35 Kentucky Basketball Stats You Didn't Know, Part 2

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. ICYMI, here is Part Two.

STAT #8: Kentucky only has 1 undefeated team in its history…and that team did not win the National Title

Kentucky has had some of college basketball’s best teams of all time. They’ve had 7 national champions. They’ve had a team win a gold medal. The 1996 team was one of the most dominant in history. But only one team went undefeated, the 1953-54 squad, which went 25-0. But that team didn’t win the NCAA title (or NIT). That’s because the NCAA decided graduate students couldn’t play in the tournament, so UK declined their bid.

STAT #9: Only 1 Kentucky player has ever been a 2-time SEC Tournament MVP: Travis Ford

Ford was a tremendous player in his 3 years at Kentucky but it’s hard to say he’s one of the school’s 50 best players. And with as many SEC Tournament titles as UK has won, you would think it would be someone more accomplished than Ford. But his performances in the 1993 and 1994 tourneys garnered him MVP honors and a place alone for this stat.

STAT #10: Calipari players now hold the Top 19 spots in the school’s Freshman Scoring list

Before John Calipari arrived, Rex Chapman had held the school freshman scoring record of 464 points for 23 years. In the 14 seasons since Calipari arrived, a total of 19 freshmen have outscored Rex. It might just be the stat that proves Cal’s recruiting greatness more than any. Plus how much freshman have impacted college basketball in general in the last 15 years? But how about this? Tyler Ulis is the only Calipari SOPHOMORE in the Top 10 scoring list and Oscar Tshiebwe is the only one on the JUNIOR list. As expected, Cal has no seniors on the Top 10 class scoring list.

STAT #11: UK has never played a game in 6 of the state’s 10 largest cities

Bowling Green, Covington, Richmond, Florence, Hopkinsville, and Nicholasville have tons of UK fans. But they’re never been graced with an actual UK game in their city. I am sure there are some WKU alums a bit frustrated by this fact.

STAT #12: The #1 ranked opponent Kentucky has played the most? Not who you think.

If I said Kentucky had played the same school four times when that school was ranked No. 1, what would your guess be? I think almost everybody would say Indiana, North Carolina, or Duke. Maybe Kansas. And for the old-timers, maybe you’d say Ohio State. But the correct answer is actually FLORIDA. Kentucky has played the Gators on 4 different occasions, encompassing 3 seasons, where UF was ranked #1. UK went 1-3 in those games, the win being the famous 2003 thrashing of Billy Donovan’s squad.

STAT #13: Tyler Ulis had more assists over a two-year span than any UK player in history

What’s amazing about that fact is Ulis was a BACKUP in his first year (2015). Lots of great point guards have gotten two full years as the starter and still couldn’t match Ulis’ 381 assists in 2015 and 2016. The school’s all-time assists leader, Dirk Minnifield, had 369 in his junior and senior seasons.

STAT #14: UK won its final 84 games at Alumni Gym

Ohio State beat Kentucky in 1943 and UK wouldn’t lose again in that building. Which then closed in 1950. They actually needed 5 more years to lose a game at Memorial Coliseum after that, a home winning streak that hasn’t been seriously threatened since.