Photo by Vicki Graff
For the third consecutive week, Kentucky Basketball received positive news on a Monday morning. The Wildcats saw their place in the Associated Press poll advance as well as one of their freshman win the South Eastern Conference Freshman of the Week award.
With six consecutive wins, including three-straight over ranked teams Auburn, Mississippi State and Kansas, the Wildcats moved from eighth to seventh in this week’s AP Top-25. After shooting better than 50% in both of his team’s wins last week, Keldon Johnson was recognized as the conference’s top-freshman.
At first, a seventh-place ranking seemed a little low considering the Wildcats’ resume that consists of five wins over Top-25 teams. However, they have more losses than any of the teams in the top-five and have two fewer wins than Michigan State who sits at sixth.
It should be noted that the top-six remained the same, which also warrants reason as to why Kentucky only advanced one spot. Nonetheless, the Wildcats continue to surge in the nation’s rankings.
Johnson was recognized for Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. He’s currently leading the team in scoring with 14.6 PPG. His timely shot making against Kansas on Saturday sparked the Wildcats’ second-half offense en route to their 71-63 victory.
This week, Kentucky heads to Nashville, TN on Tuesday to face the Vanderbilt Commodores. They’ll then hit the road once again to visit Gainesville, FL where they’ll play the Florida Gators. Tip-off for Tuesday is 9 P.M. EDT with Saturday’s set for 4 P.M. EDT. On-air coverage for both games will be provided by 106.5 WKDZ radio.
