DSS: Kentucky vs Ole Miss

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This was an odd game from a defensive perspective. For the game, the Kentucky Wildcats held the Ole Miss Rebels to 62 points on 66 possessions for a Defensive Efficiency of 93.9. That's not too far off their overall performance against the SEC entering the game (91.9 defensive efficiency) but the defensive effort was a bit uneven.

Early in the game the Cats were engaged, but even before Anthony Davis picked up his 2nd foul Ole Miss was starting to put together an effective offense behind the play of Terrence Henry. The Rebels executed against the press the Cats used against them to get some easy baskets and hit a few three points shots that were moderately contested, but mostly they were able to drive to the basket and get layups and dunks.

With Davis back on the floor for the second half, the Wildcats were back to their typically tough field goal defense as they held the Rebels to only 7 made shots and 15 total points in the first 12 minutes of the game. Once the Cats built a 20 point lead the defensive pressure relaxed somewhat although they didn't give up the kind of easy shots that South Carolina hit in the final minutes of the game at Columbia. Ole Miss hit 5 of their last 7 field goal attempts to make the score (and their FG%) look somewhat respectable, but by then the game was basically over.

On the good side, UK did a terrific job grabbing defensive rebounds and limiting 2nd chance opportunities. That helped counteract the worse-than-usual field goal defense. Everything else was pretty much what we've come to expect from the Cats this year.

• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had a tough assignment on Terrance Henry this game. His defense was actually not all that bad as he was in position on every shot and never got lost on screens or in traffic. Henry is just a good player who had a good game.
• Darius Miller was the other player to take a turn on Henry and he was generally more effective at forcing him to take long jump shots. Darius did get lost going the wrong way around a screen which allowed Henry to get a wide open dunk in the first half.
• Doron Lamb does not have a big line, but he spent most of the day chasing Nick Williams around. Williams was leading Ole Miss in scoring in conference play but was held to just 8 points on 7 shot attempts, 4 of those points came in the final minutes after the outcome had been decided. He never got going and Lamb deserves some credit for that.