Cal's Cats: Whewww we survived edition!

Wow...I don't know if I have caught my breath yet...UK wins 72-70 over Miami.

We will learn a lot more from this close win than we ever could in a blowout. I do still have some concerns for this team, but you have to hope we will grow more from this close game compared to a laugher... Of course we would love to see them blowout these teams but there is some positives in this. Bottom line.. We are 2-0. A W is a W...

UK numbers:

26-53 for 49% from the field
6-11 on 3FG for 54%
14-24 on FTs for 58%
34 rebs, 15 on the offensive end
8 stl, 7 blocks, and 11 assists
15 TOs

We learned several things tonight...


- Nobody is intimidated to play in Rupp... well except maybe UK...

-Free throw shooting? Great against Morehead, not so much here... An area we have to get better in.

-We are not a top ten team right now, we might be at some point this year but we are not there.

-Wall and Bledsoe seemed to lack composure. VMI.... wait I mean Miami... was hitting threes left and right. We would run down the court and drive and end up losing it or throwing up some horrid shot. Our young leaders seemed to be panicked at times. I guess you can expect that somewhat from freshman, but they will have to improve for us to get where would like as a team.

I'm concerned about our offense this year. If Dodson isn't hitting threes teams are going to pack it in and we have to hit the mid-range jumper or find a way to be more efficient in the post despite all the traffic.

I loved how we played D to start the second half. We have the ability to be a great defensive team, but to reach our potential we have to be able to bring that intensity for forty minutes and not just in spurts.

I wish Cal would mix things up and not just play man to man. I am sure with only 20 practices they haven't had time to get the full arsenal implemented, and Cal said as much after the game.

Wall didn't play his best game but he is a freshman and I'm just glad he was ok after falling at the beginning of the game. He ended up getting stitches at half. It looked like it could have been a lot worse and I am really grateful he wasn't seriously injured.

Orton got stitches as well, welcome to the NCAA freshman...

Cousins showed flashes of greatness but flashes of not-so-greatness... He did have a double double but I'm curious how many of those rebounds were his own put backs after missing layups...

Patterson did ok, nice monster slam...he missed more three throws then he should have. Defensively it was all threes so he wasn't really involved and he seemed to defend well when it was down low but their big guys were not anything to write home about.

I honestly thought these days were over, with nail biting games like this but hopefully it is now...we shall see...

I will be interested in the next game. Do we come out and play great three point defense or do we go back into the half way defense expecting the team to roll over and hand us a win?...

All in all, I'm very happy for our team and I will just cross my fingers it isn't like this on Thursday.

Go Cats we are 2-0!