UK Notebook: James Young lone bright spot in loss
April 8, 2014
By Nick Gray | Basketball beat writer
Young takes two
Freshman guard James Young’s driving dunk over two UConn forwards was one of the few highlights for UK in the final eight minutes.
Young drove between two UConn defenders and dunked the ball through contact. A foul was called and a championship game highlight was cemented. UK’s leading scorer jumpstarted his team’s final run of the season with the play.
“We had a couple chances that we had to bring it back, and we just kept fighting,” Young said.
Rex Chapman tweet stirs UK fans before game
Former UK player Rex Chapman tweeted before the game that UK head coach John Calipari was headed to coach the Los Angeles Lakers next season, “win or lose.”
The tweet set UK fans abuzz on Twitter before and after the game on Monday.
The Lakers, whose head coach Mike D’Antoni is under contract this season and next, denied speaking with any person about the head coaching job. Calipari told ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards after Monday’s game that he will be back at UK next season.
UK outrebounded for first time in tournament
The Cats have been in the top 10 in the country in rebounding throughout the season, but UConn did what only four other teams could do.
The margin was one, but the Huskies out-rebounded a UK team that had a plus-nine rebounding margin throughout the first five games of the NCAA Tournament.
“We just kept fighting, and our guards kept us going today,” Huskies junior forward DeAndre Daniels said.
Coming back?
Several UK players met questions about their futures after the game, but decisions were not set.
Freshman forward Julius Randle and freshman guard James Young have been projected as first-round picks by many draft experts. Both said it was too early after the season to make any determination on their draft statuses.
Freshmen guards Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison said they have not thought about next season.
“We’re kids,” Aaron Harrison said. “We talk about video games and girls.”
