Well, that’ not really what I expected. I guess if I had thought about it, I shouldn’t be surprised. After the blowout of LSU on Saturday and with College Gameday coming to Rupp this weekend, a lackluster effort and really, kind of boring game, shouldn’t be a surprise. There didn’t really seem to be any flow to this game. For starters, I didn’t get to see the first 10 minutes of the game due to VCU and George Mason going into double overtime on ESPNU. I was able to see though that Alabama jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead, which Kentucky whittled away at, ending up with a 7 point lead at halftime. After an up and down second half, UK walks away with an uninspiring 66-55 victory.
Demarcus Cousins notched his seventh straight double double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Though the performance was not the kind of dominant performance he has had over the last few weeks. Many of his points were on putbacks off of offensive rebounds. John Wall also had his third career double double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. His first time doing so with points and rebounds. The previous two were points and assists. He also had 2 assists and 7 turnovers. While both had solid games, I would not say that I was overly impressed with either performance. I could say that about the whole team though. The game kind of felt like everyone had stayed up until 3 in the morning and was really just dragging to get through the game. Both teams.
There wasn’t much emotion from the team, the intensity wasn’t there and they really seemed like they were just going through the motions. It translated to the crowd as well, who was relatively quiet for the whole game. It’s a good thing that the team can win these types of games though. If you are going to be a #1 seed and have a chance to win a championship, you have to win ugly from time to time, and this definitely qualifies.
With all of that being said, there were a couple of good things that I saw from the team, that I really hadn’t seen much of this year. Primarily, it was the ball movement in the first half against Alabama’s zone. I saw a lot of patience and good passing around to break down the zone. Particularly out of Cousins. Pretty much my main criticism of Boogie this year has been that he RARELY passes out of the double team. He has done better the last few games, but tonight he was really doing that a lot. And, like I’ve said, he would get the ball back. I even saw him pass back out after the second entry pass to him. He has matured ALOT this year. Where he is now, compared to where he was in the first 5-6 games of the season, is night and day.
It was also good to see Wall a little more aggressive offensively, attacking the hole on the drive. He’s at his best when he is in attack mode. The turnovers continue to be a problem. But, it usually happens when he is attacking, which puts pressure on the defense. If he can just get the turnovers down from the 5, 6, 7 range into the 2-3 range each game, that would be ideal.
Patterson also seems to be looking for his shot a little more lately. I’d like him to still be even a little more aggressive, but it’s good to see him being more involved offensively. On a side note, it has been 11 games since Patterson recorded double figures in rebounds. I think Calipari having him play so much on the perimeter takes P-Pat away from the basket and makes him really have to crash the boards like a guard. That being said, Patterson finish with only 4 rebounds tonight, which is clearly not enough for the big man.
Some stats and observations:
- Deandre Liggins continued his stellar play of late off the bench, finishing with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist and 1 block. I’m really glad to see Liggins earn his playing time and taking advantage of it. He went through a lot last year and had a rough start to the season this year, sitting out the first 9 games.
- Darius Miller’s role continues to diminish. This is particularly disappointing to me. Miller is a huge talent. But it just isnt’ happening for him right now. He played only 8 minutes and recorded 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks and 1 turnover. It’s the fourth time in the last five games that Darius has failed to score. I was hoping to see a bounce back game from Miller. I believe his confidence is shot. I also think it will be hard to regain it with Dodson and Liggins both having taken most of Miller’s minutes, and playing quite well.
- UK was only 3 of 16 on threes, continuing the trend of being up and down from outside over the last several weeks.
- UK had only 10 assists on 22 baskets. Not good enough
- The team committed 16 turnovers tonight. It actually seemed like more.
In summary – uninspiring, stale, grind-it-out type of victory tonight. But hey, the Blue is now 23-1. I’ll take it. I’m sure Calipari will find plenty on the game film with which to critique the players and where they can do better. Hopefully it sinks in becuase a performance like this on Saturday agains Tennessee will send UK to its second loss of the season. Look for a more exciting, intense, emotional game on Saturday against Tennessee. Gameday will be in the house and the house will be rocking. Jared should be along in a bit with a few of his own thoughts.
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