This was just what I wanted to see from the basketball team tonight. Well not exactly. I would have preferred that the Blue not allow Florida to come back and tie the game after leading by 15 midway through the second half. But what we got was the next best thing – a hard fought victory on a conference opponent’s home floor. It would have been really easy for the team to fold after Florida made a run to tie the game, but they withstood the charge and closed out the game the way champions do, making the big plays in crunch time.
Calipari shortened the bench tonight going with essentially a 6 man rotation, Orton being the sixth man. Everyone played really well so I’ll just discuss each player’s game tonight.
Eric Bledsoe – You have to start out with Bledsoe after he set a career high with 25 points and carrying the team in the first half, after Cousins sat early with foul trouble and Wall’s shot wasn’t falling. Eric was everywhere. 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. He also had 3 turnovers, but I have no problem with that the way he played. Definitely his best game of the season. From the outset he was aggressive driving to the hole and using his strength and quickness to score almost at will. He also hit 3 of 4 from deep. It appeared as if his ankle problems were a thing of the past, looking very quick on both defense and offense. If that is the case and the ankle has been part of the reason for his somewhat up and down play this year, the rest of the conference, and the country for that matter, better watch out because UK has a two-headed monster in the backcourt. On a night where Wall’s shot wasn’t falling (7 for 17), Bledsoe picked up the slack and then some.
John Wall – John was a little off on his shot tonight, but he still played well, hitting timely buckets and dishing out assists. He finished with 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and a block. He clearly won the matchup with Boynton who finished with 12 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. I think Boynton was so preoccupied with slowing Wall down, that he was never able to get into a groove offensively.
Patrick Patterson – Patterson had another strong game with 15 points and 7 boards. He is about as consistent as any player I have ever seen. I think his most crucial play was when Florida came all the way back from 15 down to tie the game at 72. Patterson got the ball on the left block and hit a little baby hook from about 7 feet and got fouled. He missed the free throw, but UK got the rebound and hit a 3 to make it a 5 point game and that was the game, UK finishing on a 17-5 run. But Patterson made the play to keep UK in the lead and then Cousins came up with the big board on the missed free throw. Great hustle by Boogie.
Darius Miller – I personally believe this was one of Miller’s better games of the year. He seemed much more involved on the offensive end of the floor. Whereas he has seemed to be somewhat of a bystander at times this year. Perhaps a lot of the talk over the last few days about how well Liggins has played, combined with the season low minutes on Saturday for Darius, acted as a bit of a wakeup call for him. His numbers don’t jump out at you – 9 points and 4 rebounds. But you just noticed him much more in this game. He was a factor. And he hit a couple of very timely buckets in the middle portion of the second half. Hopefully he will contine to play this way. UK needs him to be a threat to take some pressure off of the other players.
Demarcus Cousins – As has been the problem with Cousins often this year, he got into early foul trouble, essentially making him a non-factor in the first half, heading to the locker room with only 3 points. But in the second half, he was dominant when he got the ball down low. At one point he had a beautiful spinning move to his right shoulder and then finger rolled it in with his left hand. He showed a lot of agility with that move. At the same time he was physically dominant and very active going after loose balls. Plus, his rebound of Patterson’s missed free throw, set up the 3 pointer by Dodson that essentially was the final blow to Florida.
Daniel Orton – This was also Orton’s best game of the year. At one point, he had three consecutive blocks on three consecutive shots by Florida. He was very active and intimidated the Florida players when they got anywhere near the paint. He finished with only 2 points, but did have 9 rebounds (4 offensive) and 4 blocks. Great play from Orton. If he plays that well off the bench, the SEC is in serious trouble.
OK, so here are some general thoughts.
- In the first half, Patterson, Orton and Cousins could not buy a layup. Calipari was frustrated with it too, mentioning “10 missed one footers” in the first half. UK’s best offense was Wall and Bledsoe attacking the rim. Florida’s guards just couldn’t handle Bledsoe and Wall in the open court. They are too fast and too athletic.
- I love that the team struggled a little and was able to weather the storm. These are character building games that really boost the confidence of the team, letting them know that they can handle adversity. This was a good road win to start the conference season and will be a catalyst to strong road performances for the rest of the season.
- Once again, UK had trouble finding the deep threat of the other team, with Erving Walker hitting four 3’s in the run that brought Florida back to tie the game at 72. They need to identify these players and find them in transition quickly.
- Liggins and Harris only played 6 and 5 minutes respectively. I don’t know that they will play this little on a regular basis, but I do expect Calipari to tighten the rotation as the season goes on, particularly on the road. I do think you need to be deeper than 6, so I expect both of them to play. How much will depend on what Miller is doing on the floor. If he plays like he did today, Harris and Liggins’ minutes won’t increase significantly
- The one troubling thing in this game for me, and Calipari touched on it in his post-game interview with Erin Andrews, is how they continue to let teams work their way back into games after they get double digit leads. Cal referred to not having that killer instinct to put teams away. I couldn’t agree more. They have an incredible ability to pull out the win, but they need to do a better job of ending games earlier once they get that big lead. I’m not sure how you remedy this situation. It just has to be learned. But in the meantime, the adversity of these tight games, will be very important as you get closer to tournament time.
- It’s great to beat Florida on their home court for the first time in 6 years. Plus, sending the Gators to an 0-2 start in conference is awesome. What an incredible turn of events for Billy Donovan, two straight championships, to what looks like very possibly three straight NIT appearances. I’m not sure there are many programs in the country where that would happen. The goodwill in the recruiting world from two titles in a row should pay dividends for years. Yet you have a team with only one legitimate NBA talent in Boynton.
That’s it for this game. Great win. Great game. Now I can sleep peacefully.
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They really do need to learn how to put teams away.
Every team is going to make a run at you. But, when you get up by 15, that run should not be all the way back to tie it, or even take the lead, the way Louisville did. I think Calipari will continue to harp on this. Hopefully it gets in the guys heads enough that they don’t let up when they get that big lead.