35 Kentucky Basketball Stats You Don't Know, Part 1

As we are on the verge of another exciting Kentucky Basketball season, I thought it would be fun to take a look back before this year’s team adds to our storied history. Things such as eight national titles and having more SEC titles than all other SEC teams combined are stats that UK fans can recite at the drop of a hat. But I have scoured the record books (and Jon Scott’s amazing site) to find 35 stats that you might not know or would surprise you. I’ll put seven stats out a day this week and then see what this team can do to add to the record books:

STAT #1: Kentucky did not have a single alum win an NBA title (as a player) for 33 years between 1981 and 2004

John Calipari has certainly changed UK’s history in the NBA during his tenure but the reality is before his arrival, one glaring hole in UK history is NBA success. There are a few elite, Hall of Famers in there but for a program with as much college success as the Cats, it has not translated to the NBA. So much so that no NBA title team had a UK alum on its roster for 33 years. Not the Celtics and Lakers of the 1980s or the Bulls and Rockets of the 1990s. Not until Tayshaun Prince brought one home on the Pistons did an NBA ring find its place on a UK finger. Now, we did have Pat Riley, who won 4 titles with the Lakers.

STAT #2: Rick Pitino only had 2 left-handed players in his tenure. John Calipari has had 11.

Additional to this stat is that 1 of the 2 left-handed players Pitino recruited was Heshimu Evans, who never played a second for Pitino. The other was Henry Thomas, who also barely played for Pitino. I am sure this is a coincidence but it certainly seems like Pitino didn’t love the lefties. On the other hand, Calipari is almost averaging bringing in a new left-handed player with each class.

STAT #3: 3 players from the 1941-42 UK basketball team were killed in World War II

We don’t really have much modern context for a note like this because the draft no longer exists. Athletes, especially at this level, don’t tend to serve in the military. A total of five UK players were killed in World War II, along with one more in World War I. Only two UK players have served in the military since Vietnam: Charles Hurt and Carlos Toomer.

STAT #4: Isaac Humphries is the youngest modern UK player, playing his first game at 17.8 years old

I honestly don’t remember Isaac as a “young player” when he came to Lexington. I was surprised to see this.

STAT #5: Kellan Grady is the oldest modern Kentucky player, playing his first game at 24.1 years old

I absolutely remember Kellan being an old man when he started for Kentucky.

STAT #6: Kentucky is 0-4 all-time as the 24th-ranked team

A really odd stat that I stumbled on but Jon Scott’s website shows UK’s record as a ranked team. And for whatever reason, Kentucky has had no luck being ranked 24th, losing all four games at that number. Additionally, the 24th ranking is the spot where they have played the fewest total games all time. For comparison, Kentucky has played 252 games as the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

STAT #7: Kentucky has had 6 opponents score 50 or more points in a single game against them. Only 2 players accomplished these 6 games.

Pete Maravich and Austin Carr. That’s it. Maravich was able to score 50 or more a total of 4 times and Carr twice. In the last 23 years, only one player has scored 40 or more points against the Cats. But Maravich and Carr played in an era of high scores and fast paces. The most amazing part of those 6 games is this: Kentucky went 5-1 in those games. Want something even more amazing? UK won each of those five games by double digits.