I had to work tonight, so I did not get to see this game. I saw some highlights, I caught some of the post-game radio coverage, and I looked at the box score. On the whole, it looks like another very solid performance. For the second game in a row, UK exceeded Ken Pom's expectations. He had the Cats winning this game by 19 points (75-56), and instead they won by 25.
Anthony Davis had another spectacular performance, going 6-7 from the floor, 6-7 from the line, and finishing with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist chipped in 16 points and 8 rebounds, while Terrence Jones contributed 11 points and 6 rebounds. So a very solid job by the UK front line. Most importantly, the Cats played incredible defense -- UT shot only 16-57 from the field, and the Cats out-rebounded the Vols 34-28.
Also, UK did not ease up over the course of the game -- the Cats' final margin was their biggest lead of the game.
On the whole, if you believed that UK was rounding into form during Saturday's win over LSU, this game will do nothing to change your mind.
Uniform note: I think the platinum uniforms look silly, and I never want to see them again.
Shooting note: UK has been shooting well from three-point range lately, but they did not do so tonight. The Cats went 1-10 from behind the arc, with only Doron Lamb keeping alive UK's streak of games with a made three-point basket (which goes back to the 1980's). On the other hand, UK went 24-27 from the line, a blistering 88.9 percent pace. I would like to see the Cats do better from three-point range, but it's good to see them have the discipline to work the ball inside when they're not shooting well.
This was UK's fifth straight win over the Big Orange, and that is our longest winning streak against UT since we won eight in a row from 2002 to 2005.
ReplyDeleteI was running a bunch of errands around town and didn't get to see this game either. I was stunned to get in the car about 10 minutes after tipoff and already hear Tom Leach's UK-has-this-one-in-hand cool voice.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, you hear stuff like this about towns and sports a lot ... I can attest that there were literally no other customers in the Madisonville Walgreens for the five or eight minutes I was in there during the UK-UT first half.
I love the UK-has-this-one-in-hand voice. I'm so connected to Leach's mannerisms that often, in very close games, I will turn him off and listen to music instead -- because listening to how nervous he is makes me even more nervous.
ReplyDeleteTom Leach is terrific.
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