If it weren't for Jodie and the 1,000-point man, the Cats would not have walked away relieved after their 70-63 win over undermanned LSU on Tuesday.
I wasn't sure what to make of that game last night. It had a bit of everything (we hate). Missed shots, lethargy on defense at times, Ramel Bradley chucking stupid shots, Tubby Smith looking confused on the bench, Derrick Jasper afraid to shoot, a huge first-half deficit, a second-half comeback and Bobby Perry starting, to name just a few.
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The fearless freshman proved why he should be starting with 18 huge points, all but saving a listless Wildcats team that missed all but three of their first 17 field-goal attempts on the way to a 16-point hole.
Randolph Morris, who after Tuesday's 20 has 1,002 career points at Kentucky, certainly deserves accolades. The guy whose head was "not in the game" in the loss to Alabama seemed to be in this one from the get-go, agressively attacking the rim and the boards. His defense? Sketchy, but we'll take scoring Morris with no 'D' over non-scoring Morris with no 'D' any day.
In a game where the bench managed a whopping 2 points and leading scorer Joe Crawford clanged his way to 6, it was Meeks who stepped up big.
"He gave us a big lift that we needed," Morris said of Meeks. "Some players were having a tough game offensively, and he came in and picked up the slack."
Calling Crawford and Jasper's evening a "tough game offensively" is a gross understatement. But Morris has a point, and it's nice that UK has someone to turn to when the shots aren't falling for the stars.
One wonders how many games Tubby Smith needs to see to judge that the current starting lineup isn't helping UK's cause much. This is the, what, fifth straight game the Cats have been behind big in before mounting a comeback? Smith's answer on Tuesday was to start Perry over Sheray Thomas.
Really? That's the cure? No chance you'd throw a curveball and start Meeks or Perry Stevenson, just to see if it helps? Well, forgive us longtime UK fans if we feel underwhelmed by Smith's coaching moves. Tubby seems disinclined to admit anything resembling frustration or confusion. Conversely, I thought LSU coach John Brady -- who I happen to think is as bad an in-game coach as there is in the college game -- was disarmingly candid in his assessment of why his team has struggled so much this year.
"Well, the only thing you can say is that I haven't coached them well enough. You can write a column on what you think, but that's all I'm going to say. I'm not going to go into a dissertation about this or that. The bottom line is I haven't given them what they need to finish a game.
Without Glen Davis, this game should not have been close, much less close to a loss. But, whetever, the Cats won at home, where they are now a whopping 400-50 all-time. Still, Tubby's Cats are responsible for 19 of those 50, and he's had exactly one season at UK where the team went undefeated at home, and not any of the seasons you'd expect. Only the 1999-2000 Cats, featuring Jamaal Magloire, ran the home table. Strange, huh?
And now we turn to the weekend game, a rematch with Vanderbilt. The 'Dores are ranked 17th in the land, surprised then-No. 1 Florida last weekend and have had the Cats' number of late. It would be a great road win for Kentucky if it can pull it off.
For now, I'll revel in the game that Meeks built, looking forward to the day he crosses the 1,000-point threshold. Something tells me it won't be all that far down the road.