35 Kentucky Basketball Stats You Don't Know, Part 3

As we are on the verge of another exciting Kentucky Basketball season, I thought it would be fun to take a look back before this year’s team adds to our storied history. Things such as eight national titles and having more SEC titles than all other SEC teams combined are stats that UK fans can recite at the drop of a hat. But I have scoured the record books (and Jon Scott’s amazing site) to find 35 stats that you might not know or would surprise you. I’ll put seven stats out a day this week and then see what this team can do to add to the record books.

So far this week, I’ve shared Parts One and Two. Here is Part Three.

STAT #15: Only 3 UK players have made multiple All-Final Four Teams (and it isn’t who you think)

Kentucky has been to a total of 17 Final Fours in its history. And a whole bunch of players have been to multiple Final Fours as a Cat. A few have even been to three of them. But in all that time, only three UK players have been able to make multiple All-Final Four teams: Alex Groza, Ron Mercer, and Scott Padgett. It’s a strange trio of players because all three were certainly very good players, but I would think only Groza would be considered a “legend” at Kentucky. Mercer was an All-American for a season and Padgett was an All-SEC caliber player. But each was clutch when it mattered.

STAT #16: UK only had 1 Academic All-American from 1981-2016: Mark Pope

For 35 years, spanning six coaches, Kentucky Basketball only had one player make Academic All-American. Now I don’t think anybody has ever claimed UK is one of those “academic” schools but that is pretty surprising a walk-on somewhere couldn’t make the smart guys team. But Mark Pope not only was a starter on a national championship team but also could make the claim as the smartest guy to play at Kentucky for 3.5 decades.

STAT #17: Since 1990, only one UK opponent has scored 40 or more points against the Cats

Kentucky Basketball has played plenty of All-Americans and future NBA superstars in the last 35 years. But only one guy put up a 40-point game in that timespan and it was probably not one of the Top 100 players the Cats have faced in that time. Elston Turner of Texas A&M put 40 on the Cats in an Aggies win at Rupp in 2013. He would score 21 in a game later in the season.

STAT #18: Saul Smith has a better assist-to-turnover ration than several elite UK point guards

I’m not sure there have been many players with a lower approval rating than Saul Smith. But the reality is that Smith was a decent point guard for the Cats. He’s 11th all-time in assists at the school. And his assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.59. That is a better ratio than Ed Davender, Cliff Hawkins, and Ramel Bradley.

STAT #19: There are only 12 states from which Kentucky has never had a player

Nevada, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Carolina, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Delaware. In the 100+ years of Kentucky basketball, we have never had a player from any of these states. And considering UK has been a nationwide recruiting school for many decades, it was a surprise to me that many states had never sent a player to UK.

STAT #20: Jamal Murray holds the record for most threes attempted per game in a season (7.7)

You would think that a Rick Pitino player would likely hold this record considering how much his gameplan revolved around the three-pointer. And John Calipari’s teams have notoriously been reluctant to fire up the three-pointers. But Murray was somewhat of a unicorn when it comes to Cal’s stars in his tenure. He was openly encouraged to take the outside shot and why not. Murray was one of the best shooters in Kentucky basketball history. But the number, 7.7 per game, was actually shocking to me too.

STAT #21: Dan Issel holds the school scoring record playing 40-52 fewer games than other Top 5 players

Games Played at Kentucky:

• Dan Issel: 83
• Kenny Walker: 132
• Jack Givens: 123
• Keith Bogans: 135
• Tony Delk: 133

Dan Issel holds the school scoring record despite getting one season less than every other player in the Top 5. Issel is the best pure scorer in school history. And it’s maybe not that close.

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