Auburn at Kentucky was, well, simply a laugher. Terrence Jones almost single handily defeated the Tigers as he broke the freshman single game scoring record set just five games ago by teammate Doron Lamb.
Jones was on fire from the field and could do no wrong. On a night where Calipari changed the starting line up for the first time all year, Jones was the UK player benched in exchange for a Doron Lamb start.
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Lamb has been the first man off the bench in almost every game. The vaunted sixth man that comes in and usually creates instant offense.
Tonight that role was reversed as Jones was the sixth man, breaking Lambs record on 11-17 shooting from the field, including 4-5 from behind the arc and 9-13 from the line. Just for hoops and giggles, Jones grabbed 8 boards, had 3 steals and 2 blocks.
As the game advanced and it became obvious that Jones was going to break the record, I began to wonder if any of the freshman season records could be in jeopardy? For that matter, could any of the single game records, outside of total points, be in jeopardy?
Last years team broke or tied about 13 different records, either freshman season records, freshman single game records or career single game records. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins broke or tied every one of those records.
So are there any records, other then the total points, that are in danger after 16 games? Let’s take a look.
For this purpose, we’re going to look at seven main categories, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field goals made and 3-pointers made.
We also estimated that the Cats would play thirty-five total games this year. There are thirty regular season games and we estimated no less then two games in the SEC Tournament and three games in the NCAA tournament.
We’re using actual stats through the Auburn game completed on January 11, 2011.
[CENTER][CENTER]*******[/CENTER]
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[B]FRESHMAN SEASON RECORDS.[/B]
– [B]Total Points[/B]: John Wall holds the record with 616 points. At current pace, Terrence Jones is on track for 617 points. [B]RECORD ONE IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
– [B]Total Rebounds[/B]: DeMarcus Cousins holds the record with 375. At current pace, Terrence Jones is on track for 319 rebounds. [B]RECORD NOT IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
– [B]Total Assists[/B]: John Wall holds the record with 241 assists. At current pace, Brandon Knight is on track for 140 assist. [B]RECORD NOT IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
– [B]Total Steals[/B]: Rajon Rondo holds the current record with 87 steals. At current pace, Terrence Jones is on track for 44 steals. [B]RECORD NOT IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
– [B]Total Blocks[/B]: Jamaal Magloire holds the current record with 79 blocks. At current pace, Terrence Jones is on track for 63 blocks. [B]RECORD NOT IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
– [B]Total Field Goals Made[/B]: DeMarcus Cousins holds the current record with 206 made field goals. At current pace, Terrence Jones is on track for 232 made field goals. [B]RECORD TWO IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
– [B]Total Made 3-Pointers[/B]: Rex Chapman holds the current record with 68 made 3-pointers. At current pace, Brandon Knight is on track for 83 made 3-pointers and Doron Lamb is on track for 74 made 3-pointers. [B]RECORD THREE IN JEOPARDY.[/B]
Three of the current seven freshman single season records are in jeopardy of falling. On top of that, Doron Lamb is currently atop the 3-point field goal percentage at 50.8% placing a fourth record in harms way.
[CENTER][CENTER]*******
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[B]FRESHMAN SINGLE GAME RECORDS.[/B]
– [B]Total Points[/B]: Terrence Jones holds the record with 35 points. Earlier this year, Doron Lamb broke the previous record with 32 points. [B]RECORD BROKEN, TWICE.[/B]
– [B]Total Rebounds[/B]: Chris Mills holds the record with 20 rebounds. Terrence Jones has had two games of 17 rebounds. [B]RECORD IN DANGER.[/B]
– [B]Total Assists[/B]: John Wall holds the record with 16 assists. Doron Lamb has a season high of 7. [B]RECORD NOT IN DANGER.[/B]
– [B]Total Steals[/B]: Rajon Rondo holds the current record with 8 steals. Terrence Jones has had 3 steals twice this season. [B]RECORD NOT IN DANGER[/B].
– [B]Total Blocks[/B]: Andre Riddick holds the current record with 7 blocks. Terrence Jones has had 4 blocks twice this season. [B]RECORD NOT IN DANGER[/B].
– [B]Total Field Goals Made[/B]: Jamal Mashburn holds the current record with 12 made field goals. Terrence Jones made 12 made field goals against Oklahoma. [B]RECORD TIED AND IN DANGER.[/B]
– [B]Total Made 3-Pointers[/B]: Eric Bledsoe holds the current record with 8 made 3-pointers. Doron Lamb had 7 made 3-pointers in his record breaking 32-point game. [B]RECORD IN DANGER.[/B]
I admit, any record, no matter the current trends, could be broken on any given night. Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones have proved that twice this year, so the assumptions on single game records are just that, assumptions.
In the end, time will tell if the current freshman class can keep pace and take the lead at the top of the record book.
From the perspective of Coach Calipari, the Big Blue Nation and I’m pretty sure the team, all would trade the individual records for an eighth banner to hang in Rupp’s rafters.
Go Cats!!!
[SIZE=2]Contact Chip Miller with your Kentucky questions or comments at [EMAIL=”[email protected]”][email protected][/EMAIL], via twitter at [URL=”http://twitter.com/ukbigbluenation”]@ukbigbluenation[/URL] or here at N of B, at his NofB Profile, by [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/members/chip-miller/”]clicking here[/URL].[/SIZE]
