Veteran Vermont awaits freshman-laden Kentucky (Nov 12, 2017)
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- While most eyes are focused on Tuesday night's clash between No. 5 Kentucky and No. 4 Kansas in Chicago, coach John Calipari has his attention squarely on Sunday afternoon. And for good reason.
That is when Kentucky will host Vermont. It will come two days after the Wildcats narrowly escaped Utah Valley 73-63 after trailing by as many as 12 points.
"Now we've got Vermont, who cannot wait," Calipari said Friday night. "I heard they were doing back flips in their rooms watching this game. They're a two-time NCAA team the last two years and all their players are back. You don't think they can wait to come in here when they saw what they saw?"
Vermont was the darling of the NCAA last season, piling up a school-record 29 victories while becoming the first team in league history to march through the America East conference undefeated.
Vermont, a No. 13 seed, lost its NCAA tourney opener 80-70 to fourth-seeded Purdue. All told, half of Vermont's six losses last season were to teams that reached the NCAA Sweet 16 -- Purdue, Butler and Final Four qualifier South Carolina.
Coach John Becker returns four starters from that team.
"I think the combination of our experience and the fact that we played three exhibition games, I feel like we're as prepared as we've been heading into the early season here," Becker said.
Leading the way is reigning America East Player of the Year Trae Bell-Haynes, a senior guard who averaged 11.9 points and 3.9 assists last year. Others include sophomore forward Anthony Lamb, last year's leading scorer at 12.8 points per game; senior forward Peyton Henson (11.5) and junior guard Ernie Duncan (8.7). Those players represent the top four scorers from last season.
"They will be an execution team," Calipari said.
"We're playing the second game against a NCAA Tournament-level team. They're picked to win their thing again and go to the tournament. But it's all good. I mean, we play Harvard, we play UIC, we play all these teams that they're saying are NCAA Tournament-level teams with veteran players.
"Guess what? Good for us, let's play them. Let's embrace it and know it's going to be hard to win these games."
In Friday's win over Utah Valley, Calipari had five freshmen in the starting lineup. Hamidou Diallo led the way with 18 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 13, Kevin Knox, 12, and Nick Richards 10.
"I've never clapped or cheered as much in a game. More this game than all of last season," Calipari said. "Whatever this team needs, I'm going to have to do. We're young, we're long, there's just so much we have to do. Part of this early is going to be about survival.
"But for us, it's not what we look like right now, it's going to be what we look like in February, maybe March. But we are what we are right now and we won a game. I told them afterwards, losing stinks, it makes you sick to your stomach. Winning is fun. Even if you played bad, you better enjoy winning. Enjoy any time you win a game."
