Welcome to the first game of the 2012-13 college basketball season, and A Sea of Blue's first Open Game Thread. Tonight, it's the Kentucky Wildcats versus the Maryland Terrapins in the Barclays Classic. This is a real test for this young Wildcats team, because the Terrapins, while not a nationally prominent team, are much improved over the last year. The good news is, as a team, they have little more experience playing together than the Wildcats do.
Here are the particulars from UKAthletics.com:
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| Gameday Information |
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| Kentucky vs. Maryland Fri., Nov. 9 - 8:30 p.m. ET Brooklyn, N.Y. Game Notes: UK  | MD |
| Coverage |
| TV: ESPN Radio: UK IMG Live Video via WatchESPN Live Stats Live Audio Text Updates |
One thing about Maryland is that they are very, very tall and long, very similar in that respect to Kentucky., They are also much deeper than the Wildcats, so if Kentucky's players get into foul trouble, that will be an issue.
But the Wildcats are more athletically gifted than the Terrapins, overall , and that will be the factor that puts them in the driver's seat in this game, if anything does.
What UK needs to do to win:
- Keep the pace up. A faster pace definitely favors the Wildccats.
- Play in front of Maryland's big men as much as possible. Kentucky will be outmassed in the post.
- Shoot the ball well from the perimeter. Kentucky needs to prevent Maryland from packing their defense in to give Archie Goodwin and Ryan Harrow room to attack the basket.
- Make free throws.
- Rebound. Kentucky has been a very poor offensive rebounding team so far this year. They must either get better at it, or keep the opponent off the offensive glass.
- Knock off the turnovers. UK has been very turnover prone this year in the exhibitions.
Kentucky really has been a little bit everywhere so far, and hopefully they have found enough common ground so that they are not miles behind Maryland in execution. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of one-on-one play out of Kentucky when the Terps are in man, but I do expect Mark Turgeon to test our outside shooting early. UK must make him pay.
Let's get this done. Go, 'Cats!!