The No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats make the short trek from New York City to Uncasville, Conn., to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions and their first-year head coach Patrick Chambers in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.  Coming off a strong second half of play against the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday night, UK coach John Calipari will be looking for 40 minutes of solid play from his young group of Cats.

The Penn State squad, sitting at 3-0 on the season after victories over Hartford, Radford and Long Island University, will be attempting to affirm its early season wins by slaying one of the giants of college basketball.  And the Nittany Lions have the coach in Chambers (like John Calipari, a native of Pennsylvania), who knows how to win the big games. From 2004 to 2009 he assisted Jay Wright at Villanova during one of the most successful periods in ‘Nova history.

Now, on to the numbers.

Kentucky early season stats and trends

Terrence Jones, in 60 minutes of action this year, has made 9-of-18 field goals (50.0 percent) and 2-of-3 3-point shots (66.7 percent).  Jones has also snagged 16 rebounds, four of those offensive.  Jones has also contributed four assists, four blocks and has made 3-of-4 free throws (75.0), scoring 23 points (11.5 points per game) in UK’s first two contests.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, in 63 minutes of play, like Jones has connected on 9-of-18 shots from the floor (50.0 percent). MKG has hustled his way to 16 rebounds (two offensive boards), five blocks and three steals. Kidd-Gilchrist has accounted for five assists, seven turnovers, making 8-of-10 charity tries (80.0 percent) on his way to scoring 27 points (13.5 ppg).

Doron Lamb, UK’s resident sharpshooter, has made good on 6-of-10 3-point shots (60.0 percent) and 10-of-20 overall field-goal attempts (50.0 percent) in 63 minutes of action. Lamb is also sporting an impressive assist-turnover ratio, handing out nine dimes to only a single turnover.  The Wildcats’ two-guard has made 6-of-8 free throws (75.0 percent) and snagged nine rebounds (four offensive) in his 63 minutes of play. Lamb has scored 32 points (16.0 ppg).

Marquis Teague has played 60 minutes in UK’s two wins, making 11-of-21 shots from the field (52.4 percent), 1-of-2 trey tries (50.0 percent), while handing out seven assists and committing nine turnovers (six of those turns came in the first half of the Kansas game).  Teague has connected on 5-of-10 free throws, scoring 28 points (14.0 ppg).

Anthony Davis, otherwise known as the human shot -locking machine (more on that later), has made 16-of-21 shots from the floor (76.2 percent), grabbed 16 rebounds, handed out five assists and committed five turnovers in 56 minutes of play.  Although Davis leads the Cats with 37 points (18.5 ppg), he has impacted UK’s opponents with his uncanny ability to swat shots. In only two games Davis has blocked 12 shots (6.0 blocks per game), a pace that will demolish UK’s existing season shot blocking records. Currently, Melvin Turpin (1983) and Andre Riddick (1994) share the Wildcat single-season blocked shots record with 83, while Jamal Magliore, in 1997, holds the freshman single-season shot-blocking mark with 79 in 40 games played.  Another record Davis may lay waste to: the single-game block record of nine, shared by Riddick (1993) and Sam Bowie (1981).

Darius Miller, coming off the bench for the first time since his freshman year, has made 6-of-11 shots (54.5 percent) from the field but has made only 1-of-4 3-point attempts (25.0 percent) in 48 minutes of play. Miller has recorded seven rebounds (four offensive) and handed out nine assists to only three turnovers (an outstanding 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio), while scoring 13 points (6.5 ppg).

Eloy Vargas, in 21 minutes of game- ime, has grabbed 10 rebounds and made 2-of-3 shots from the field (66.7 percent).

Kyle Wiltjer, in 22 minutes of play, has connected on 7-of-12 shots from the floor (58.3 percent) but is 0-of-2 from beyond the arc.  Wiltjer has four rebounds, one assist, one turnover and one block, while scoring 14 points (7.0 ppg).

UK vs. Penn State: A short history

Kentucky and Penn State have hooked up on the basketball court only three other times, first in the opening round of the 1952 NCAA Tournament, a game the Cats won 82-54.  UK played Penn State again in 1955 in the NCAA tourney, this time the East Regional consolation game, and behind Bob Burrow, one of the great big men in UK history, the Cats prevailed 84-59.  The two teams last met in November of 2000, but this time the ‘Cats came up short, losing to the Nitany Lions 73-68.  Joe Crispin was the Cat-killer on that day, scoring 32 points.

Coach Cal on Penn State

“They’re good. I mean, they have won a bunch of games here. They do a good job at running their offense. As a matter of fact, they run some stuff similar to what we are doing. They do a nice little job of throwing stuff at you and they bring some press at you. We need to really perform to be able to do this. I had no idea how we would play against Kansas. I was right in what I thought and we came out the same way against Marist. We need to understand that every opponent is a worthy opponent, especially because they are playing us and playing out of their minds.”

Eric Lindsey and UK assistant coach John Robic will be along in the morning with an in-depth scouting report of Penn State, so stay tuned to CoachCal.com for the most comprehensive pre- and postgame coverage of the Cats.