Young fans wait to greet UK freshman Justin Edwards after Friday's win.
The last time Kentucky had a home basketball game was Dec. 2. It was a wet, cold and gloomy drive Friday to the UK-Illinois State matchup. The BBN just watched its football team lose in the final minutes of the Gator Bowl. I was in no hurry to make the drive to Rupp Arena. I had no idea that Illinois State would sell out Rupp and the crowd would be as rowdy as if it was a ranked opponent.
The game was a chance for Antonio Reeves to face his former team. In fact, some believed he was enrolled as a student at Illinois State this summer. What did Reeves do? He hit a game-high 27 points and did so with ease. He shot 50 percent from beyond the arc (4-for-8) and was 3-for-3 from the free throw line while playing 34 minutes.
The Redbirds came out of the gate strong and the Cats trailed 13-9 after the first five minutes, However, the Cats built a double digit lead and never looked back.
The crowd at Rupp seemed different tonight. Perhaps the tickets were given as Christmas presents. Everyone was excited to be there.
The image that will be etched in my mind was the family of four (all dressed in matching Kentucky gear) standing by the upper arena entrance all eating an ice cream cone. The father was giving instructions to the kids about going up the stairs and to hold on because it was going to be real high. The son looked at the dad and said,”Don’t worry dad, we got this.”
I wanted so much to ask if I could take a picture but decided I didn’t want to ruin their moment.
Normally when a team is up by 20 points the crowd will start to head to the exits in order to beat the traffic. The crowd Friday night stayed. They cheered for the Redbirds to miss two free throws to get a free chicken biscuit. It worked and with less than a minute in regulation the crowd was rewarded.
It gets real next Saturday when the Cats travel to the swamp to open up SEC play against the Gators.
Celebrate the New Year responsibly and remember to be kind. We are all in this together.
All-American defensive lineman Deone Walker had four tackles, including two quarterback sacks, in Kentucky’s 38-35 loss to Clemson Friday after the defense gave up 28 points in the fourth quarter, including the winning touchdown with just 17 seconds to play after the Cats had Clemson facing a third-and-18 situation.
“As a team, we wanted to have our seniors go out with a bang. Like (running back) Ray Davis, I won’t get to see him next year or play with him. Just not leaving our seniors with that sour taste in their mouth,” Walker said when asked about his motivation for this game.
Kentucky’s defense had to try and stop a Clemson offense that got a short field often. The Tigers only started one of five fourth-quarter drives in their own territory but that one turned out to be the 12-play, 68-yard game-winning drive.
“I would say the whole emphasis on that drive was put up or shut up. I mean, they got their best level and we got ours. We just weren’t able to stick it out,” Walker said. “I still love my defense. I love my corners, my free safeties, my safeties, my D-line, my linebackers. We were all still together, kept the morale up.”
The Kentucky offense turned the ball over four times in the fourth quarter — two fumbles and two interceptions.
“It’s always frustrating when as a team we can’t get it right, we can’t get stuff going. I still love my offense. I love my O-line. I love my receivers,” the sophomore defensive lineman said. “Just trying to keep the morale with everyone up, just trying to stay together.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops admits Walker’s play is impressive but values Walker’s leadership even more.
“The way he leads, the way he practices, the energy that he brings every day, the leadership that he shows is most critical to our program, and he’s a big piece of the continuity in the defense,” Stoops said.
“We played a good portion of that game very well. We dug deep, and it showed the character of Deone and a lot of the defensive guys, when we got put in bad situation time and time again, to rise up and to hold them out, and just came up a couple of plays short there at the end.”
Kentucky had 12 tackles for loss and eight quarterback sacks — six different players had a sack — and held Clemson to 367 yards on 80 plays.
“I love my D-line. We all work together, and you all can tell by the second half of the season we started clicking,” Walker said. “Looking at the 2024 season, we’ve got a lot of additions. We have a lot of experience. We’re looking bright with the pass rush.”
