-Before we get to the game one big note is UK expected to have new uniforms soon the word is for UT 2/13. Most believe it will be something that matches their Lebron shoes. I have never been a fan of the tight tops and the baggy shorts but my guess is no matter what they look like they will be some that will not be happy.
Many fans want the “traditional look” of course when they say this they are talking the uniforms we had from what 98-2006 or so…traditional is very short shorts and old Chuck Taylors…my guess is they will be pretty flashy…something Lebron is making a statement with.
UK wins 85-75 to go to 21-1. UK is 46-2 to Ole Miss at Rupp. Last loss at Rupp was the 97-98 season and that was UK’s last lost on their way to the championship.
UK scores 85 for two games in a row but we allowed Ole Miss to score three more, Vandy finished with 72. Leading the SEC with a 6-1 record. Vandy has a tough game tomorrow at home against Miss. St. The Bulldogs are tied for second in the conference along with UT and Ole Miss with a 4-2 record.
25 or so NBA scouts and general managers in the crowd and I had some concerns with how our young team would handle playing in front of their presence. They know they are on national tv and scouts can see everything they are doing but it could be easy to look up and see a scout take down a note after you make a mistake and makes you play tentative and tight.
UK had issues at times like usual of blowing out a team. They remind me of a Cheetah, very fast and dominate but a cheetah has a horrible stamina. If a cheetah is after its prey the only thing the prey can do is hope they can run long enough to tire it down.
UK plays like this, they get up big and then they make mistakes and every mistake UK makes, they seem to pay for. This is something that a young club will do but next month is March…it’s time for the “young excuses” to be thrown to the side and us see some major blow outs against good teams start happening. 17 turnovers is too much, Ole Miss had 15.
I keep hearing UK has the most talent but then most rattle off Kansas and Villanova as the current best teams and that is something we need to change and some blowouts over good teams is the way to do that. We did this against Arkansas and we need to show we can do this on the road against LSU Saturday.
It’s hard to tell where Ole Miss is at, they have done well this year but just came off a bad loss against Arkansas at home and was out their best interior player for a second game. Then they had to travel to UK after only 46 hours after a tough fought loss.
Bottom line I will take a win in the SEC no matter the excuses our opponent may be able to throw out.
Ole Miss hasn’t had many quality wins but has came close with an ot loss to UT and almost WVU, but almost winning is called one thing….a loss…so how good is Ole Miss? We shall see how they end up but they might be a bubble team if they don’t pick it up.
It was good to see Patterson step it up some. I have been calling for him to become more aggressive and he has gone on record to say he has sat back to much and it’s time for him to step up and that is all I have been asking for. That is not a knock at all to Patterson, it is a compliment knowing he can do more and we need an experienced leader in clutch situation.
Patterson passed Frank Ramsey in all time points tonight, congrats Patrick on this accomplishment…now go pass some more UK legends!
I loved Dodson’s play tonight, he did what he was recruited to do and hit shots. He received the start tonight again because of his ability to keep defenses honest and not just pack it in.
John Wall was given the official player of the game with 17 pts, 7 asst, 2 rebs, 1 steal, and 1 block. He did well tonight. I was impressed with his ability to not run down the court 3 on 1 and throw up some crazy shot. That is control and is showing growth in his game.
The play of the game was the lob to Bledsoe that was tipped and Bledsoe went and did this crazy shot and put it in anyway. It was pretty impressive; Bledsoe has a way of doing some crazy athletic shots from time to time that is just amazing.
Cousins was Cousins, doing his thing and actually controlling his temper throughout as well. He may have had some facial expressions at times and I loved when they showed Cal mocking his stance for the rebound and how weak it looked and Cousins look.
I have seen Cal do to this all the time by far more than any other player but Cal expects his best even if his “sub par” is getting the job done. This is why recruits flock to him, he has the ability of not just bringing in talent and holding them for a little while until they go pro but making them better and even if UK was up 100 he would be seeing what his guys could be doing to improve his game.
Cousins ended with another double double 18 pts. and 13 rebounds. An impressive stat is his continued ability to get offensive rebounds. I don’t know what the UK record is most double doubles in a SEC season but Cousins has got to be on track to break it. 9 of his 13 rebounds were offensive. When you own the rebounding on the offensive side that allows you that many more possessions and allow your shooters to not have to nail every three to win.
Many teams including Louisville live and die by the three. They were nailing their threes against UCONN and this allowed them to win. To be a top level team you can’t live or die by the three because you will die too many times.
We did well from the three tonight shooting 47.4% 9-19. We actually hit more threes then Ole Miss and that is the one thing Ole Miss is suppose to be great at. They went 8-20 40%. They hit some big threes but slashing and scoring in transition is what kept them in the game.
I got to give a little shout out to Orton. I mentioned his offense at this point is a liability but he showed his ability to score tonight. He only ended with 4 points but went 2-2. His free throw shooting is still bad but he definitely improved offensively tonight compared to prior SEC games.
Cal’s thoughts: Wall did the best job he has done all season running the team.
Cal acknowledged Buckner being out. Cal knows this kid because he is from Memphis and said he is really good kid.
Ole Miss scored 37 points in the first half and 27 of them were off UK’s 11 turnovers. Cal told him at the half, stop turning it over and you will win this game.
-Complimented Orton’s game tonight
-Was happy to see Darius hit the big three to put us back up 8 late down the stretch
-Total effort from the whole team, to many turnovers but overall good team.
-Cal mentioned the fact that Ole Miss is a top 25 team (their ranked dropped to 25th in the AP/not ranked in ESPN/USA today after the tough loss to Arkansas Sunday)
-Wasn’t happy with how many offensive rebounds we gave them, they had 11. As mentioned with Cousins offensive rebounds, offensive rebounds gives you another possession. That is 11 more possessions you gave them.
-Cal talked about the Wall situation. He said Wall came in and said he was frustrated with his play and Cal told him that you are 20-1 and you are not playing your best every game but your fine just keep at it. Wall said Lebron told him the same thing. Then Wall said, “Coach I love you.” Cal at the time was not aware of what Wall said to the media and knew something was up when he said that. He said when your kids say that like that you are wondering if they wrecked the car or what.
-Cal said he was nervous tonight and when he saw the UK floor today he had this revelation of wow I’m at Kentucky, the best program out there. I’ve got to have fun with this and really enjoy it. Then he went and told the players the same message.
-Cal was really talking up Patterson, saying in two weeks he will be on another level then where he is tonight. We play at Miss. St. two weeks from tonight; we shall see how Patterson plays in that matchup.
-Cal complimented Orton on his maturity on handling playing at UK with Cousins here. He knows how great another big man is doing at UK and how Orton could be a baby about it but he is being great about it. Orton knows he is developing his game for the future when he will have to play the role Cousins is.
-A funny ending to his comments. He told a story of when he was doing an interview and told this cute story about this kid. His secretary came to him later and said, “You know you already told that story early…” He had no idea he already told it and his mom was right there for the interview and he asked his mom why she didn’t stop him and she said it was cute both times.
Then he went on to repeat the point they scored 27 of their 37 first half points by UK’s turnovers in which the crowd pointed out to him he had already mentioned this. He laughed and thanked everyone for letting him know. He told everyone if he ever starts repeating a story he has already told, that everyone needs to raise their hands and wave.
-UK plays at LSU Saturday 4/3 central. LSU has struggled so far this season with an 0-7 start in SEC. 9-12 overall record. Less than a week ago they were only able to put up 38 points in a clear loss to Alabama.
I don’t want to jinx UK and any team can lose on a given night but if we lose to LSU it would be a very bad loss.
UK keeps rolling and I can't say it enough, it feels great to be a Wildcat!
Go Cats!
No comments:
Post a Comment