kenpom.com | #243 | #1 |
Source: Statsheet.com
Four Factors
Hampton Team Notes
Hampton is…
- …a solid defensive rebounding squad. They were outstanding in conference. They are also a good offensive rebounding team for a team that starts four guards
- …good at getting to the line. They like to send those guards to the hole.
- …a very small team, with their tallest starter being 6‘6".
- … used to getting a high percentage of steals, #30 in steals % nationally
- …extremely experienced and mature.
- …not as reliant on the three as you might think, and they are not a good 3-point shooting team at all.
- …a team that likes a high pace.
- …mostly a man-to-man team, but you can expect zone against Kentucky.
- …a team that turns the ball over on 20%+ of possessions.
Hampton Player notes
- Dwight Meikle is the Pirates’ leading scorer, and he is unavailable tonight due to injury.
- Quinton Chievous is a name you might recognize. He is a graduate student who transferred from the University of Tennesee. He is the team’s leading rebounder and shoots a high percentage from inside the arc. Not a good 3-point shooter, though.
- Reginald Johnson is a volume shooter who takes good care of the ball, and leads the starters in steals. He’s a Miami (OH) transfer.
- Deron Powers is a 5‘11" point guard who will give the ball up fairly frequently.
- Brian Darden is a dangerous 3-point shooter.
- Ke’Ron Brown is the best defender on the team, and is the 32nd highest steals-percentage player in America.
Injuries
Kentucky
- Alex Poythress is out for the season with a torn ACL
Hampton
- Quinton Chievous is upgraded to probable tonight.
- Dwight Meikle is expected to miss the Kentucky game.
Analysis
Hampton is a team that may remind you a lot of the Auburn Tigers. They play the same sort of small-ball game, but they have better depth, typically going about 3 players deep. They are a very mature, group, but lack size and talent as befits a #16 seed.
This Hampton squad should not be a problem for Kentucky, and if it is, it’s because they have taken the Pirates lightly, and that would be a bad sign. Last season, Kentucky didn’t take anyone lightly because they had tough teams from start to finish. This time, as a #1 seed, they have the luxury of doing that, but it is always inadvisable.
This is one of the cooler things about Hampton. Watch them do the Major League foot-cross on made free throws:
Here’s the original at about the 2:07 mark:
Go, ‘Cats!