Thursday Quickies: P.J. and Diallo Ball Out Edition

John Calipari’s USA U19 team tipped off their first game in Egypt yesterday, defeating Lithuania 89-66. Two Wildcats, P.J. Washington and Hamidou Diallo led the way. Washington led the team in points with 18 and Diallo was right behind him with 17. The team started slow but outscored Lithuania 40-19 in the second half. May have been from the traveling, but they certainly figured out their issues down the stretch of the game.

For two guys who haven’t played a college basketball game yet, this is a great start under the watchful eyes of the Big Blue Nation.

Tweet of the day

Your quickies

Washington, Diallo star in USA win - Herald-Leader
Calipari’s guys put on a show, but he says there’s still work to be done for Team USA before they’re ready for the real games.

Liggins and Wiltjer involved in Chris Paul trade - KSR
The Los Angeles Clippers are trading Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets. The Rockets, in turn, are sending two former Wildcats, Kyle Wiltjer and DeAndre Liggins to LA.

What makes Vince Marrow a good recruiter? - SEC Country
Marrow is a tight ends coach at Kentucky, but has been responsible for a great deal of Kentucky’s latest signees. The players who he’s recruited give some insight on what makes him so good at it.

Kentucky is currently the favorite for Immanuel Quickley - KSR
This is the guy in the 2018 recruiting class for Cal. He was the first to receive a Kentucky scholarship offer, and that focus is helping. Quickley also described why the other three of his four favorites (Kansas, Miami, Maryland) stand out.

New UK reunion committee to honor 14 teams - Cats Pause
That’s right, the University of Kentucky has a reunion committee. And they’re going to honor 14 of the best teams in UK history across several athletic programs.

Aaron Perry expected to sign with Red Sox - Cats Illustrated
Perry, a high school pitcher, was one of the best in Kentucky’s baseball recruiting class. After being drafted by the Boston Red Sox, he’ll skip college ball and go straight to the Minor Leagues.

Clippers, Rockets agree to trade deal for Chris Paul - Yahoo
As noted earlier, there are Kentucky players involved in this. But it’s all about Chris Paul, who essentially orchestrated a sign-and-trade by opting into his player option in Los Angeles to be traded to Houston.

Tebow homers in first day with St. Lucie Mets - ESPN
Despite terrible numbers at the lower single-A level, Tim Tebow has been called up to Advanced-A baseball, and not so shockingly he provided a great video moment by homering on his first day with the club. He now has a “whopping” four home runs.

10 steps to undo Phil Jackson’s damage to the Knicks - Sports Illustrated
Now that Phil and the New York Knicks have parted ways, it’s going to take a lot of work to fix what he’s done wrong.

Miguel Montero sent to minors after calling out Arrieta - Washington Post
Montero allowed seven stolen bases against the Washington Nationals. And what did he do? He openly blamed Jake Arrieta’s slow delivery for them. To be fair, he’s not completely wrong, and Arrieta admitted so. But the Chicago Cubs didn’t take kindly to the statement.

Evaluating big NBA rumors - CBS Sports
This time of year, Twitter timelines and news feeds are always littered with NBA free agency rumors that probably aren’t true. But boy do we love to discuss the hypotheticals (like Gordon Hayward to the Celtics!)

Boaty McBoatface returns from its inaugural mission - CNet
Here’s a reminder not to let the wonderful users of the internet name things.