At one point during Malik Newman's 40-point outburst here Thursday morning, he drained one of his four 3-pointers and Kentucky coach John Calipari broke out laughing courtside. Calipari reached over to SMU coach Larry Brown and North Carolina coach Roy Williams and jokingly held them from falling over.
“It makes me feel good but I'm not sure if they're here watching me or watching someone else, but I just try to show them that I can play and show them that I need a scholarship,” the 6-foot-3 Newman, the Rivals No. 1 player in the Class of 2015, said after making 12-of-28 shots and 12-of-16 foul shots in an 80-67 loss to Houston Hoops.
Safe to say those coaches — and many more — were watching Newman put on a show.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.