Friday, December 31, 2010

Louisville v. Kentucky

I'll write about this for as long as I can stand it.

23 comments:

  1. Louisville 6 - 6 Kentucky (15:45 left in 1st half)

    Well, so far it's gone the way I expected. U of L has already made 2 of 3 from 3-point range, while UK is 0-2 from behind the arc. But UK is playing hard, and playing pretty good defense.

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  2. Louisville 14 - 14 Kentucky (11:22 left in 1st half)

    This is very frustrating, because I think Kentucky is really better than Louisville. But Jones has been terrible so far, and Lamb is already on the bench with two fouls. Harrellson is the only UK player who looks like he's awake.

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  3. Louisville 14 - 19 Kentucky (9:52 left in 1st half)

    Very good stuff from Miller. With the score 14-12, Miller made a three-point play to give UK its first lead. Then he made a beautiful bank shot that forced Pitino to call time.

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  4. Louisville 16 - 21 Kentucky (7:56 left in 1st half)

    The UK/U of L game is always an ugly game, and this one is no exception. So far, UK is shooting 34 percent from the field, and U of L is shooting only 27 percent. Given that Lamb has barely played and that Jones has been useless (he has 0 points and only one rebound), UK is in surprisingly good shape. If Jones starts doing anything, UK could really get going. On the other hand, if U of L starts hitting their three's, UK could be in big trouble.

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  5. Louisville 16 - 26 Kentucky (6:46 left in 1st half)

    Knight hits a three and a layup, and Pitino calls another timeout.

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  6. Louisville 22 - 28 Kentucky (5:21 left in 1st half)

    That timeout worked. U of L has gone on a little run, so Coach Cal called time.

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  7. Louisville 24 - 30 Kentucky (3:56 left in 1st half)

    Well, I thought it would be interesting to see Pitino's game plan. Obviously, his plan is to take away Jones -- and that plan has worked. Jones still has no points, and only two rebounds. But Miller has taken advantage of the situation; he has nine points and has made some spectacular plays around the basket.

    Lamb and Knight both have two fouls, so it will be interesting to see if UK can survive the last few minutes of the half.

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  8. Louisville 24 - 35 Kentucky (Halftime)

    Well, Kentucky took a very simple approach to the last four minutes of the half. With Knight on the bench, UK simply ran down the clock, then took a long shot and hoped Jones and Harrellson could run down the rebound. This worked amazingly well. Jones got a putback, and Lamb hit a three after another rebound by Harrellson. Meanwhile, U of L missed the front end of two different one-and-ones, so they were unable to score.

    So far, the expected barrage of 3's from the Cardinals has not come. U of L has made only 3 of 11 three-pointers -- exactly the same as UK. With the three-point shooters cancelling each other out, UK's advantage on the boards (they've out-rebounded U of L 25-17) has been very important.

    But there's still another half to go, and I've seen Pitino's teams make big comebacks before. The first five minutes of the second half will be very important.

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  9. Louisville 26 - 44 Kentucky (15:59 left in 2d half)

    Harrellson is just destroying U of L right now. He has 11 points, and 12 rebounds, and in this half he has made a jump shot, a free throw, and a 3 (!). U of L is concentrating on Jones, and Harrellson is making them pay.

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  10. i've been commenting at your preview. i figured you weren't watching the game.

    48-36 with 12:34 to go.

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  11. Louisville 36 - 48 Kentucky (12:30 left in 2d half)

    Here they come. U of L has started hitting its three's, and Cal was forced to call time.

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  12. Louisville 37 - 50 Kentucky (11:55 left in 2d half)

    Well, this is going to take a long time, now. U of L is shooting very quickly and chasing all over the floor, trying to create as many possessions as possible. So far, UK hasn't panicked, but they will need to hit free throws and hope U of L goes back to missing three's.

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  13. Louisville 49 - 59 Kentucky (7:57 left in 2d half)

    Preston Knowles is trying to win the Kentuckian of the Year award, as he is just firing in shots from all over the place. Louisville is scoring pretty much every time it gets the ball -- often on very long shots. But so far, UK has been hanging in there. Still, Louisville is really throwing everything they've got at UK right now.

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  14. Jones just passed out of a double team for a Harrelson bank, drew a foul and then hit two free throws (though one was erased by a lane violation). Now he has hit a short hook ... 66-52 with 5:32 to go.

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  15. Louisville 52 - 66 Kentucky (5:32 left in 2d half)

    Some huge plays by Jones and Harrellson forces Pitino to call his fourth time out.

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  16. Jones in transition, good and fouled ... this is outstanding.

    So pleased to see this guy NOT disappear despite not being the first scoring option early int he game.

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  17. Coach Cal seems to know how to coach these guys, or he knows which of these AAU stars are coachable.

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  18. here are some of the things i would want to ask coaches and players about after this game:

    -- was this the first game that Miller posted so often? what encouraged Calipari to do this? did it work out as he expected? how did Kuric have to change the way he played defense after the game's first 15 minutes?

    -- what has Terrence Jones done to contribute to Harrelson's strong game?

    -- how is DeAndre Liggins's role different while playing for Calipari than what he expected to assume when signing to play for Gillispie?

    -- did Calipari learn he had been named Heath Post Kentucky Bureau Kentuckian of the Year before tipoff today, or did an aide alert him at halftime?

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  19. Louisville 56 - 69 Kentucky (4:02 left in 2d half)

    With Louisville down 16, Knowles (now being guarded by Liggins) just made a very difficult shot from deep in the corner. He has been amazing. Pitino calls his last time out.

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  20. Louisville 56 - 69 Kentucky (3:42 left in 2d half)

    Knight going to the line when we get back. UK really needs to make free throws now.

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  21. fine rebound by Jones with 15-point lead with 3:15 to go. lob to Harrelson ... 73-56.

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  22. Louisville 63 - 78 Kentucky (Final)

    What a great, great win by the Wildcats. Given the importance of this game to Louisville, the desperation with which the Cardinals played, and the spectacular shooting from Knowles, this ranks as one of the most impressive regular-season wins I can remember.

    Just a few final points:

    1. U of L bet everything on stopping Jones, but UK responded brilliantly, with Harrellson making shot after shot -- many of them wide open layups thanks to the double-team on Jones. Harrellson finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds -- Cousins-like numbers.

    2. Brandon Knight was simply spectacular. He played pretty much the whole game, he had very few turnovers, he scored 25 points on 7-13 shooting. He is better, I think, than most people realize.

    3. As Eric has pointed out, Jones did a great job of playing through what must have been a very frustrating afternoon. After two hours of setting up Harrellson, he finally got to end the game with a richly-deserved dunk.

    4. I still think this whole series is a waste of time for UK. We won't get that much credit for beating what is probably the fifth- or sixth-best team in the Big East, and next year we have to do it all over again. But I am very, very happy right now.

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