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Enes Kanter to throw out first pitch on Friday

Enes Kanter

- photo by Walter Cornett | WildcatWorld.com

freshman men's basketball student assistant coach Enes Kanter will be on hand to throw out the first pitch of the baseball series opener vs. No. 30 Auburn on Friday, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. ET at Cliff Hagan Stadium.  Kanter, a 6-foot-11, 272-pound native of Istanbul, Turkey, joined the UK men's basketball team as part of a second consecutive No. 1 ranked recruiting class before the 2010-11 season. Kanter, regarded as a candidate for a lottery pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, was ranked as the No. 1 center in the 2010 recruiting class by scout.com, earning five-star rankings by rivals.com and scout.com.  A member of the under-18 Turkish national team in 2009, Kanter earned MVP honors after averaging 18.6 points and 16.4 rebounds per game at the European Championships.   Kanter spent the 2010-11 men's basketball season working as an undergraduate student-assistant coach, helping lead the Wildcats to its first NCAA Final Four berth since 1998.

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 27, 1951, UK wins its third NCAA title, defeating Kansas State, 68-58, in the finals in Minneapolis.

 

On March 27, 1978, Jack “Goose” Givens scores 41 points as UK wins its fifth NCAA Championship, 94-88, over Duke in St. Louis.  Givens scored the last 16 points of the first half for Kentucky, bringing his first-half total up to 23 points. Givens poured in another 18 points in the second half.  Givens' helped lead the Wildcats to their first title in over 20 years.  More than 10,000 fans greet the team at Blue Grass Airport and 15,000 more celebrate at Memorial Coliseum

 

On March 27, 1993, Kentucky beat Florida State to advance to the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans. The victory completed a string of four games in which the Wildcats blitzed their Southeast Region opponents by an average of 31.0 points - the largest margin of victory by a team through four games en route to the Final Four.

 

On March 27, 2009, Billy Gillispie is fired as the Kentucky head basketball coach.

 

On March 27, 2011, freshman Brandon Knight scored 22 points and fourth-seeded Kentucky advanced to the Final Four for the first time since the 1998 title with a 76-69 win over second-seeded North Carolina in the East Regional final of the NCAA Tournament.  The last minute of the game became the DeAndre Liggins show, as he blocked a shot on defense, hit a game-winning three-pointer on offense, then blocked another shot on defense to seal the victory. He finished with 12 points..

 

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