Kentucky 63 Memphis 80
It was a rough day for Kentucky basketball. UK was demolished by Memphis 80-63 and fell to 3-2 on the year. A 1-2 trip to Maui is not what anybody had in mind. Yes, they were ranked lower than both teams that beat them, but I figured they would win at least one of the 2 games. I said before they game that Memphis is dangerous when they're hitting their 3's and it showed today.
I felt during the 1st half that UK should easily have a lead, but they couldn't stop the 3 point shooting. In the 2nd half the UK offense went dead and the defense stayed dead. UK was one and done on too many possessions and Memphis went down and got EASY baskets. Dribble penetration killed UK today as it has in both of their losses. When a player can get right by the man guarding him, it creates an automatic 5-4 advantage. Usually UK didn't know who should help, so there ended being to men helping which left 3 guys open underneath. I don't claim to know all of the principles of Tubby's defense, but I hope that he is really able to teach these guys how to play defense. Most of them are great athletes and should be able to stop their man.
Morris had a good game with 18 pts., 8 reb., and just 1 foul. He got tired in the 2nd half, but that's to be expected from a big man who played 35 minutes. He was having to fight against 2 men every time down the court, and his shots quit dropping and his defense suffered. Other than Morris, I thought that most of the Cats played out of control on offense, and lost all energy on defense in the 2nd half. Memphis made more difficult deep shots in the 1st half, but got easy dunks in the 2nd. I'm sure fatigue played some factor in UK's bad play in the 2nd half, but you can't blame all of the defensive break downs on that.
Next game is against the College of Charleston on next Tuesday, and they at North Carolina on December 2nd. It's not time to panic, because there are lots of young players on the team, and they will get better. The offense has shown that it can put up points, and Morris has shown a much more developed offensive game. They just have to play smarter on defense and force more difficult shots.
I felt during the 1st half that UK should easily have a lead, but they couldn't stop the 3 point shooting. In the 2nd half the UK offense went dead and the defense stayed dead. UK was one and done on too many possessions and Memphis went down and got EASY baskets. Dribble penetration killed UK today as it has in both of their losses. When a player can get right by the man guarding him, it creates an automatic 5-4 advantage. Usually UK didn't know who should help, so there ended being to men helping which left 3 guys open underneath. I don't claim to know all of the principles of Tubby's defense, but I hope that he is really able to teach these guys how to play defense. Most of them are great athletes and should be able to stop their man.
Morris had a good game with 18 pts., 8 reb., and just 1 foul. He got tired in the 2nd half, but that's to be expected from a big man who played 35 minutes. He was having to fight against 2 men every time down the court, and his shots quit dropping and his defense suffered. Other than Morris, I thought that most of the Cats played out of control on offense, and lost all energy on defense in the 2nd half. Memphis made more difficult deep shots in the 1st half, but got easy dunks in the 2nd. I'm sure fatigue played some factor in UK's bad play in the 2nd half, but you can't blame all of the defensive break downs on that.
Next game is against the College of Charleston on next Tuesday, and they at North Carolina on December 2nd. It's not time to panic, because there are lots of young players on the team, and they will get better. The offense has shown that it can put up points, and Morris has shown a much more developed offensive game. They just have to play smarter on defense and force more difficult shots.
posted by Josh at 10:57 PM
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