(Billy Donovan and Rick Pitino 1987)
The Cats are back in action this Sunday night when they take on the Friars of Providence College. Kentucky, coming off a less than impressive win over Eastern Michigan is still looking to find their identity as a team. We have yet to see this young Kentucky team overwhelm an opponent, something Cat fans thought would be a common thing this season. With a little break for Thanksgiving, maybe Cal and company was able to get some things worked out and we will see an improvement come Sunday night at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Here's some information about Providence to get you read for the game…
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE:
EST: 1917
LOCATION: Providence, Rhode Island
ENROLLMENT: 4,587
COLORS: Black/White/Silver
CONFERENCE: Big East
NICKNAME: Friars
NOTABLE ALUMNI:
Billy Donovan- You should know who he is so I'm not going to tell you
Richard Pitino- Son of Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino- Although not an alumni, he did coach the Friars and Billy Donovan to the 1987 Final Four.
The Friars are 6-1 on the season with their only loss coming at the hands of Maryland by a score of 56-52. On the season, Providence has defeated the likes of Vanderbilt (68-67) and Boston College (82-78). The Friars have a match-up with Fairfield looming on 11-29-13.
SERIES HISTORY:
There isn't much of history between the Cats and Friars with Sunday being the second ever meeting between the two schools. The last meeting came in the 1976 NIT where Kentucky escaped with a 79-78 win. The leading scorer for the Cats (and the games leading scorer) was none other the Jack "Goose" Givens with 28 points.
This match-up will be somewhat of tuneup for the Cats with their next game being against Baylor on Friday, December 6. So here's how Kentucky stacks up against the Friars…
THE GAME BY THE NUMBERS:
FRIARS CATS
PPG: 73 85
RPG: 39 48
APG: 14 13
SPG: 7 5
BPG: 4 7
TPG: 13 13
FG%: 41 46
FT: 82 67
3P%: 30 28
As you can see, these two teams actually match-up fairly even overall. Once again, Kentucky is going to have to come out of the gate with a lot of energy instead of their opponent. It's fine to start a game slow against someone you know you can easily overpower in the second half, but you can't do it against quality team (see Michigan State).
I originally thought the team was heading home for Thanksgiving after the game Wednesday, turns out I was wrong. Instead, the team stayed in Lexington and gave back to the local community by volunteering at the local Salvation Army…
It's good to see kids nowadays learn what it means to give back and be thankful for the opportunities that they have in front of them, something, some aren't fortunate enough to have.
We at Big Blue Corner hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving...
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