A big thanks to Mississippi Valley State and Unforgettable Sean Woods for coming into Rupp Arena and giving the Wildcats a game. It was pretty much over midway through the second half, but the MVSU players hustled and played hard in the style of Rick Pitino, pressing and shooting the three. The three was good to MVSU, as it kept them close in the first half.
This game went pretty much as I expected. The 'Cats were noticably dull and unmotivated after the disappointment of last night, to nobody's surprise. I really don't know how many valid conclusions can be drawn from this game, but I continue to be impressed by DeAndre Liggins. Jodie Meeks found his shooting eye again, but other than that, it's really hard to take much away. But for what they are worth, here are my thoughts:
Positives:
- DeAndre Liggins -- He played an uneven game, but he demonstrated why he was such a highly coveted recruit with his passing and running the break. His effort today was inconsistent and marred by typical freshman bad decisions, but his net impact on the team was a very big positive.
- Landon Sloan -- I thought Sloan played well, overall. I was surprised to see him in the game so early, but he performed pretty well.
- Josh Harrellson -- I thought Harrellson played well, especially on defense.
- Perry Stevenson -- Stevenson was solid if unspectacular. I think he must have had 3 or 4 blocks and pulled down many rebounds.
- Consistent effort to get the ball into the post. I liked that. It wasn't always successful, but I appreciated the effort.
- Turnovers -- MVSU is a quick, pressure team, and we mostly handled it very well.
- Free throw shooting -- We continue to shoot from the line very well.
Negatives:
- Continued discordant offense -- I just saw too much weirdness in this offense, I can't quite put my finger on it.
- Patrick Patterson's post position -- Patterson continues to post up weakly, which accounted for a number of failed entry passes.
- Darius Miller -- Darius lacks any semblance of confidence. He badly needs a break to rebuild it.
- Michael Porter -- Porter had a poor game and turned the ball over a lot. He also got beat of the dribble too much. Broken record.
- Rebounding -- UK allowed far too many offensive rebounds for my taste.
- Offensive execution -- Too many three point shots for facing a team that was giving away too much size.
- Three point defense -- MVSU rained threes on us.
Other observations:
- Did Gillispie ever get up off the bench?
- He starts Galloway both halves for about 2 minutes each. Why?
- This team looks rudderless to me.
- The team looked a bit fatigued to me. 5 games in eight days is a lot.
That's about all I have for now. Your observations are welcome