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Kentucky’s Marcus Lee is ready for major jump as junior

Marcus Lee will be primed to to step into a bigger role as a junior and if you need a reminder of what he’s capable of go back to the 2014 Elite Eight against Michigan.

Marcus Lee - photo by Walter Cornett | WildcatWorld.com

– photo by Walter Cornett | WildcatWorld.com

There were coaches who would have cut off their pinky toe to get a commitment from Marcus Lee out of high school — seriously. The 6-foot 9 jumping jack was a McDonald's All-American in 2013 and could have went to any college he wanted to, but he went to because he wanted to play with the best of the best and play on the sport's biggest stage.

Lee has never played more than 20 minutes in a college game during the first two years of college career and that has a lot more to do with the players in the Wildcats' program than it does with Lee's abilities. In the past two seasons, Kentucky has had Julius Randle, Willie Cauley-Stein, , Karl-Anthony Towns, and Dakari Johnson logging minutes up front, but now all of those players are gone except for Poythress.

Lee will be primed to to step into a bigger role as a junior and if you need a reminder of what he's capable of go back to the 2014 Elite Eight against Michigan. With Cauley-Stein out due to injury, Lee came off the bench to score 10 points, grab eight rebounds, and block two shots in 15 minutes. Kentucky wouldn't have advanced to the 2014 Final Four without him.

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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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