KENTUCKY VS DILLARD SCORES

UK 102
Dillard 74

UK - 98
Dillard - 72

122-54, Never expected that, Major ass kicking. They looked real good on defense and Jones played with some major heart tonight. Hope he keeps it up. I really believe this team will be better on defense. Hopefully when Kanter comes back its just going to get better and better.

Did I win again? 2 for 2? Not much comp, but man, Dale Brown needed this for his program. Big time monetary boost for them. Katrina kicked that school's ass. This will really help them.

Californication wrote:Did I win again? 2 for 2? Not much comp, but man, Dale Brown needed this for his program. Big time monetary boost for them. Katrina kicked that school's ass. This will really help them.

MMMM Not sure I was pretty close also that last game. lol

Close, but not as close as me!!!!

Brian Rickerd/State Journal Sports Writer
November 6, 2010

LEXINGTON – Notes and quotes from Kentucky’s 122-54 exhibition basketball victory over the Dillard Bleu Devils Friday night at Rupp Arena...

It’s hard to tell a lot about the Kentucky Wildcats off a big victory over an NAIA school like Dillard, but I believe all UK fans would agree there were many more reasons to feel optimism watching this game than we felt in watching the Kentucky win over Pikeville last Monday night.

The Wildcats played a lot harder against Dillard – a New Orleans-based team coached by former UK star Dale Brown – and that appeared to free up the Wildcats to showcase their considerable athleticism.

In particular, 6-foot-8 freshman forward Terrance Jones showed for the first time in blue and white why he was so highly touted out of Portland, Ore. Jones was a monster on Friday, which was a stark contrast from his pout-fest against Pikeville.

Against Dillard, a team so small it made the Wildcats look like monsters from the Big East, Jones piled up 23 points (10 of 13 from the field), 10 rebounds, four assists, six blocked shots, three steals and just one turnover in 30 minutes.

“He had a passion about playing,” UK coach John Calipari said of Jones’ effort. “There was no cool high school kid when it doesn’t go right. Compared to last game when he was crying in his soup after, this was a good one for him.”

“In the first game (vs. Pikeville) I had a lot of nerves and didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” Jones said. “I wanted to prove to (Calipari) that I wanted to play harder.”

“He is really explosive,” said UK center Josh Harrellson of Jones. “He’s really strong, and when he wants to play, he can definitely play.”

“He’s a pro,” added Dillard’s Brown, again, of Jones. “He’s going to be playing at the next level. I really love his game. I love the versatility in his game.”

That’s the bad news, sort of, of course. Up to Friday, I think we had only freshman guard Brandon Knight as a one-and-done player for Kentucky. Now? I’m not saying Jones won’t have some bumps in the road during his freshman year here, but I’ll say this, there won’t be a sophomore year at Kentucky. He’ll join Knight in the NBA next year.

I can’t see any Wildcat outside of those two jumping to the NBA after this season.

>It was nice to see sophomore guard/forward Jon Hood enjoy his best game as a Wildcat Friday.

I think the more skeptical of us saw Hood last season as another Billy Gillispie mistake. Now? Hood looks like a hard-nosed, potentially great shooter who could enjoy a very nice career at UK.

Against Dillard, Hood hit a pair of three-point shots early and went on to score 18 points on 7 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 6 three-pointers.

“In shoot-around (earlier Friday), I thought I shot the ball pretty well,” Hood said. “I was pretty confident.”

>Knight was nursing a bit of a stomach virus and may have been less than his best Friday, but he still finished with 20 points, six assists, two steals and just two turnovers in 27 minutes.

Knight certainly doesn’t offer the wow factor of last year’s point, John Wall, but Kentucky might be a steadier ship with Knight’s ball handling and shooting.

Rounding out the scoresheet highlights, Harrellson finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, and junior guard Darius Miller had 12 points and eight boards.

Kentucky had 28 assists against 14 turnovers, and outrebounded Dillard 46-20.

>Last, Dillard’s Brown, who was a defensive ace on Kentucky’s 1993 Final Four team, was clearly moved to return to Rupp Arena as a coach Friday, and it was moving to hear Brown talk about it.

He has a rough go of it at the New Orleans NAIA school. Dillard was especially devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and Brown has a shoe string budget there.

“Dillard was affected most out of all the schools in New Orleans, by the storm,” Brown said. “This school was under water, and they’re still in the rebuilding process. This game just does a lot because my scholarships are not like everybody else on my level. I get like four scholarships. I pretty much have to give partials to stretch them to try to bring in as much talent as I can. I’ve got a tough job, guys.”

Brown said he deeply appreciated the ovation he received from the UK fans before Friday’s game.

“It was great,” Brown said. “Lexington, and throughout the state of Kentucky, the way people treated me was really, really great the whole time I was here. It’s a great city and I miss it. I don’t miss the cold weather because it’s warm in Louisiana pretty much every day, but there are unbelievable people here. I appreciate the opportunity of being back here. I don’t have the words to tell you guys.”

Brown, by the way, said he did not focus enough on his academics to graduate from UK when he played here, but he returned to UK years later and finished work on his degree, thanks to a scholarship program started by the late, great Cawood Ledford in the early 90s.