Cincinnati Bearcats at Kentucky Wildcats: Postmortem Of A Workmanlike Effort

Yesterday, The #1 Kentucky Wildcats took care of business defeating the #8 Cincinnati Bearcats convincingly in the KFC YUM! Center. Despite the suggestions of some wishful thinkers, the Wildcats were never in serious danger of losing this game, and their defensive effort was the big reason why.

Cincinnati did what they had to do to win. While I have seen some complaints about the physicality of the game by Cincinnati, that is exactly who they are. As far as their efforts to get into Kentucky’s head, they are by no means the first team to try that, and I don’t blame them for trying to leverage their experience and take advantage of Kentucky’s inexperience.

I thought the Bearcats acquitted themselves well, but they simply did not have enough offense to overcome even a cold Kentucky team. Cincinnati did a great job on the offensive glass, too, and it’s a good thing or the game would not have been even slightly competitive. Despite beating Kentucky convincingly on the offensive glass, UC could not elevate their offensive efficiency even to 0.9 points/possession.

UC played really hard, and pretty much in line with how they should’ve been expected to play. They didn’t give up even when the game got out of hand late, and they did their school and their coach proud with their effort. Kudos to them. Good season, good luck next year.

Kentucky box

Courtesy of Kenpom.com

Cincinnati box

Courtesy of Kenpom.com

Four Factors

Team observations

• Kentucky shot the ball very poorly. We have to give credit to Cincinnati for some of that, particularly around the rim, where Cincinnati was among the toughest defensive teams we have played. Outside, UK got a ton of open looks, good clean ones, and just missed.

• Kentucky’s offensive efficiency of 1.03 reflects their poor shooting perfectly. Not even 71% at the line could rescue it.

• UC did what they had to do, and slowed down the game. That was smart. Being physical was smart. Trying to get into UK’s heads was smart. They needed to do all those things to have a chance, and they did. It just wasn’t enough. We have no right to complain about any of that, they are part of the game whether we think they should be or not. These young men from Cincinnati were competitors, none of this is new to Kentucky, and they can handle it because they have more than once.

• 3-point shooting has reverted to pre-SEC levels. We need to turn that around.

• 50% assists is fine. Given the number of good looks UK missed, it’s hard to imagine it being higher.

• Defensively, Kentucky was beastly. They just swallowed up the Bearcats inside, and gave them very few clean looks outside.

• 18% blocks and 11% steals are both very good numbers. Kentucky’s defense is becoming legendary, and when they add blocks and steals into the mix, it is a potent combination.

Individual observations

• For the first time in a while, we have a tie for the game ball. Trey Lyles played a terrific game, rebounding the ball like a man and doing the little things, like blocking shots, stealing the ball, and making assists. He had 5 offensive rebounds, a terrific number.

• Tyler Ulis also gets a piece of the game ball. He did a great job running the team, had 5 assists and no turnovers. he didn’t shoot it well, but he added 3 steals and 3 rebounds. Not bad for the little guy.

• Willie Cauley-Stein was pretty good. He shot a decent percentage (although he missed several easy looks), made his free throws, and blocked shots. What he did not do well was rebound, getting only two.

• Aaron Harrison was better today than he has been in a while. He made shots, going 5 for 11 and defended well.

• Andrew Harrison was not as good as he has been lately. He shot a low percentage, missed two free throws, but didn’t have a turnover. He had 2 assists.

• Karl-Anthony Towns was a defensive beast with 3 blocks to go with 7 rebounds and 8 points. He didn’t take any bad shots or make dumb fouls, although he did wind up with 4 and was somewhat limited minutes-wise.

• Devin Booker was ice cold from outside, but he still managed to do some scoring going 3-4 from 2-oint range, getting 4 rebounds and having only one turnover. He did struggle to defend Cincinnati’s smaller guards, though.

• Dakari Johnson continues to play reduced minutes, miss layups, and struggle to guard. He seems to get lost on defense almost every possession. He did rebound reasonably well, blocked a shot and had a steal.

• Marcus Lee only played a couple of minutes. He missed two free throws and got one rebound. He has also struggled with defensive rotation.

• Derek Willis played briefly at the end of the game.

Tying it all up

This wasn’t a great game by Kentucky, but it was good enough. The Wildcats played really well on defense, really poorly on offense, and yet won the game comfortably. But what I liked was that Kentucky took good shots, ran their stuff well, and played the game the right way. They got a little out of sorts after some Bearcats head games and a silly technical foul by Aaron Harrison, but Coach Cal calmed them down and got them focused. As ugly as it might have looked, this was a focused effort by Kentucky — they were just cold. That happens.

Next up, the Wildcats get the winner between the Maryland Terrapins and West Virginia Mountaineers. I personally do not care who it is, I think there are advantages and disadvantages against both squads. Whoever it is, I think the Wildcats are now fully engaged in the tournament and I expect them to start reaching peak basketball in this next round.