Wow, that was a tough loss to handle. If you are Kentucky you cannot lose at home to South Carolina. This game puts us squarely on the tournement bubble in my opinion. Perry Stevenson's free throws and Downeys jumper are going to be brought up as why we lost, but there are more alarming trends in this game. Here are some thoughts on the game.
- Rebounding absolutely killed UK today. The stats say UK outrebounded USC 38-33. That is incredibly misleading. South Carolina got 18 offensive rebounds that led to wayyyy too many second chances points. In conference play, South Carolina was the 11 ranked team in the SEC in rebounds per game. For a team that is as big and athletic as Kentucky, giving up 18 offensive rebounds is inexcusable.
- Patrick Patterson had a great game offensively today. He had 28 points on only 16 shots and was perfect at the foul line. I was particularly encouraged by him posting up on the right block for once. Also, he showed a drop step today along with a move to his left and the middle. However he has to get some of the blame for the horrendous defensive rebounding performance.
- A questionable decision of taking Meeks out just before there 4 minute mark. I usually agree with trying to get players extra rest in and around the tv timeouts... in the first half. While Meeks was out, UK's offensive possesion consisted of a step back jumper by Darius Miller early in the shot clock.
- This leads me to my next point. UK gives away countless possessions. Im not only talking about the excessive turnovers but some horrible shot selection. DeAndre Liggins pull up 3 in transition and Miller's step back jumpers are flat out possesion giveaways that loom large in one point losses.
- However, the trio of Liggins, Harris, Miller cut down there three point attempts from 15 at Ole Miss to 3 today. That is a positive.
- The inbound play that got Stevenson fouled. Yes, he was open but Meeks or Patterson HAS to get the ball in that situation. Especially with timeouts still in hand. That is poor execution.
- This is the second game in a row that UK was killed on the offensive boards and out coached. Disturbing trends as they enter the heart of conference play.
1 comment:
One word: FUCK.
This is a tough pill to swallow. Dropping 2 in a row after winning the first 5 conference games just plain hurts. Losing on the road to Ole Miss is one thing, but coming home and basically giving one away to USC is inexcusable. You can point to a lot of things for the loss (rebounding, defending Downey's dribble drive, Perry's free throws, etc.), but the fact is tough teams find ways to win these games.
The season isn't over by any means, but Gillispie is going to have to make some serious adjustments if we want to win the SEC and get a decent seed in the NCAAs.
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