TheCatsDomain.Com Message Boards: Cal says UCLA loss was a defensive issue

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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-07-2016, 11:32 AM:

“My team scored 92 points and created 18 turnovers … and only turned it over nine times,” UK Coach John Calipari said of the loss to UCLA. With those numbers, “you’d say you won by 25.”

But UCLA nullified that good work by shooting so well and scoring so much. Freshman forward TJ Leaf led the way with 17 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

“That was a defensive issue,” Calipari said in summing up the loss. “Our matchup with Leaf was just a bad matchup, and he took advantage.”

Leaf was matched up with either senior Derek Willis or freshman Wenyen Gabriel. Even before the UCLA game, Calipari had singled out the Willis/Gabriel forward position as needing better defense.

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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-07-2016, 11:39 AM:

A lot of Kentucky fans have wondered for a couple of seasons why Willis didn't play more and it looks and sounds like it was because of his defensive play. When you score 92 points and lose it's pretty obvious that your defense needs a lot of work especially with Willis and Gabriel.

Posted by boomdaddy (Member # 2644) on 12-07-2016, 02:13 PM:

Gabriel has had his share of matador defensive plays....Gabriel got burned bad at the start of the game

Really won't matter if Willis plays or not, if he is going to pass up wide open shots.......he needs to make the most of his Senior season

[ 12-07-2016, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: boomdaddy ]

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 12-08-2016, 11:48 AM:

My only gripe against Cal is that he seems to be stuck on defense, every year.

I think some times he should just look at the team and maybe adjust his thinking. You know, UCLA is a good team and they're gonna score their points. There are times when players are gonna get beat on defense - it just happens. You can't stop everyone on every play. I would have liked to see him go in at halftime of the UCLA game and say, "look, they're gonna score. We just need to outscore them". We shot horribly against UCLA. I wish Cal would've turned to his offense in the second half and just tried to outscore them instead of putting in players he thought could defend. I think Mulder and Jones could've really helped us win the UCLA game. I like Hawkins, but i'll take Mulder over him ever day.

Posted by blue hoot (Member # 398) on 12-08-2016, 12:07 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by PaulCat:
My only gripe against Cal is that he seems to be stuck on defense, every year.

We just need to outscore them". We shot horribly against UCLA. I wish Cal would've turned to his offense in the second half and just tried to outscore them instead of putting in players he thought could defend. I think Mulder and Jones could've really helped us win the UCLA game. I like Hawkins, but i'll take Mulder over him ever day.

Agree, we must of missed a half dozen bunnies and layups, then Briscoe had 3 baseline turnovers. Like we all say, we will definitely be better by March but so will the others. [Eek!]

Posted by ironrangetoo (Member # 10205) on 12-08-2016, 12:58 PM:

Good defense makes it easier to outscore them.

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 12-08-2016, 06:23 PM:

Good offense makes good defense less relevant.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-08-2016, 07:30 PM:

Good offense and good defense makes for a good team. [Smile]

Posted by ukman (Member # 3032) on 12-09-2016, 07:30 AM:

It wasnt mostly Gabriel and Willis that Leaf scored against. It was because they would switch everything. At least half of the times it was a smaller guard they could easily shoot over. I was glad to see they didn't switch as much against Valpo. I hope Cal realized the issue and fixed it. That killed us against UCLA.