After struggling against Yale and UCLA, Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin was relegated to coming off the bench the last two games (Florida A&M and at Missouri). In those games, he played a total of 32 minutes and scored just four points, all against FAMU.
But Kentucky head coach John Calipari gave Toppin the starting nod on Saturday against Louisville and the senior responded in a big way. He scored 15 points in the first half on his way to a career-high 24 points as the Cats topped the Cards 86-63 on Saturday at Rupp Arena.
Toppin made 10 of 15 from the floor and four of six from the line on his way to his career-high effort. He added seven rebounds and two assists in the game.
UK head coach John Calipari knows that Toppin has had to change the way he's thinking both on and off the floor.
“We've done a lot of work and it's not been on the court,” Calipari said. “You have guys feeling the weight of the world. I can't do this for you and you've got to get in a different frame of mind. Then, it became, where do we go with this and how do we do this. So, he did some things, he talked to some people and I watched him practice and I loved what I saw.”
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.
On This Day In UK Basketball History
- On March 18, 1966, Louie Dampier joined the 1,000-point club. He did it in 53 games.
- On March 18, 1966, Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the nation, faced off against No. 2 Duke in the 1966 NCAA Final Four. Louie Dampier (23 points) and Pat Riley (19) led the top-ranked Cats past No. 2 Duke in front of 14,253 at the Cole Field House in College Park, Md.
- On March 18, 1972, Adolph Rupp coaches his last game at UK, a 73-54 loss to Florida State for the Mideast Region title in the NCAA Tournament.
- On March 18, 1978, in the 1978 NCAA Tournament round of eight, sophomore point guard Kyle Macy scored nine points in the final 6:16 to rally the Wildcats past Michigan State and freshman star Earvin “Magic” Johnson before 13,485 at the University of Dayton Arena.