Kentucky Took Care of Court Storming Concern at Mississippi State

Vicky Graff Photo

During his press conference last week Kentucky assistant coach Chin Coleman admitted that coach John Calipari had a plan for how to handle a court storming like UK had just encountered when it recently lost at LSU.

“Coach Cal has had his share of those even when he was at UMass and Memphis. We are kind of scripted to sense when something like that might happen. He has a routine when we know it is possible court storming at the end of the game,” Coleman said.

“It is tough. We just had one (at LSU). Brutal stuff was being said to us. (LSU) Kids were really brutal with their language and what they were going to do.”

Coleman went on to say he expected the NCAA would soon do more to stop court storming. However, Kentucky found the best way to stop the court storming at Mississippi State Tuesday — freshman Reed Sheppard hit a game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds to play.

Mississippi State officials had actually posted a message on the arena scoreboard telling fans not to rush the court late in the second half when State had the lead — a move that made sense considering the recent issues with fans colliding with players as they celebrated a home team win.

Calipari said after Tuesday’s game that he did not see the message.

Oh, I wish I had seen it. In 1992, we’re playing in the NIT, I’m at UMass, and we’re playing Siena. And we’re down three. And there’s 3.6 seconds to go. They get on the mic and say, ‘The buses are going to leave for (Madison Square) Garden on this day at this time,’” Calipari said.

“My team goes, ‘What?’ We make a 3 and beat them in overtime. And one of my guys goes ‘What time are those buses leaving?’ So I’ve been in those situations. I did not see it, though.”

Sheppard was not quite as tactful as Calipari in his assessment of the warning message.

“It was really cool because last time there was a big crowd (at LSU) and they had a sellout game, it went the other way and they did rush the floor,” Sheppard said. “And that was a feeling that no one on the team wants to feel again. Standing on the court, watching the crowd rush the floor.

“Being able to take away their fans from doing that and watch them leave when the buzzer goes off all mad and disappointed, and the Kentucky fans staying and cheering us on is really cool.”