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Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 01-05-2019, 03:22 PM:

Box Score

Take away the scoring of Herro and Johnson and we are not very hard to beat. Cal has said this is his best three point shooting team since he came to Ky, well, if it is, why isn't he using it that way? Cal is coaching dribble drive offense with very poor floor spacing and no one spotting up for an open three point shot. The team has little to no cohesion offensively when Baker is on the floor, he looks lost on the offensive end of the floor and I don't see him being much of a difference maker in this team. I fear we as fans are in for a very long season with this team. I sure hope they prove me wrong.

They looked like the team they were in early December, before Coach Cal's camp. The wins against a very weak Utah team, a so so U of L team and a decent UNC team gave us fans some hope, well, today, this group just destroyed my hope for this being a really successful season.

Posted by ukman (Member # 3032) on 01-05-2019, 03:47 PM:

Never should have gotten out rebounded in this game. Travis with only 6, and PJ 7. Those 2 should be averaging close to double digit rebounds.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 01-05-2019, 03:58 PM:

Just got outhustled in the last 25 minutes of the game and it especially shows in the rebounding stats!

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 01-05-2019, 04:28 PM:

We were leading them in rebounding by 8 early in the game but they took over the rebounding department with about 8 minutes to go in the first half and were still down by 1 at the half. Second half was little to no effort by the Cats when it come to rebounding. This team have no shot blocker, rim protector type person.

Posted by Trey Ball (Member # 332) on 01-05-2019, 05:28 PM:

I think the biggest factor for Rebounding disadvantage today was do to poor shot selection. That led to many misses and in many cases the shot selection was so bad that UK had no one in offensive rebounding position.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-05-2019, 07:23 PM:

They beat us from the 3 point line. We go 5-18 for 23% compared to Bama's 10-23 for 43.5%....

Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 01-05-2019, 08:22 PM:

We are now finding out what happens when you get none of your first choices on signing day. K has surpassed Cal now for several years and if you watched today's game you can see why. We are going to find out that most of the top 10 guys shy away from UK now and I feel it is mainly due to the way Cal plays and coaches. We can see this by just looking at the big guys at the top of the listings. We have struck out on all of the top 4 or 5 big guys now for several years. Cal has to coach these guys up to get them close to some of the other teams.

[ 01-05-2019, 08:24 PM: Message edited by: Bama Cat ]

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 01-05-2019, 10:38 PM:

I missed the game today... I was dropping my daughter off at her apartment to start the semester at a school I cannot mention.

So, my comments are based only on the box score. the first thing that stands out is the balance in our scoring -- all five starters notched somewhere between 12 and 15 points. 14 assists on 28 made baskets isn't terrible either.

The bad, however, far outweighs the good. We were out-hustled as evidenced in the "effort stats" of rebounds and blocks. Our bench players were pathetic... Richards and Montgomery in particular disappoint me over and over. I don't think any of our bench rotation players are going to help too much this year -- Richards, Montgomery, and Baker in particular seem to underperform.

All in all, however, it seems that our defense was sub-par and our offense even worse. Add in lackluster effort, and that is a loss every day. The fact that we only lost by 2 seems like a miracle.

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 01-06-2019, 08:34 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by catmandoo:
They beat us from the 3 point line. We go 5-18 for 23% compared to Bama's 10-23 for 43.5%....

I think Cal needs to realize that the 3-pointer is a huge part of the college game. He admits that he doesn't want his teams taking a lot of 3's. Well, when you play a team that does shoot a lot and they make a good percentage, you're gonna get beat. And I want our best shooters taking the 3's, not PJ and Reid. I know they shoot it ok, but when they're shooting the 3 there's no one underneath to rebound. We need our guards, and especially best shooter, KJ, shooting more than our power forwards.

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 01-06-2019, 09:11 AM:

AS of today, our best three-point shooters are:

PJ Washington 9/20 for 45%
Keldon Johnson 19/44 for 43%
Reid Travis 5/13 38%

Quade Green was shooting 11/26 for 42% when he left the team.

So, if you REALLY want us to be a 3-point shooting team, you need to let PJ and Reid shoot 'em.

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 01-06-2019, 09:13 AM:

I cringe every time I see Travis or PJ take a three point shot. Travis took one at a critical time in the game yesterday and of course he missed. Even Cal mentioned that shot on his after the game show. This is not a good defensive team liked we all hoped they would be, anyone that runs a good three point offense are going to give us problems all year long, we just make little to no effort to cover that area of the floor defensively.

Posted by rlt4uk (Member # 3194) on 01-06-2019, 09:26 AM:

I cringe everytime I see Hagan's take it to the hoop. He misses so many layups. I know the big guys need to rebound better, but this offense will only go as far as the point guard will take them.

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 01-06-2019, 09:49 AM:

I just checked UK Athletics through games played yesterday and the following is our three point shots attempted and made by player:
Travis 5 for 15 for 333 percent
Johnson 20 for 47 for 42.6 percent
Herro 23 for 70 for 329 percent
Washington 9 for 23 for 391 percent
Hagans 1 for 8 for 125 percent
Montgomery 0 for 3 for 0 percent
Baker 3 for 9 for 333 percent.

Montgomery and Travis should not be taking three point shots based on those percentages. PJ Washington is the second best three point shooter on the team according to the stats, following Kelden Johnson who is the only player shooting over 40 percent. Click on the individual stats below this post and you can see the shooting percentages for the entire team.

Individual Stats through 13 games

[ 01-06-2019, 09:54 AM: Message edited by: SCWC ]

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-06-2019, 10:03 AM:

Herro who has shot the most 3 pointers has the lowest percentage. Not good!

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 01-06-2019, 10:45 AM:

SCWC, it is interesting to see the discrepancy in shooting stats were apparently due to just this last game. My numbers were taken from Jon Scott's site "bigbluehistory.com". Here is the page:

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/stat2018-19.html

Incredible how much difference on bad game makes.

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 01-06-2019, 12:40 PM:

Tiptree, I had totally forgot about his site. I always use the UK athletics site, have not visited Jon Scott's site in years. He does have some good data, just did not have the data through the game we lost to Bama yesterday in his stats.

Posted by handycat (Member # 2323) on 01-06-2019, 03:50 PM:

I too missed the game as we were traveling to Florida for a few weeks. Worse yet, I forgot my phone and Cal was unable to contact me. You guys need to take that into consideration when analyzing the game.

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 01-06-2019, 09:00 PM:

Handy, this will not do. You CANNOT forget your phone from now on.

I just called Cal, and he agreed to send one of the UK cheerleaders to be your personal assistant. I think it is the cute little blond. She will accompany you anywhere you go and carry your phone for you. He says she will be completely at your service, whatever that means.

[Smile]

Posted by handycat (Member # 2323) on 01-07-2019, 07:43 AM:

Tip, you met my wife. You need to explain this situation to her.

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 01-07-2019, 08:08 AM:

I don't mind PJ taking SOME 3's - so far he's hitting them at a high percentage, his form looks great and he only shoots when wide open. But I still think KJ, Quickly and Herro should be shooting the 3's. Let PJ and Reid stay under and rebound.

I think bigbluehistory.net is one of the best sites on the web. I use it all the time. Anything you need to know about Ky basketball, in it's entire history, can be found there rather easily.

Posted by MountainMafia (Member # 2066) on 01-07-2019, 08:27 AM:

Tiptree:

quote:
I just called Cal, and he agreed to send one of the UK cheerleaders to be your personal assistant. I think it is the cute little blond. She will accompany you anywhere you go and carry your phone for you. He says she will be completely at your service, whatever that means.

Uh, Tip old buddy, would you mind calling Cal and putting in a word for me. You know, just in case HC can't keep her...I got just the job for her.

Posted by MountainMafia (Member # 2066) on 01-07-2019, 08:35 AM:

hc,

quote:
I forgot my phone and Cal was unable to contact me.

I was tell'n the wife that Cal seemed worried and confused during the game...now I know why.

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 01-07-2019, 10:57 AM:

For me, it's more like I'll trust a box score or sporting event review or something like that. Anything other than that - I won't even bother reading.

Posted by blue hoot (Member # 398) on 01-07-2019, 11:43 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by PaulCat:
I think Cal needs to realize that the 3-pointer is a huge part of the college game. He admits that he doesn't want his teams taking a lot of 3's. Well, when you play a team that does shoot a lot and they make a good percentage, you're gonna get beat. And I want our best shooters taking the 3's, not PJ and Reid. I know they shoot it ok, but when they're shooting the 3 there's no one underneath to rebound. We need our guards, and especially best shooter, KJ, shooting more than our power forwards.[/QB]

So true. That's why so many top 25 teams are losing to bad conference teams. No matter how bad a team is, if they're hitting the 3 you can easily lose.

Posted by ukcatfannfl (Member # 1425) on 01-07-2019, 12:05 PM:

I agree with u guys ref shooting the 3. Cal has said that he is getting his players ready for the pros. As an example allowing PJ and Reid to "expand" their games i.e. shooting the 3 to make them more marketable.(it appears at the expense of his current team)..

Reid will never play in the NBA and I;m about 50plus percent that PJ doesn't..

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 01-07-2019, 02:01 PM:

Ed, I feel the same way as you do about Reid, don't see him ever making an NBA roster. PJ will not be a first round draft pick if the draft were held today. I see Kelden Johnson as our only first round NBA player on this squad.

We are one of the few teams playing college ball currently that does not run a three point offense per se.

[ 01-07-2019, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: SCWC ]

Posted by ukcatfannfl (Member # 1425) on 01-07-2019, 05:07 PM:

todays game is all about spacing and shooting - just ask the warriors..