- Saturday, January 28 1928 -
Tennessee - 18 (Head Coach: W.H. Britton)
Player | FG | FT | FTA | PF | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jimmy Dykes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Harry Sharp | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Elvin Butcher | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
Gus Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
W.B. "Doc" Kindrick | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
R.R. Scott | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Roy Witt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Allyn McKeen | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 6 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 18 |
Kentucky - 48 (Head Coach: John Mauer)
Player | FG | FT | FTA | PF | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cecil Combs | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Irvine Jeffries | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 22 |
Paul McBrayer | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
Paul Jenkins | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Lawrence McGinnis | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
Hays Owens | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
Stanley Milward | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
Claire Dees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 20 | 8 | 15 | 13 | 48 |
Prior Game | | | Next Game |
Maryland 7 - 37 | | | Washington & Lee 34 - 28 |
CATS OVERWHELM TENNESSEE 48 TO 18
Jeffries Scores 22 Points in Slow Tilt; Vol's Showing Poor
If the Tennessee Volunteers played football like they perform on the basketball court they would finish last in the Southern Conference.
At that, though, the wearers of the Orange and White of Tennessee may find solace in the fact that they did not leave the floor in disgust while the University of Kentucky Wildcats made field goals and then grinned at the Vols at the Euclid Avenue gymnasium last night. The final score was 48 to 18, and the Vols may thank their lucky stars that Irvine Jeffries and other Wildcat stars disdained to start ringing up field goals in any great quantity until the second half was well under way.
Jeffries made his debut in a blue and white uniform last night and it is needless to report that his play surpassed that of his mates - at least last night.
Jeff might have been "puttin' on airs" just because he was sporting his colors for the first time this season. Anyway the Wildcats made 20 field goals during the game and he counted nine of them, and the Wildcats made 48 points and he contributed 22 of them. Outside of Jeffries and McBrayer, other members of the team were not on their game, for their play did not measure up to the standards set in other contest seen on the home court this season, especially against Vanderbilt.
Tennessee is Weak
To say the most, Tennessee had a team that was woefully weak on everything that goes to make up basketball - from regular players on down. All the Vols possessed was a cracking hot all-Southern center in Elvin Butcher, and about all he tried was long shots, and he made very, very few of these. The Vols took many cracks at the basket - from the distance - and consequently made only six of these tries good, one in the first half and five in the second half. Butcher played a good game in the center of the floor, but after he had done his work here, he generally went about trying to pass down the floor, recover the ball himself and then shoot. Which idea worked wonderfully well for Kentucky.
The first half was worth walking 10 miles to keep from watching. Both teams made a thousand and one blunders. It was a comedy of errors, if one could really get any comedy out of bad passes, fumbled balls and crip shots which went amiss when the players trying to make them had all the time in the world to accomplish the work cut out for them. Kentucky was just as guilty as Tennessee, although the Wildcats did manage to outscore the Vols slightly in the half windup, holding a 15 to 4 margin.
Wildcats peppier in Second Half
The second half was just a reverse of the first as far as Kentucky was concerned. The boys seemed to have more pepper and apparently washed the butter from their saturated fingers during the intermission. Jeffries, Owens, McBrayer, Jenkins and others who saw service passed with a precision that left the Vols wondering what was going on. With one tall Wildcat on one side of the basket and a taller wildcat on the other side the Kentucky boys got what they went after after they had worked the oval beneath the net.
Jeffries Sinks Long Ones
Jeffries put on an exhibition of fancy long shooting which brought cheer after cheer from the 3,000 persons who saw the game. This boy did not find himself in the first half but in the final period he sank seven field goals from all parts of the floor.
McBrayer more than held his own with Butcher, while Owens played a fine game during the time he saw service. McGinnis, Kentucky guard, and Johnson, Tennessee guard, were put out of the game after they had accumulated four personal fouls in the second half.
Game Writeup - by Neville Dunn Lexington Leader
TENNESSEE LOSES TO KENTUCKY BY A 48 TO 18 COUNT
Cats Play Real Ball After Slow Start in First Period
Irvine Jeffries, Making First Start in Varsity Uniform, Carries Off Scoring Honors with 22 Points; Butcher Is Outstanding Player for Volunteers
After presenting in the first half what might be fittingly terms a comedy of errors, the University of Kentucky metamorphosed into a first-class basket ball team in the second canto and swamped the University of Tennessee in a Southern Conference engagement at the men's gymnasium Saturday night, 48 to 18.
The first half of the game was one of the poorest exhibitions of basket ball seen on the local court, but the speedy action and improved playing in the second period overshadowed the errors of the first stanza and made the fans forget their dismay and disappointment.
Tennessee played 100 per cent better ball against the Wildcats Saturday night than it did against the Georgetown College Tigers Friday night. The visitors' defense was much stronger in every way, and their offense now and then showed sparks of brilliance, although their shooting was still away off.
Jeffries Scores 22
The game marked the first appearance of Irvine Jeffries, Louisville flash, in a Kentucky varsity uniform and this youngster, like a debutante, bagged all the attention and very nearly all the points. "Jeff" was all dolled up for his first bow, sporting a new hair cut and everything, and he certainly made Tennessee understand that he is right smart of a basket ball player. Jeffries couldn't hit the basket consistently in the first half, making only two field goals, but in the second period he signed his name on the rim with seven two-pointers. These added with the four free throws he made brought his total up to 22.
Jeffries carried off the high point honors easily, but he was forced to share starring honors with McBrayer. McBrayer was responsible for many of the advances made by the Cats on the goal, his passing often sending the ball to Jeffries for an easy shot. The Scotchman, however, was a bit unsteady on the defense, his individual opponent, Butcher, the only Tennessee player on whose head a star's halo would not exactly look out of place sliding by him two or three times for successful hook shots.
Were it not for Butcher, Tennessee might just as well disband its basket ball club and start a volley ball league or something like that. Every time a Volunteer got possession of the ball, he scanned the court for Butcher. If he couldn't see Butcher, he trusted in the god of good luck and let fly at the basket. The majority of times the ball failed to even hit the backboard.
Tennessee did not score as many points in the first half as Kentucky, but it got nearly twice as many opportunities, but distant ones. The Wildcats as a rule scorned to shoot farther back than the 17-foot line and tried to work the ball in close. They enjoyed meager success. Out of 25 attempts at the rim in the first half, the Cats made only three goals. The first half ended 15 to 4 in favor of the ultimate victors.
Tennessee started the scoring at the beginning of the second session when Sharpe flipped one long one. That goal was nullified a moment later when McBrayer kicked in with a nice crip, followed it up with another and then sent the ball careening to Jeffries who dropped it in the hole. Johnson hen tallied for the Volunteers and from then on the bell chimed fast and furious.
Fans Call for Scores
The game lacked excitement throughout, although the noise in the second half from approximately 3,500 fans, a capacity house, indicated they were getting a big thrill out of the Wildcats' improved work. At the game neared its end and Kentucky was only 20 or 25 points ahead of the struggling Volunteers, the crowd made itself hoarse with pleas for more baskets. The Cats responded to the urging in game fashion and tried hard to run their total up to the half century mark.
McGinnis again fell victim to Old Man Personal Fouls and had to leave the game shortly after the second half got under way. His place was taken by Dees, who played one of the cleverest defensive games in his career. Dees has improved mightily in the last couple of weeks and his work shone with brilliance Saturday night.
Something strange seems to have happened to "Pisgah" Combs. This elongated forward couldn't seem to adjust himself to the game at all and instead of leading the point makers as he did in every game before the Cats' eastern trip, failed even to turn in one counter. Combs started the game and gave way to Owens in the middle of the first period. He played again in the second half, but did no better. Combs is in a terrible slump and Coach Mauer can not discover the reason why. He may snap out of it though in a day or two.
Owens did not play quite as well either as he has done this year, but his work was not of such a kind that very much criticism can be heaped upon him. He connected with the hoop for eight points.
Captain Jenkins was all determination in the second half and although his efforts at the basket were as far off their intended course as an iceberg in the Gulf of Mexico, he fed the ball ably to his team mates and performed in creditable fashion on the defense. Milward broke into the game in the second half and flashed promising ability. He made four points.
Outside of Butcher, Tennessee had no player who acquitted himself as a first-class basketeer. The Volunteers fought hard, however, and planted a more stubborn defense in he Cats' path than he Mauermen expected.
The Wildcats were not keyed up for the game at all. At least they were not in the first half. During the rest period, however, Coach Mauer must have poured hot lead in their ears. They played like they are capable of playing from then on anyway.
The tilt was the fifth Southern Conference game of the season for the Cats and was their fourth victory.