Magic Johnson made his way to Rupp Arena tonight while he was in town meeting with the governor and the first lady about unemployment and keeping young black males in school to finish their education.  Magic has always been a big part of promoting the betterment of peoples lives.  Magic spent some time with Dick Gabriel tonight before the game talking about John Wall and this years team.  Magic also discussed when he played here back in 1978 against Kyle Macy and Jack Givens.

Before the game started Johnson went into the UK locker room to give them a pep talk.  Magic told the team to continue to be strong on defense and everything will be fine.  The players were very encouraged by his words and put on a great defensive effort against South Carolina holding them to 38% field goal shooting and 20% three point shooting.

When it was time for the famous “Y” in Kentucky, Magic came out on the court and was like no other “Y” Rupp Arena has ever seen.  Magic played to the crowd like no other has ever played to the crowd.  First he turns towards the scorers table and raises his arms up then goes into the John Wall Dance.  Next he gets the crowd going encouraging them to stand up and cheer louder.  As he turns to the other side of the Arena he again displays the John Wall Dance.  When he finishes with the “Y” he then continues to get the crowd going by pointing at the UK bench and holding up one finger, saying UK is number 1.

Magic left a lasting impression on the players as well as Big Blue Nation.  He greeted fans all that he could, signing autographs and taking pictures.  Magic missed a lot of the second half of the game due to his willingness to mingle.  He has said before that he loves to watch this team play and tonight was no disappointment.  John Wall did not have his most impressive performance but when he is not at his best Wall is still better than 95% of the other point guards in the country.