NCAA Cats to face Hampton-Manhattan winner

By: LARRY VAUGHT

At this time last year, both Aaron Harrison and Willie Cauley-Stein had no idea about the memorable NCAA Tournament run that Kentucky would make to reach the national championship game before losing to Connecticut.

That loss — along with Cauley-Stein’s injury during the tourney — helped influence both players to come back to UK and now they have helped the Wildcats go 34-0 heading into the start of NCAA play Thursday in Louisville against the Manhattan-Hampton winner.

“Coming back I just I think wanted to enjoy college a little bit more, and I have,” said Harrison, a sophomore guard, after UK’s win over Arkansas Sunday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament title game. “I know that I will never play on another team as close as we are. So I think that I just wanted to enjoy it a little bit longer.

Cauley-Stein, a junior center, also wanted to be with teammates one more year.

“Because last year we was talking right when we lost in the championship game, we got back to the hotel and was like, ‘No, we got to come back and we got to do something bigger,’” Cauley-Stein, the SEC tourney MVP, said. “It's crazy that it's really coming true. It was just words then.

“Your feelings, your emotions right after the game, right after a loss, but it's really coming true. So we just got to keep on trucking through everything.”

For the 12th time in program history, UK earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play in the Midwest Region. The Cats would have two games in Louisville with the Cincinnati-Purdue winner the opponent on Saturday and then move on to Cleveland for the region semifinals and final. If they win there, UK would go to Indianapolis for the Final Four.

Kentucky was also a No. 1 seed in 2012 when Anthony Davis and Michael-Kidd Gilchrist led the Wildcats to their eighth national title. Kentucky was only a No. 8 seed last year when it won five tourney games.

Kentucky is 43-10 in tournament openers and has won 21 of its last 22 second round (previously first-round) tournament games. UK owns a 116-57 record all-time in NCAA action, with its .712 winning percentage the fourth-best in NCAA history.

Even though UK has played 11 teams in the NCAA field this season, it has never faced Hampton or Manhattan. Those two teams face a play-in game in Dayton Tuesday to get to Louisville.

Manhattan (19-13) is coached by former UK player Steve Masiello, a walk-on under Rick Pitino at UK and then an assistant coach on PItino’s staff at Louisville. Last year Manhattan lost 71-64 to fourth seed Louisville. Starters Rashawn Stores and Emmy Andujar from that team.

Andujar, a 6-6 senior forward, is the team’s best player. He leads the team in scoring at 16.5 points and rebounds at 7.6 per game. Ashton Pankey adds 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and Shane Richards 13.1 points and 3.6 rebounds.

The Jaspers rank 17th in the country at 8.2 steals per game this season and play a defensive-style similar to Louisville that normally features a full-court press to create scores in transition, a strategy that has not worked well against UK this season. The Jaspers average 21 3-point shots per game and are hitting 34 percent from long range. Richards is a 38 percent 3-point shooter and has taken 228 — Harrison leads UK with 171 3-point attempts.

Manhattan got into the tourney by beating Iona 79-69 to win the MAAC Tournament for the second straight time.

Masiello resigned at Manhattan after last season to become head coach at South Florida, a job he later lost when it was discovered he had not graduated from UK as listed on his resume. He completed his graduation requirements last summer and was hired back at Manhattan.

Hampton is 16-17 and earned a NCAA berth by beating Delaware State 82-61 in the MEAC Tournament, the Pirates' second crown under head coach Edward Joyner Jr. and the first since 2011.

The Pirates had a six-game losing streak at one point before salvaging its season with the tournament title.

Guard Brian Darden averages 9.7 points per game and is the best perimeter shooter. Point guard Deron Powers runs the offense and Quinton Chievous, a 6-6 senior who averages 10.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, and Reginald Johnson (11.9 points, 1.6 assists per game) can score at times. Powers was named the tourney’s outstanding player and averages 10.5 points and 3.7 assists per game. He had 16 points in the tourney championship gam while Darden and Johnson both had 20.

Jervon Pressley is a 6-8, 250-pound forward and senior Emmanuel Okoroba provides some depth off of the bench even though both Pressley and Okoroba are not strong rebounders and combine for just over seven rebounds per game. The team’s leading scorer, Dwight Meikle, suffered an ankle injury in the Pirates’ first MEAC tournament game and his status for NCAA play is uncertain. He is the team’s top scorer, rebounder and shot blocker.