By Glenn Osborne
Special to NKyTribune
A few leftover tidbits from Kentucky’s win over Auburn Saturday, the Wildcats’ 27th victory to open the season and John Calipari’s 100th in Rupp Arena (against just four losses).
Coincidentally, sharp-shooting guard Tony Delk was in the house to see his double zero jersey hoisted to the rafters, joining the other all-time Kentucky greats who have had their numbers retired.
Interestingly, Delk’s 1995-96 National Championship club, also won 27 straight games before losing to Mississippi State in the finals of the SEC tournament.
UK also lost to Calipari’s UMass team by 10 in the second game of the season before avenging that decision in the national semifinals. The Cats claimed the school’s sixth championship with a nine-point win over Syracuse, finishing with a 34-2 record.
So naturally, Delk was asked whether his team would be able to handle the current edition of the Wildcats.
“It’s different styles,” Delk said diplomatically. “I thought our style was a lot different. They are really great at half court. We were great in the full court. We pressed, we turned you over, we scored in the 90s and sometimes in the 100s.
“So we had a different style than what they are playing right now. They are long and athletic. I thought we were being quicker. We had much better shooters. I will say that.”
Of course, Delk’s teammates included the likes of Walter McCarty, Antoine Walker, Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer, with Anthony Epps running the point.
Delk is rooting for his alma mater to hang another championship banner and he’d also like to see them go through the season unbeaten, even though his last team was sparked by that loss.
“We weren’t trying to lose,” he said. “We had won 27 games in a row, of course not. I want to see this team go 40‑0 ‑‑ you don’t want to lose a game now. The way they have been playing, they have had close games and now it’s about finishing off what they started and having the experience come back from last season has really helped this year’s group of guys. So you want to see a team like this finish what they started.”
Delk is UK’s career leader in three-pointers (283) and he ranks second in career steals (201) to Wayne Turner. He is still fifth in scoring (1,890 points).
There’s one more comparison to be made between the 1996 and 2015 Wildcats: Each had their previous season end in a disappointing loss. Delk and company fell to North Carolina in the regional finals while last year, UK was defeated by UConn in the championship game following a remarkable tourney run.
“(I) thought (the 1995 team) was probably our best team,” Delk said. “I loved our ’96 team. That ’95 was a special team. And we all came together kind of like what this team is doing. We wanted to do something special and to be a part of history.”
At 27 in a row and with a game at Mississippi State on Wednesday, Calipari exceeded his personal records for wins to open a season: 26 straight at UMass in 1996 and at Memphis in 2008. Calipari’s Memphis team won 27 in a row during the season in 2008-09.
Calipari is 100-4 in Rupp, a winning rate of 96.2 percent. At 179-37 (.829) as head coach at Kentucky, he also boasts the best winning percentage of any coach in UK history.
“This is a hard place for an opponent to come and play,” Calipari said of his home mark. ” I bet if you looked at Coach Hall and Coach Pitino and look at all their records, their records were 80 percent, 90 percent here. I mean, this is a tough building to play.”
The four losses? Baylor, Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M.
According to notes distributed by the UK sports information department, walk-on Tod Lanter’s three-pointer in the final minutes against Auburn was his first score as a Wildcat. His father, Bo Lanter, was a walk-on at UK from 1980-82, had a total of 43 points.
UK swimmer Christina Bechtel won her first career Southeastern Conference championship with a win in the 200 butterfly on the fourth day of the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala.
A day later, sophomore Danielle Galyer grabbed another individual title in the 200 backstroke. She posted a school-record 1:50.95 in the event, UK’s 10th program-record time at the five-day championships. Galyer is the 14th Wildcat to win an SEC title and the first to win a gold medal in the backstroke.
Bechtel’s title was her second medal in as many days and the third of her career. The individual championship was UK’s first SEC title since 2007 and the first under second-year head coach Lars Jorgensen. Bechtel was the first Wildcat to win a swimming title since 2006 and the first female swimmer from Kentucky to win gold at the conference meet since 1999.
Bechtel is the third UK swimmer to win a title in the 200 butterfly (Rachel Komisarz in 1998 and Daniel Cruz in 2005).
Bechtel’s SEC-winning time of 1:52.78 was 0.10 ahead of Georgia’s Hali Flickinger, who held the lead for the majority of the race. Bechtel led by 0.13 seconds after 50 yards, but trailed by 0.49 seconds at the halfway point and by 0.41 seconds with 50 meters to go. That’s when Bechtel turned it on, swimming a 29.11 in the final 50 meters ahead of Flickinger’s 29.62.
The Kentucky women finished seventh in the final team standings with 614 points, the Wildcats’ best finish at the conference championships since 2011, when they also placed seventh. Georgia claimed first for the sixth consecutive season. The UK men placed 10th overall with 407 points. Florida claimed their third conference title in a row.
Thomas More’s top-ranked women’s basketball team dominated Saint Vincent in their regular season finale last weekend to finish unbeaten (25-0) for the second year in a row. The Saints are heavy favorites to capture the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament later this week.
It is the fourth undefeated season in program history. The Saints have won 71 straight games overall, with their last loss coming at the hands of Calvin on Nov. 23, 2012.
Western Kentucky’s women’s basketball team bested Middle Tennessee 63-60 Saturday to take over sole possession of first place in Conference USA. The Hilltoppers control their own destiny in the conference regular season race with the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament in Birmingham the prize.
WKU travels to Florida Atlantic and FIU next week before hosting Charlotte and Old Dominion in the final week of play. Western is in its inaugural season in Conference USA after winning 10 conference tournament and 10 conference regular season titles as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
WKU is now 23-4 on the season and has posted 23 wins or more over the first 27 games of the season for the fifth time in program history — and for the first time since 1994-95.
Glenn Osborne is sports editor at KyForward.com, where this story first appeared.