The second half was quite different. The next time you're tempted to believe that the other team always gets hot when they play UK, remember this half. UK clamped down on Hansbrough, and the rest of the Irish couldn't hit the side of a barn. They even missed a bunch of free throws. UK could have blown the game open, but the Cats went cold as well. Miller was 1-5 for the game. Lamb was 2-8 and 0-5 from 3-point range. Fortunately, Knight and Jones were clicking. Knight was 7-17 from the field (2-6 from 3's), with 20 points and 5 assists. And Jones had one of the best games I've ever seen from a UK forward: 27 points (including 2 threes and 7-10 shooting from the line), and 17 rebounds. He also made one big play after another down the stretch, enabling UK to blow open a 62-57 game for a 72-58 victory.
On the whole, I'm quite pleased with this win. I thought ND would be tough, and they were, but UK responded well.
A few other thoughts:
1. I love, love, love seeing the Cats on the blue floor in Freedom Hall. I've always liked Freedom Hall, and I really like the idea of the Cats having two home courts. I would definitely support having UK play two or three games a year in the Ville.
2. I was very impressed with how much better UK became defensively once Harrellson returned to the floor.
3. Coach Cal is now 41-5 at UK. In two seasons in Lexington, Billy Gillespie went 40-27.
yes, yes, yes, all the way around--good report.
ReplyDeleteit's always so satisfying when your team is challenged by someone who is acting like a jerk and then overcomes that challenge, so, yes, what a fun win against a team who "knows who they are."
yes, Harrellson did good, useful stuff again last night. (i think the reason it was more apparent was because these officials didn't anticipate fouls like officials so often do with Harrellson.) and there were indications that Knight could assume the role this team needs him to own, so those were good things.
and, yes, Jones is (hooray!) a terrific player--that rare combination of skill, physical presence and killer spirit. uk had two (maybe three) of those guys last season, which is just astonishing because they are so, so rare--even among very successful teams. i imagine it's that players who have great developed skill and great physical attributes so rarely have reason to develop the killer attitude. in any event, i'm not convinced that the wildcats have one other than Jones this season. Knight has the skill and perhaps the physical gifts, but does he have the attitude? i think Doron Lamb might actually have the attitude and perhaps the skill, but does his size/speed/agility/whatever get him into positions on the floor frequently enough in which his killer attitude would allow him to attempt devastating things that his years of honing basketball talents would actually enable him to accomplish?
in any event, uk should be thankful it has one of those guys (in Jones) because i'll bet there aren't more than 10 of them with sufficient levels of all three qualities playing across college basketball today. i don't think having one instead of two (maybe three) means that uk necessarily has to end up not being as good as last season's uk team was. it just means that John Calipari has to coach the team differently (not better or more, but differently), and, who knows, maybe this team's makeup is more aligned with Calipari's. (some full-time, paid sportswriter in kentucky needs to be doing some research right now on how the Marcus Camby team won its games.)
one final comment to your analysis: FREE ENES! i don't care if the guy has been on the payroll of the celtics for the last five years, if uk can slip him by the ncaa goalie, i want him because the wildcats could certainly use another fluid, big-bodied dude (which Harrellson and Eloy Vargas both are), who can play basketball (which Harrellson can some) and who, if he were a dad, would be unwilling to simply let his sons win in any board game even when they were just little guys (and not because it was some parenting strategy to turn the little guys into better men, but because that's just the kind of guy the dad he is). everybody says Kanter is that guy; if so, bring him on.
GO, UK! FREE ENES! GO, UK!
i'm not ready to shut up.
ReplyDeleteback to Harrellson ... if i was the ncaa's director of officiating, i'd task somebody with doing some analysis on how appearances might be factoring into calls. i think Harrellson looked better last night because the officials didn't call him the same way they normally do, and i think that's because the guy he was paired against was an obvious bruiser. i think officials, whether they realize it or not, kind of subconsciously decide in scanning the court at tipoff which of the 10 players on the court is the bruiser they need to keep a handle on. so often to officials that guy appears to be Harrellson, BUT HE IS NEVER THAT GUY. (in fact, it would be useful to uk from time to time if he were.) and it's not as easy as simply counting the number of fouls called against one center and called against the other. when you whistle unc's Zeller for a block on what was nearly a taken charge, that has a different impact on future events than does whistling Harrellson for some sort of body foul on the opponent's drop-step post move. the call against Zeller encourages him to play more aggressively ("next time, i've just got to move quicker to get myself in position"); the call against Harrellson encourages him to play more tentatively ("next time, i'll just stand perfectly still on defense").
(still not ready to shut up. it's so great being back out from under immediate-deadline pressure.)
ReplyDeleteif i was the boss of kentucky educational television, i'd try to get to permission to broadcast live a feed from a camera fixed on the full length of uk's bench during its basketball games. the audio could be a live microphone on Calipari or one of the assistant coaches. this would be very illuminating to watch in tandem with the regular broadcast, and i imagine the 30 or so broadcasts from uk games would be ket's 30 or so highest-rated programs of the year.
YEAHH, ERIC!
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of your comments.
thank you.
ReplyDeleteket puts on those live simulcasts of the uk bench, and, at every tv timeout, you have a different native-born celebrity--Florence Henderson, Loretta Lynn, Joe B. Hall, whomever--stump for pledges ... well, baby, that'd be the end of ket having to worry about the gop's ever ditching federal funding for public broadcasting.