Connect with us

Kentucky Basketball

Julius Randle driven to be the best (with video)

Above all else, Julius Randle wants to be defined as a winner, even if he does show that other side, that gentle giant, from time to time.

There are two sides to Julius Randle.  There's the side of him that posts Instagram videos of him and his teammates rapping in their rooms and dancing with the Joe B. Hall Statue outside the Wildcat Coal Lodge; the side of him that took pictures for two straights hours at a Lexington fireworks show just because he wanted to please the fans; the side of him that could earn an endorsement deal from a toothpaste company for that million-dollar smile.

When you see that side of him and look past the unmistakable physical gifts he possesses, you begin to wonder how this well-spoken kid, this gentle giant, has earned the title as the most competitive player in the class of 2013, how he's earned a reputation for being one of the most driven players the staff has ever seen.

And then you start to talk basketball and Randle gets serious. You ask him things like why he chose Kentucky over a host of other elite schools, why he passed on a chance to play with Team USA this summer to get to campus early, and how he played with such a vengeance at his state's 5A championship and the high school all-star games just a few weeks after he returned from injury.

Read full article here.

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

More in Kentucky Basketball