Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
A win is a win and, for this young Kentucky group, a win is also a learning experience. In their first game action in Rupp Arenea, Cal’s Cats 2.0 struggled early with a fiesty Pikeville Bears squad before opening a lead early in the first half and cruising to a 31-point victory. It was the type of game that didn’t really do much to ease any concerns about the rebounding and defense of an entirely different team, but it also provided a number of promising performances. Here are a few notes….
- Right off the bat, Kentucky got a glimpse of what will likely be the starting lineup until Enes Kanter gets eligible (go knock on wood). Calipari sent Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Darius Miller and Terrence Jones out on the floor, giving the Cats their most versatile lineup of the Calipari era. It might not have been as apparent in a game against a team that was already so overmatched, but the ability to present mis-matches out of the dribble-drive will be the key for Kentucky’s offense this season. The starting group netted 44 of the team’s 56 free throw attempts, which is as clear a sign as any that Kentucky’s unique lineup will present problems for opposing defenses. It’s not traditional or conventional, but it appears to be effective. On offense, at least.
- It was is becoming more apparent with each passing exhibition (and shouldn’t be a surprise), this team will ride on the back of Brandon Knight. Against Pikeville, Knight was again outstanding on the offensive end of the floor, playing with a John Wall-like fearlessness in attacking the rim and mixing in a beautiful pull-up jumper that Knight’s predecessor lacked consistently. After being challenged by Calipari to “lead the nation in assists”, the freshman point guard appeared to be pressing a bit early on, but flat-out took the game over when he needed to and finished with a team-high 22 points on 6-11 shooting (9-10 on free throws). Calipari admitted afterward that he left Knight in the game for 37 minutes because that’s what he’s going to need to do this season and that he needs to be ready to do so. If it wasn’t already blatantly obvious, tonight again signaled that Kentucky’s hopes hang on the shoulders of the freshman point guard.
- Another positive takeaway from the game was a strong game from Darius Miller, whose 21 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks played as a nice complement to Knight’s game. The most refreshing part of Miller’s night, though, was the consistency throughout the game. For a player who has seemed to disappear at times in his first two years at UK, it was reassuring to see him play confidently as UK’s second option throughout, splitting his scoring between the first and second halves and asserting himself in what is his third distinctly different role in three years. Miller, who is essentially the back-up point guard, handled the ball on the perimeter confidently the few times he needed to do so, setting up the offense at times (most notably on a beautiful backdoor play to DeAndre Liggins), but also posted up and looked to work his defender on the blocks. He even mixed in a nice cross-over jumper with what might be the most consistenly beautiful floater in UK history. Without the luxury of multiple lottery picks on this team, the consistency from Darius Miller is going to be very key. He showed Monday night that he deserves his new weighty expectations.
- The other star of the game for the Cats and, arguably, the game’s biggest positive was DeAndre Liggins. As he did in the Blue-White game, Liggins showed that he has maintained the intensity that endeared him to Cal and the fans last season. He remains the team’s best one-on-one defender and the most likely to pick up a couple of court burns – a stat that many won’t even register in a gimme game like this In this game, though, the junior from Chicago showed intensity and maturity on offense en route to 18 points on 7-10 shooting and attacked the basket in a manner that could best be described as “crafty”. In his first two seasons in Lexington, Liggins had trouble harnassing his offensive energy and often found himself crashing into defenders wildly or forcing the ball. Against Pikeville, he seemed as if he had finally turned a corner and found the way to be aggressively efficient. If that makes sense.
- It was not the finest evening for Terrence Jones, who struggled with early foul trouble and appeared to be out of sync on offense, only attempting three shots in an abysmal first half that saw him score two points and turn the ball over five times. To Jones’ credit, he played better after the intermission and finished with nine and seven, but shot only 2-9 from the field in the process. Too often, he seemed to fall in love with playing outside on offense and had the ball ripped out of his hands after grabbing a rebound. Because of Kentucky’s lack of size inside and because he’s essentially the only big guy in the starting lineup, Jones has to play like a big. His versatility on offense will be crucial in the dribble-drive, but he has to find a happy medium between a finesse perimeter guy and a presence inside if this team is going to be as good as they hope. He clearly has the talent and it’d be insane to think one poor game is any reason for concern. But, he certainly has some things to work on.
- He didn’t pull down 26 rebounds, but Josh Harrellson was again UK’s best rebounder, grabbing 7 rebounds in only 16 minutes, three of them on the offensive end. As Calipari said last week, that either means UK is a poor rebounding team or Jorts is greatly improved. It’s probably a little bit of both (we’ll get to that shortly), but it is worth noting that Kentucky did appear to struggle on the defensive end at the start of both halves until Jorts and Eloy Vargas were inserted into the lineup to provide some size. As is the case with all players with the game inexperience of Harrellson, consistency will be the key, but it did appeaer on Monday night that Jorts’ rebounding – especially on the offensive end – is something that UK could be able to (and probably have to) count on throughout the season. Or, at least, until Kanter becomes eligible.
- Perhaps the craziest stat of the night was the 56 free throw attempts by Kentucky, 42 of which were made. If Monday’s game had not been an exhibition, it would have been the second-most team attempts of all-time. The reason for the high number of freebies was partially due to the athletic limitations of their opponents, but they were also the product of an aggressive dribble-drive offense, which forces defense to switch or be caught out of position. It’s safe to expect this Kentucky team to be near the top of the country in free throw attempts this season as Calipari uses his versatile lineup to attack the rim consistently and connecting on 86% of them in every game would be mighty nice. And, with a young team who is sure to hit a wall at some point and struggle with their jumpers, getting to the free throw line and connecting at a high clip could mean 3 or 4 extra wins this season.
- Now that we’ve got all of the positivity out of the way, UK struggled again in rebounding the ball. You can point to their lack of size as part of the reason, but Pikeville didn’t exactly have Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson out there. The major problem with UK’s rebounding appeared to be one that is common with young teams (this is a theme). Too many times, UK players (ahem, Terrence Jones) were leaving their man and running to the rim or left out of position after attempting a block instead of sealing their guy and then going after the ball. This resulted in 14 offensive rebounds for Pikeville and 15 second-chance points. It seems like a middle school fundamental, but there is a learning curve involved for players who have been able to rely on their size and athleticism to just grab balls over inferior players for most of their careers. It’s something that DeMarcus Cousins struggled with at the beginning of last season before turning a corner about 10 games in. It’s not far-fetched to think that this group will do the same. I hope.
- If you simply look at the stat sheet, Kentucky’s defense appeared to be fairly good, holding Pikeville to only 32% from the field. But, there were a number of issues for the Cats on the defensive end of the floor, starting primarily with defending the drive. Kentucky did a good job of making the Bears turn their offense over at least once or twice, but would then blow it by letting someone (most of the time Vance Cooksey getting past Brandon Knight) and get into the paint. Last season, with a handful of shot-blockers, it wasn’t a big deal. This year, with no real guardian of the rim (strangely, Harrellson appeared to be the only guy who could help and then recover to guard his man), Kentucky is going to have to play better on the perimeter to keep the easy shots off the scoreboard and keep their few big men out of foul trouble. Pikeville is far from being the most athletic team they’ll face this season.
- Another stark contrast from last season was the low number of assists for Kentucky on Monday night. The Cats finished with only seven assists as a team, but Coach Cal said in the post-game that he was not concerned with the number. He said that the dribble-drive typically doesn’t lend itself to a high number of assists (that seems strange) and that the lack of dimes was not due to poor offense, just the inability to make open jumpers. He said he was very happy with his team’s ball movement on Monday night.
- Perhaps the most troubling thing to Calipari, though, was what he called a “lack of fight” from his team against Pikeville. He said that he didn’t see a consistent agreessive effort from the Cats and that they “just don’t get it yet”. I’m sure he’s going to help them “get it” this week.
- Much was made of the return of Landon Slone, including Pikeville coach Kelly Wells bringing him off of the bench so he could get his own ovation from the Rupp Arena crowd. But, in the end, Slone finished with only four points and his most notable moment came in a battle of trash talking with DeAndre Liggins, which resulted in a technical foul for his former UK recruiting classmate. Landon Slone, it’s been real.
Overall, it was an encouraging performance from Coach Cal’s team in their first exhibtion, but it was one that also made us all aware of how undisciplined and young this team actually is. As we all expected, the potential is high for this group and there were flashes of brilliance. But, they clearly remain a work in progress. They’ll take their next exam against Dillard on Friday.
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November 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 am
Free Enes
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:04 am
Free Moss
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:08 am
Glad to see the Cats get the win, good summary here for the nightcap.
Keep it rolling Cats.
Free Enes.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:10 am
free enes ncaaa
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:14 am
Man this Kings game is great.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:15 am
We’re going to be an awfully small team if Kanter’s not eligible!
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:31 am
Landon Slone, for being born and playing ball once upon a time for UK, your name and later, your picture will be posted on KSR for all the state to see. Then we’ll see how you like that. Tru dat!
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:33 am
Free Enes
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:37 am
This will Be a fun team to watch grow each game. Very athletic!
FREE ENES
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:44 am
Mr Beis you are missing a huge stat line, we hit one measley three. If we cant hit the three we are toast. Pikeville would have given themselves a much better chance to get the game closer, if they had simply zoned us.
We need to consistantly hit the three, because if we dont we will get pegged again like Bruce Pearl did last year, and everyteam we play in the SEC will zone us. NoBody is going to play us man to man, if we cant hit the three. You cant run the Dribble Drive effectively with out spacing, and a zone gives you none.
With all of Cals ability to recruit, Since UMASS (Loe Roe)he has never been able to bring in a dead eye shooter. Why? change in philosophy. He didnt run the dribble drive with UMASS. Calipari has said that a layup is great, a three pointer is just good. If you read the comments section off of the article on Ukathletics.com, even the Pikeville echoes this quote, and says we will be zoned alot by opposing teams.
I believe that this is coach cals systemic flaw, you have to have balnace, and the three keeps the opposing defense honest.
If we had Meeks last year we would have won it all hands down, but we didnt. We didnt have a consistant outside shooter, and guest what? Huggins runs the 1-3-1 zone and we lose.
I know its one game, but Knight and Miller are our only credible 3 point shooters, I was hoping Lamb and Jones were going to be jacking them up, now I am worried that we are heading down the same path this year. We need Kanter, and we need intensity, but above all we need the three ball.
We had one of the greatest of all time last year, who didnt make the final four. Hell we, had one of the greatest PG C & PFs in our collective history. With all that talent Why didnt we reach the goal? We couldnt hit the three. Cal better be teaching this team to shoot the 3, and how to effectively play the zone. Everything else will take care of itself.
Duke was no way, no shape, more talented than the cats. They had one weapon we didnt, Smith, Singler, Scheyer, and could hit the three at will. They crushed West Virginia. They won it all, we didnt. It sucks.
We have to embrace the three to get back to the big stage.
If they can clone Coke Zero, Coach Cal should be able to clone Delk and Sheppard.
Sorry to rant, but I think that since 92 every year we get farher, and farher away from those great 3 point shooting teams.
We need our 3 mojo back, We invented it!!!. Enes will help too!!
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:49 am
u had to expect this a little bit because look we have 3 freshmen starting we just need experience
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 am
I’ll take this team over Mike Porter, Sheray Thomas, Bobby Perry, Obrzut, Shagari Alleyne, JP Blevins, Saul Smith, Konner Tucker, Vinny Zollo, Dakotah Euton etc, ANY DAY of the week!!! This UK team will be a lot like Villanova (if we don’t get Kanter). If we get him, we’ll be a lot like last year’s UK team. Bottom line, with Kanter, we’re a 30 plus win team. Without him, we’re a 25 win team.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:59 am
10) the 3′s will come ….. 1-11 isn’t to good I agree, but you start leavin Knight, Miller
& Lamb open and they will knock em down. This team will get better & better each game. If or
when Kanter is in the lineup it will be damn good. Sit back & enjoy the ride ….
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:00 am
Dr. Beis we need the three if we are ever going to get the #8 banner hanging in rupp!! We hit one tonight. Didnt we learn our lesson with West Virginias 1-3-1 zone last year? If we cant hit the three, you can bet we are going to see zone every game, which sucks for the dribble drives need for spacing.
Calipari’s inherent flaw may be that he values a layup which he coaches is great, and a three pointer is just good. Maybe this is why he hasnt had a great shooter since Lou Roe. I dont believe he ran the dribble drive back then at UMASS.
Duke (which couldnt hold a candle to out talent)won because they had something we didnt, 3 consistant shooters in Scheyer, Singler, and Smith. We didnt have that balance.
We invented how to use the three ball, and we cant buy one now? We hit one three tonight?
Coach Cal needs to value the three as much as the layup, because it creates balance.
Balance = championships
If we can clone coke zero, than coach cal can clone Tony Delk, and Jeff Sheppard.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:02 am
please disregard 14 I didnt think my earlier post went thru! Sorry
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:16 am
who won the Halloween contest on here?
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:26 am
I’m one of the 9 people that follow BTI on twitter, but earlier today he said that he would pick Utah, Boise state, or tcu against the rest of the field in an 8 game playoff to win the national championship. Since BTI is all about numbers, data and generally rational thought, I really need to know how you could possibly draw this conclusion. I know this is not the thread to post this on, but this is the first chance I’ve had to ask this question. How as a data and numbers guy could you possibly draw this conclusion? It just doesn’t add up to the way that you normally draw your conclusions and/or rants and rambles. That being said, I normally agree with a solid 90 percent of your posts, just curious as to how you’ve formed this opinion?
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:44 am
#10 Deandre has a nice J as well as Lamb it’s a matter of spreading the floor,look at what we started with last year. It’s called evolving as a team. We did lose 7 people. Check your self at the door. you may as well be a tard fan
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:02 am
(10 & 14) I have followed Cal since Umass and could not agree more. I have been saying that very thing about Cal’s teams for years. Well that, and his teams normally are not very good from the free throw line. With the DDM offense, you cannot expect a guy to take it to the rack and hope he gets fouled if he is an average FT shooter. Losses will come unless the team plays stellar defense for 40 min. With a thin bench this not likely. I believe in this team and expect them to go far, but I do have some worries about Cal’s philosophy. Don’t take that the wrong way, I wanted Cal as our coach instead of BCG.
One last thing, my father-in-law had a mini stroke tonight for the second time in 6 months. He could not remember the Halloween party we attended on Fri, he could not remember that Halloween was yesterday, doesn’t remember driving home or being at work. When the doctors asked what he remembered last he replied, “I remember Kentucky playing hard and losing a game they should have won in Mississippi.” Please put him on your prayer list. The man bleeds blue. He has a mini Cooper with Wildcat painted on the roof, too many collectables to mention and when he built their guest house he added an indoor half court for the grandkids so he could hang banners in it like Rupp. The family could use all the support of KSR as my wife and her sisters are a little stressed and worried.
Thanks. As always Go Cats and Free Enes.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:02 am
jones needs to realize he’s in the sec now. this IS NOT west coast ball. tough up, mofo.. sec mofo’s will eat you alive.
lamb.. you’re tough as nails. keep on keeping on.
knight. sheeee-it.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:29 am
Center for Pikeville > Jorts and Vargas.
Vargas and Hood with be the 8th and 9th man for Pikeville.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:30 am
10 hits the nail squarely on the head. I came here to say the most telling thing about last night’s game was the lack of the three. I see that 10 has already said it, and much more eloquently than I could. Folks, without a three ball we can fergettaboutit. 10, you make the most salient point of all.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:37 am
I just read again what 10 had to say about the lack of the three ball. It’s definitely one of, if not the, best posts I have seen on any board, anywhere. It is just soooo dead-on. It should be required reading for everyone.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:48 am
Typical UK board after a BB game. The Cats could beat Duke 160-20 and someone would find something negative to say, like the Cats didn’t dunk hard enough.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:57 am
1. Brandon Knight is really good. 2. Miller needs to stop with the pump fakes – no one buys them. 3. Slone is a little @#$%&.
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:23 am
The choice of tejaculators(and witches) every where.
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:33 am
Don’t forget about the new impeding progress foul rule. God knows I won’t after the broadcasters incessantly talking about it last night.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:20 am
Defense always comes around later for Freshmen. All they had to do in high school is run up and down the floor and score. They are too athletic to not “get it” early on in the season. I think we’ll be just fine.
Also, check last years super heroes…everyone dumbs down to a lesser opponent. it tends to get boring when you know at any point you can pull away with relative ease.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 am
17.. BTI is not a numbers guy. He forms opinions based on emotion and then retrospectively finds data to support his opinion. It’s classic data mining. The line between rational and irrational is very thin in BTI’s world.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:37 am
Jacob Tamme had 6 catches for 64 yards and a touchdown on MNF.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:41 am
On another note Tamme had a GREAT game last night for the Colts. Caught his first NFL TD and with him the Colts were able to win.
Last night’s game the guys looked a little tight in the first half but I thought came out in the second half with a lot more energy and vigor. Although I thought Hood was doing a good job in the 1st I was surprised that he didn’t get in until the middle of the 2nd. For a first game I give them a B+. If you remember last year we didn’t look so hot in the first few games……..GO CATS!!!! FREE ENES!!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:42 am
I seen Landon Slone through his 2nd place district tournament trophy away when he was a senior in high school,forget him .
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:45 am
I couldn’t agree more with all of those who have commented on the lack of 3 point shooting. With or without Kanter if the team cannot consistently hit the 3 there will be no title.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:45 am
Jones’ laziness was not expected. I still expect to see him do big things, but that was a dissapointment.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:55 am
we’ll be alright.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:56 am
Has “Free Enes” become our “War Eagle”? Also, what is the Turkish word for “Free” as that would make a very nice shirt.
JB
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:59 am
Darius and Liggins both seem to be improved shooting-wise. I dont see why both of them along with Lamb and Knight cant all average better than 33/34% from three. If so we should be fine.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:01 am
I’m moving to Vermont with Setty to get married. I fell for him hard last night.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:05 am
It was good to see Tamme get some playing time last night for the Colts. He’ll see more of it too as Clark is gone. One thing I noticed with Tamme though is that he was good at running his route and had some good catches, but he wasn’t blocking very well at all. I would watch him in multiple plays try and make a path for the Colts running game and he would literally get mowed down. And Gruden wouldn’t shut up about how the Colts need a TE that can block. Tamme will come around though. For his first game as a starter, he did a good job.
People need to stop treating this FIRST EXHIBITION game like we are in the middle of SEC play. It was the first game against an opponent from another college of the season. They will all start to come into their own defined roles as the season progresses. And personally I’m glad that we aren’t living and dying by the 3. We still win by double digits because we have a roster where 80% of the guys on the floor can do the dribble-drive if their shot isn’t working for them. It’s nice to have options offensively.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:14 am
Umm 42 of 56 freethrows is not 86%…it’s 75%.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:31 am
we connected on 75% of our free throws not 86% as you alluded to – “and connecting on 86% of them in every game would be mighty nice.”
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:31 am
regarding the defense, we need to remember how awful we were on the defensive end at the beginning of last season. we couldn’t guard the outside shot to save our lives, which is why we almost lost to several much lesser teams. it will take time, and we just have to hope that the early losses aren’t bad enough to cost us a 1, 2, or 3 seed.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:34 am
Did you see me pad my stats at the end of the game by getting to the line about 5 times. I did this after my high school buddy fouled. I’d say the strongest I played was in the final 6 minutes of the game. Beis says he didn’t disappear throughout the game I couldn’t disagree more. No presence at all.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:43 am
BILL SHOUSE for County Commissioner District 3, Spread the Word!!!!
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 am
The kids are alright.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:14 am
Well I dont understand all the negative issues, we knew coming in they where young. It will take them sometime to start working together as a team and learning how to play with each other. I am proud to be a UK fan and will support this team to the end, 40 mins into the season and people are already beating up a bunch of kids that just got here. Last couple of mths all we hear is how great these guys are, well lets sit back and watch them grow and thank God we have some talent to work with and not a bunch of 2 and 3 star kids to wait 3 yrs to come around stop crying and let the kids grow or find another team to root for!!
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:38 am
Lot’s of potential on this team but in the end it will be only as good as Brandon Knight. He will be the straw that stirs the drink! I hope I am wrong but I look for a rough trip to Maui.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:42 am
43 – He had a double double? How do you disappear, and earn a double double. Your an idiot!
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:07 am
I don’t remember even shooting the 3,much less being awesome at it. I took a total of 18 threes at UMAss
at UMass. Number 10 and 14 surely you jest
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:10 am
10 and 14, I was Cal’s last good shooter. I attempted 18 3′s in my 4 year career at UMass. Surely you jest
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 am
48- Watch a replay of the game… I was great near the end got a couple of boards off my own missed shots and got fouled going back to the basket. Got me at least 8 points from the line at the end of the game with the “starters” of the Pike (my boy Sete played me tough glad to see him foul out late) sitting on the bench. Did you see me shake no one in space at the free throw line? Look I’m more critical of myself than anyone but I did some padding for sure last night especially near the end don’t let your emotions and love for us blind you from the ride I took you on last night. I’ll be like Houdini this year in 80% of the games.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
48- By the way I had 21pts and 9 boards. But before the final 6-7 minutes I had 13pts. and 5 boards. Look for these numbers in the future. Deandre Liggins is the thump that makes this team go… I’m still a little scared out there.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I enjoy your comments, they are excellent. You need to run it through a spell checker before publishing. It can be distracting from your content. Thanks, Sam
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I think the comments on the cats not hitting the threes is exactly right. If the cats don’t improve in that category it’s gonna be a long season!! NCAA FREE Enes!!!!!