Booker, Ulis spark competitive fire
They argue, of course.
Close though they may be, Kentucky guards Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker have been known to bicker here and there, over something as trivial as a video game or as critical as which is the better outside shooter.
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"We get in confrontation sometimes," Ulis said Monday. "But it's a great friendship. That's my best friend."
Even the closest friends clash. But it's especially expected of the Wildcat freshmen, who could compete over which is more competitive and might well come to a draw.
Booker, the 6-foot-5 Michigan sharpshooter who played his high school hoops in Mississippi, and Ulis, the 5-9 point guard from Lima, Ohio, by way of Chicago, have "driven that (competitive) part of our culture that we have here," UK coach John Calipari said Monday.
And it's nothing new for that duo.
Booker and Ulis -- teammates on the Wildcats' White platoon, both in games and practices -- have been running the court together the summertime since the eighth grade, and their built-in chemistry has benefited No. 1 Kentucky (13-0), which hosts Ole Miss (9-4) on Tuesday.
"He (was) just like he is now," Booker said of the eighth-grade Ulis, whom he met at a camp in St. Louis. "He was still smaller than everybody, but he made the game easier for me, and that's why I loved him. He always found me. I always ran the floor and he'd kick it ahead for me. We just really took over competition, us two together, and he was fun to play with."
From the get-go, the two were complementary, Ulis the pass-first floor general and Booker the deadeye shooter -- "I think I led the camp in assists, and it was because of him getting buckets," Ulis said -- and the bond didn't end when the camp did.
Booker and Ulis remember trading phone numbers after that St. Louis camp. They kept in touch, and started plotting a plan early on that would land them at the same collegiate destination.
Michigan State and Kentucky recruited both players, and though Booker waited more than a month after Ulis' commitment to the Cats to make it official, ultimately both players ended up in Bue and White.
It's proven a boon to Kentucky's platoons.
Ulis, who's averaging 5.8 points and 3.7 assists per game, and Booker, who's averaging 9.9 points and shooting 46 percent from three-point range, are the backcourt on Kentucky's second-team White platoon, sharing the court constantly in practice and regularly in games.
"The tie with Devin and Tyler is that they've always wanted to play together," Calipari said. "They play off of one another. But the biggest thing those two add to this team is their absolute competitive fire. Every day in practice, whatever drill, however we scrimmage, they want to win."
That's helped spark practices that Ulis called "very heated."
And those practices are critical for Kentucky.
The Wildcats' remaining schedule features one team currently ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 -- No. 23 Arkansas visits Rupp Arena on Feb. 28 -- and with chatter already circulating that Kentucky could finish the regular season without a loss, Calipari is seeking ways to keep his team engaged.
"It's important, because we don't want to get complacent as a team," Ulis said.
Competitive practices help ward off that complacency.
Kentucky hasn't played a game since winning at Louisville on Dec. 27. But Booker said "I felt like we were playing a game" in daily practices against each other.
He and Ulis have played a big part in turning daily workouts into gameday simulations by displaying a competitive fire they've shared for years.
"It's just something that's always been instilled in us," Booker said. "It was before we even got here, like when we were on the same team in camps, we never liked to lose. And it just went from there."
Game/Series Information
Game Information
Site: Rupp Arena (23,000), Lexington, Ky.
TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal play-by-play, Darrin Horn analyst)
Radio: UK IMG Sports Network (Tom Leach play-by-play, Mike Pratt analyst); Sirius 91/XM 91
Favorite: Kentucky by 23
Series Information
Series record: Kentucky leads 102-13
At Lexington: Kentucky leads 51-2
Coaches' records: Calipari 10-4 vs. Ole Miss; Kennedy 2-9 vs. Kentucky
Last meeting: Kentucky 84, Ole Miss 70
(Feb. 18, 2014 | Oxford, Miss.)
Julius Randle had 25 points and 13 rebounds as the Wildcats -- who rode a 15-0 first-half run to a big lead -- held on after a late Rebels rally. Ole Miss cut Kentucky's lead to six points late with 1:48 to play in the game, but Randle's basket on the next possession helped UK get some breathing room. Randle finished 6 of 7 from the floor and 13 of 14 from the free-throw line. Aaron Harrison scored 17 points and James Young 16 for UK, which shot 52.1 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Rebels 39-23. Jarvis Summers led Ole Miss with 22 points
Game Storylines
1. Mighty Moody: Ole Miss guard Stefan Moody has made an immediate impact in his first season after transferring from Kilgore College. And the 5-foot-10 guard has been especially significant over the Rebels' past eight games. During that span, Moody is averaging 16.1 points per game and shooting 44.2 percent from three-point range. That includes a 26-point game against Cincinnati, a 22-point effort at Oregon and a 25-point night -- including six three-pointers -- against Western Kentucky.
2. First-Ranked Futility: Tuesday's game will be Ole Miss' 16th in school history against the No. 1 team in The Associated Press poll, and the 13th time the top-ranked opponent has been Kentucky. The last time the Rebels played the nation's top team was in 2012, a 77-62 loss at No. 1 Kentucky.
3. On the Line: One of John Calipari's philosophies is to force teams into shooting over his long defenders at the rim. That means limiting open three-pointers and playing defense without fouling. The latter is key against Ole Miss, which leads Division I in free-throw shooting at 78.4 percent. The Rebels, who have five players shooting at least 80 percent from the foul line, have made 65 of their last 79 free throws. That's 82.3 percent. Moody, who has made 47 of 51 free throws, ranks ninth nationally in free-throw percentage at 92.2 percent.