Anthony Davis joined an elite NBA club on Wednesday night.
The former Kentucky and current New Orleans Pelicans big man became just the fourth player ever to score 50 points in a season-opener.
The other three?
Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Jordan did it twice.
Davis actually went for 50 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals, and 4 blocks in a loss to the Nuggets
Anthony Davis went off last night for 50 points ? pic.twitter.com/y4cfvYCMgY
— Overtime (@overtime) October 27, 2016
This performance — as well as those from several other former Wildcats — of course made Kentucky coach John Calipari proud.
“How about Michael Kidd(-Gilchrist) went for 22 and 14?” Calipari told reporters Thursday. “How about Andrew Harrison started? I was so happy. I text those guys. I didn’t text Anthony. He scored 50 and I’m like, ‘Yeah, you should.’ I hit Tyler (Ulis), who had a blocked shot. Are you kidding me? ButI hit him back and he said, ‘I’m waiting for my chance.’ I said, ‘It’ll come.’
“I tried to hit Jamal (Murray) this morning because I know he went 1 for 8 and I know him well enough and I was trying to hit him, but he doesn’t have a voicemail, so I’ll probably get him after.”
Kentucky had 24 players on opening-night NBA rosters, more than any other school.
There are also 24 players in the NBA coached by Calipari — including former Memphis guys Derrick Rose (Knicks) and Tyreke Evans (Pelicans.)
“We have so many guys,” said Calipari, adding that each morning he gets “a list of all my guys, how they played, if they won. I’ll hit a bunch of them. Some of them I just like knowing. And I get them every morning. Today, the list was like this (hands far apart), because of all those games. It was like a long list.”
Meantime, two former Kentucky players — Devin Booker and DeMarcus Cousins — got into a tussle Wednesday night in the Phoenix-Sacramento game.
“Let me say this: It would be a scrap,” Calipari said. “Devin will not budge. And I imagine the little kid (Tyler Ulis) went out and bit his knee cap when it happened, because those two (Booker and Ulis) are absolutely – that’s two boys right there. Those two are like two peas in a pod.”
Devin Booker and DeMarcus Cousins getting into it once again like they did last season. #BBN pic.twitter.com/L4hjoyYCy7
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) October 27, 2016
(Photo: USA Today Sports)
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