Heralded freshman big man Patrick Patterson is settling into his new surroundings at Kentucky.
Patterson, of course, nearly decided to come to Florida to play with close friends Jai Lucas and Nick Calathes. But in a tough decision, Patterson opted to accept a scholarship at Kentucky to stay closer to home.
According to his mother, Tywanna Patterson, the 6-foot-8 Patterson has no second thoughts about his decision.
“Patrick is doing very well at UK and we are very proud of him,” Tywanna said in a recent e-mail. “He took three summer classes which gave him a head start as well as got him used to the campus, professors, etc. He is busy now with the fall session and doing quite well.”
Tywanna said her son returned to Huntington, W. Va., a few weekends ago for the Marshall-West Virginia football game. Huntington is about a two-hour drive from Lexington, Ky.
Tywanna said the family hasn’t decided whether to move to Lexington yet, or drive from Huntington to watch the games. The Pattersons would have considered relocating to Florida had their son decided to play at UF.
Kentucky visits the O’Connell Center for its first meeting with Florida on Jan. 19. It will be interesting to see what kind of reception Patterson receives. As a freshman, Patterson is still expected to see much playing time as Kentucky’s main post scoring and rebounding threat.
