Former UK All-American Jack Givens doesn’t think freshman Travis Perry gets the respect he deserves from officials. (Vicky Graff Photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky had no answers for Alabama point guard Mark Sears Saturday night.
He had 30 points on 8-for-17 shooting from the field and 11-for-11 at the foul line. He drew seven fouls from the Wildcats but also managed to grab four rebounds, dish out four assists, and made two steals in his 35 1/2 minutes of play in the 96-83 win over the Cats.
Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens knew Sears had too much experience and quickness for Kentucky freshman point guards Travis Perry and Collin Chandler. However, Givens also knew that Sears had one other major edge.
“Neither of those guys (Perry and Chandler) get any respect from officials. I don’t know how many Alabama guards extended their arms and cleared the young guys out maybe eight or nine times and it was never called,” Givens said on the UK Radio Network postgame show.
Givens noted that is just another overlooked reason that UK misses injured point guard Lamont Butler so much.
“Lamont will get respect from officials and that will make it a much better game,” Givens said. “Travis Perry continues to play and work hard but he gets no respect from those officials.”
Givens told Perry, who had 12 points and four steals, on the postgame show that officials give the benefit of the doubt to veteran players he has to play extended minutes against with Butler out.
“Being a freshman the refs do not know you and might lean into an older guy,” Perry told Givens. “I feel the refs love a good effort game and we showed that. You can’t control the refs. You can only control how hard you play.”
Kentucky coach Mark Pope called Alabama a “terrific team” and admitted UK did not respond well on the defensive end many times.
“This was not our best defensive performance tonight,” Pope said after the game. “Mark Sears had a lot to do with that and Alabama had a lot to do with that, and we had a lot to do with that.
“We’re getting down into the stretch run and us getting better on this end of the ball is something that we’re obsessing about and we’re determined to do. If we do it well, then we’re going to have a good stretch.”
Alabama coach Nate Oats said Sears was playing the “best since he’s been here on both sides of the ball” recently.
“His defensive effort’s been pretty good, best it’s been and I think offensively he’s been efficient,” the Alabama coach said. “I think he just wants to win. I think he came back to try to win a national championship. He came back to try to play his way into the NBA. Winning solves a lot of that stuff and I think he’s not worried about it.
“If you look, he’s not forcing it, pressing it. He gets stuck in the lane — I think in the past he would have thrown up a bad shot. He kicks it out. He’s trying to play the right way. He’s as coachable as he’s ever been. His effort on defense has been through the roof, really the last three, or four weeks or so. So just a combination of ‘Let’s get him to lead. Let’s play the right way on both sides of the ball. Give us total effort on defense.’ And I think he’s been doing that. I’ve been super happy with the way he’s been playing.”
7 Responses
Something has to be done with the officiating.
Maybe after a certain amount of bad calls they should be suspended without pay for a game or two.
The problem with that would be the games would take 4 hours or more to complete. The refs would be looking at the monitor after almost every play.
It’s a very simple explanation.
Many refs are CROOKED.
The SEC administration developed an anti-UK mentality when they were jealous of Adolph Rupp. The only means to try to level the playing field in their opinion was to provide bias refs who felt the same way.
It’s sad, but it’s true.
UK needs an AD with a pair, who is not afraid to step up and call out the SEC administration for their bias. Of course, the UK AD has been too busy preparing secret contracts for incompetent coaches and ridiculous exorbitant contracts with no accountability (re: the fraud & Stoops).
See my post on "Terrific Alabama Defense"
Your post is accurate & detailed. There have been so many UK games on the road in the SEC where UK players have been knocked around, hammered, pushed, shoved and injured due to dirty players the opponents encourage to play rough & dirty.
Step 1: Make them accountable. The rule must require the officials to hold a press conference within 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game, every game.
Step 2: Make them accountable. The NCAA (or each conference) must review game film and grade every official for every game, and the NCAA (or each conference) must publish the results no less often than once every week. The grading should be performed by an independent contractor who has officiating expertise.
Accountability! Yes!!!
The SEC offices & refs are likened to the years of corruption by deep state politicians who have gone untouched… until NOW when MAGA is working to uncover and expose the depths of stolen dollars and crimes under an umbrella of “no accountability allowed”!
The crooks in the ncaa & SEC need rooted out, exposed, tried, convicted and kicked up
🙌🙌 NEWS FLASH: Butler and Robinson participated in modified practice today, Monday. We may be playing with fire. These modified practices have to become full practices before either can be cleared to play. If either are cleared to play, it should be in a reserve role or an emergency reserve role depending on how they respond to full practice. Playing them could secure a better seed in the SEC and NCAA tourney, but playing them before they are physically ready could also result in them missing the SEC and NCAA tournaments as a result of re-injury. HIgh risk/High reward/High loss. That will be a tough call to make. They will want to play, but they will also know if they are not ready to play as well. I hope they will be honest with themselves and honest with Coach Pope. Butler, Robinson, their parents, and Coach Pope need to think hard on this one. All I can say is for them to do the right thing…whatever that is. Go CATS!!!