Players are supposed to block out the crowd when playing basketball. Mississippi Valley State guard D’Angelo Jackson tried to accomplish that at Kentucky Saturday night.
“It was electrifying playing in that type of environment,” he said. “The only time I really realized the crowd was amped was when (Rick) Pitino got kicked out of the game.”
As reporters took in what they thought they heard, MVSU Coach Sean Woods turned to Jackson and said, “Not Pitino. (John) Calipari.”
Jackson immediately realized his mistake.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,” he stammered. “Calipari.”
When UK released its official player quotes, the reference to Pitino got the Leon Trotsky treatment. It was deleted.
“The only time I realized the crowd was loud was when Coach Calipari got thrown out,” Jackson supposedly said according to the official transcript UK distributed to reporters.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
