BOISE, Idaho (AP) No. 5 seed Kentucky (24-10) vs. No. 12 seed Davidson (21-11)
First round, South Region; Boise, Idaho; Thursday, 7:10 p.m. ET.
BOTTOM LINE: Ten years ago, Steph Curry became Steph Curry at the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 32 points a game in leading Davidson within one basket of the Final Four. Now, the Wildcats are back. They’ll face the Kentucky Wildcats, a regular deep in the tournament, but a program that starts five freshmen and has been learning on the fly this year.
3s PLEASE: Davidson is 16th in the country in 3-point attempts, trying more than 27 per game. As Kentucky coach John Calipari said, ”If they make 20, it’s been a heck of a season for us.” Calipari said his inexperienced team will have to stay patient on defense and unselfish on offense – a formula that helped Kentucky shoot 16 percentage points better than opponents in winning the SEC Tournament.
HE’S EVERYWHERE: Curry turned 30 on Wednesday. Nobody wants to give him something to celebrate more than the players and coaches at the program that he put on the map. ”Steph Curry is around our program 24 hours a day,” coach Bob McKillop said. ”The imprint that he put on our program is probably the greatest imprint that any alum could put on a program or a school.”
VANDERBILT UPDATE: Calipari says freshman forward Jarred Vanderbilt did not practice with the team this week and won’t likely play Thursday. Vanderbilt, who averaged nearly eight rebounds a game in 17 minutes, hurt his left ankle early last week.
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