Behind the rich history of what Kentucky basketball embodies, senior guard Keith Hornsby said the Kentucky letters, scripted in white across the blue away jerseys, is just another name for another team.
Despite No. 9 Kentucky’s two losses thus far this season, a Final Four appearance as an unbeaten team last year, college basketball’s national wins leader at 2,189 all-time, 46 regular-season Southeastern Conference titles and a 944-263 record against SEC competition, the Tigers refuse to back down to the SEC’s Goliath, as Hornsby called it.
The Tigers (8-5, 1-0 SEC) stood tall as they met with the media on Monday before their sold-out matchup against the SEC’s heavyweight at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the PMAC.
Like Hornsby, freshman Ben Simmons said the Tigers and Wildcats (11-2, 1-0 SEC) matchup is no different than any other game of the regular season.
More than 25 NBA scouts and personnel will be on hand Tuesday, but that’s not fazing Simmons, either.
“I don’t feel like I have to prove myself against them,” Simmons said.
“[The media] gives them the hype,” Simmons said. “Everything they have is from the media attention. They’ve been winning games. They beat Duke, that was big for them. They deserve the hype. I guess because they’ve been winning games. But at the same time, I’m not going to look at them in a different way because of the name.”
On the other side, Kentucky’s defense finds containing Simmons as a stress-worthy subject.
Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne, a member of Louisville’s 1986 National Championship squad and Wildcats’ assistant since 2010, said Kentucky players are eager to meet Simmons one-on-one.
“Players know and respect the other players,” Payne told the Kentucky media on Monday, according to the Courier-Journal. “So when you turn on the TV and you see commentators talking about Ben Simmons, you can bet that our guys will watch it.”
Simmons, averaging 20.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, scored 36 points in LSU’s 77-71 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday — which many suppose to be the first of many games where he relentlessly attacks on offense.
When asked, Payne had a few answers as to which Kentucky player will defend Simmons.
“He’ll be a challenge for us,” Payne said. “It’s going to be a number of guys. I think it has to be Alex, Marcus, maybe at times Isaiah. We’re going to throw a bunch of players at him that are going to compete against him, put pressure on him, make everything that he does hard.”
“We want multiple guys calling coach, saying, ‘I want to guard him.’”
And Kentucky has had players say just that.
Who, exactly?
“A couple have. Can’t say (who),” Payne said.
Whomever may be tasked with trying to slow Simmons down, the Wildcats recognize the talent surrounding Simmons, including senior guard Keith Hornsby and sophomore forward Craig Victor II.
“Hornsby is a really big key for their team to succeed,” Payne said of Hornsby. “You just have to get after him, be on him on the catch-and-shoots, jam him up, no space. But he’s tough. He can play.
“Big-time rebounder,” Payne said of Victor. “Can shoot the ball, good in the post. He’s a challenge.”
Like LSU, Kentucky holds the one of the top prospects from the class of 2015 – freshman reserve forward Skal Labissiere.
As many young, prodigious players do, Labissiere struggled transitioning from the high school level hoops to collegiate basketball. Regardless of his setback, Labissiere may know how to handle Simmons’ offensive game more than anyone else on the Wildcats roster, as the two were once teammates at the Nike Hoop Summit in 2014, which Labissiere remembers vividly.
“On the court, we had a very good chemistry, I would say,” Labissiere said. “He’s a really good passer. He’s very good, his basketball IQ is off the chart, so we played very well together on the court, I would say.”