Box Score Thoughts

[WallMashKyBall]

The box score takeaways that popped out...

Carr was our best player last night by stats, 5 of 8 from floor, 2 of 3 from three. He had been lagging behind a bit in first two games, really proved his worth tonight, particularly when Pope put him in at the 5 and made their big guard him away from bucket.

Kirisa took the most 3's of any UK player (7) and only hit two.

Williams took the most shots of any UK player (12) and only made 3, but he did hit 4 of his 5 FT's and that was clutch.

Almonor only played 10 minutes but had decent stats, thought he could have played more.

I hope Robinson's one point from one FT night is an anomaly.

We were behind Duke in rebounding and turnovers big time in first have but gained in those categories in second half (Duke 45 rebounds, 7 TO's, UK 41 and 10.)

Oweh and Carr were our best clutch FT shooters.

Garrison was 4 of 5 from the floor and put up better stats than Williams.

Duke was awful from three (4 of 23). this could be their achelles heel going forward.

 

[SemperFiCat]

The Jaxon stat line is painful. I understood giving him min to try to get him going. But, when Pope put him back in around 6:00 left, I thought for sure that was going to cost us, and be Pope's first big mistake. Glad it worked out.

 

[know1]

Carr is going to be in our top 3 players every night. He's very consistent. He won't often have stats that jump out until you look at how balanced they are.

I still like our assists to turnovers. That shows we are playing within a well designed system.

Obviously, our 3 point shooting was really good, but not great.

The rebounding was serviceable.

The stat that doesn't show up much in the box score is that we flat wore them down.

 

[FirewithFire]

We have real problems with rebounding and some issues to clean up on defense.

Fouls are also a bit of an issue. They are super aggressive and pick up some bad fouls sometimes. That will hurt us at some point.

Turnovers are something that we might have to live with considering that Krissa seems to think he is Doncic or something, and Butler can be loose with the ball as well. It should get better as they learn each other's tendencies.

These things can all be cleaned up. The rebounding especially bothers me since it is an effort issue. Williams appears lethargic at times.

The Robinson thing is something else. He looked scared last night. I hope he isn't a shrinking violet or our "go to guy" is going to have to someone else. Carr or Alomar maybe.

 

[WallMashKyBall]

Also, it says a lot when our so-called best player (Robinson) doesn't show up at all, and we still win. We a team.
Duke won't have a back-up plan if their best player has an off night.

 

[Fitch44]

And I was super impressed with Carr’s ability to guard Flagg. He did hit a couple pull up jumpers on Carr but Duke in the second half was running those ball screens to get Carr off of him. The way Pope talked about Carr since the day he committed I knew he could be good, but I was so damn impressed with his overall game on both ends.
This team will do nothing but get better and better.

 

[Lempface]

The Jaxon stat line is painful. I understood giving him min to try to get him going. But, when Pope put him back in around 6:00 left, I thought for sure that was going to cost us, and be Pope's first big mistake. Glad it worked out.

It's hard to quantify how much having a guy on the floor the other team game planned around stopping really helped the cause but it worked out at the end of the day. But yeah I was yelling for Brea more down the stretch.

 

[JPFisher]

The Jaxon stat line is painful. I understood giving him min to try to get him going. But, when Pope put him back in around 6:00 left, I thought for sure that was going to cost us, and be Pope's first big mistake. Glad it worked out.

With Carr at the five and Robinson pulling so much focus on defense, it ended up working out well. Duke just smothered JRob all night. He missed a few great scoring opportunities, but Jaxson kept up the effort.

Still very happy to have him on the team. Hopefully his role as sixth man last year and his showing against duke doesn't indicate issues under pressure. I don't think they do, but it's something to monitor moving forward.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Carr is going to be in our top 3 players every night. He's very consistent. He won't often have stats that jump out until you look at how balanced they are.

I still like our assists to turnovers. That shows we are playing within a well designed system.

Obviously, our 3 point shooting was really good, but not great.

The rebounding was serviceable.

The stat that doesn't show up much in the box score is that we flat wore them down.

How is that possible because all I heard from the ESPN talking heads all night long was how deep that Duke was.

 

[know1]

How is that possible because all I heard from the ESPN talking heads all night long was how deep that Duke was.

You listen to announcers? How cute?

 

[rick64]

Hoping Robinson isn't going to shrink during big games like this on a regular basis. I realize you can't be "ON" every single game. I'm sure Pope and his staff will work on him to just relax and play and have fun.

 

[mcnicKY91]

Love Kriisa's energy and confidence, but Pope needs to rein him in. Too many wasted possessions in the first three games where Kriisa is jacking 30 footers with plenty of time on the shot clock. Has to stop.

Not a fan of how much Amari has the ball at the top of the key. I love his ability to distribute as a big man, but far too often he takes the ball from the top and goes 1-1 into the lane. He ends up holding the ball for 5-6 seconds and forces up a contested shot.

Robinson was a complete no show. I understand Duke made a concerted effort to minimize his opportunities, but he maybe our only "NBA" guy, and he most definitely did not look the part.

Loved our defensive intensity in the second half. Was the turning point in the game.

Great win, as these are games I have unfortunately grown accustomed to losing the past four years. Great to see solid play down the stretch and actual play calls executed by veteran players.

 

[Old_Red]

Duke's defense was really good and pushed our offense out. Also, they were allowed a typical Duke freedom to handcheck. How about that push off by Flagg with the arm fully extended not being called an offensive foul? We were very physical on defense and it wore Duke's young players down. That turnover by Flagg at the end was just the icing on the cake. He was mentally and physically shot.

 

[Creed Bratton]

You listen to announcers? How cute?

I'm here for the hard hitting facts that only Seth Greenburg, Jay Bilas and Jay Williams can provide.

 

[bucsrule8872]

I mentioned the other day that I thought Carr would be a big part of the game plan since he had experience against Duke.

You can watch a team, but on court experience against a team is invaluable.

I think he will be big against Clemson in some way as well. He had 17 pts, 5 rebs, and 3 ast in his one game against them last season.

 

[rick64]

7 missed FTA

 

[saxonburgcat]

And I was super impressed with Carr’s ability to guard Flagg. He did hit a couple pull up jumpers on Carr but Duke in the second half was running those ball screens to get Carr off of him. The way Pope talked about Carr since the day he committed I knew he could be good, but I was so damn impressed with his overall game on both ends.
This team will do nothing but get better and better.

Duke has a Flagg. Kentucky has a Carr. Carrs run over Flaggs.

 

[megablue]

The box score takeaways that popped out...

Carr was our best player last night by stats, 5 of 8 from floor, 2 of 3 from three. He had been lagging behind a bit in first two games, really proved his worth tonight, particularly when Pope put him in at the 5 and made their big guard him away from bucket.

Kirisa took the most 3's of any UK player (7) and only hit two.

Williams took the most shots of any UK player (12) and only made 3, but he did hit 4 of his 5 FT's and that was clutch.

Almonor only played 10 minutes but had decent stats, thought he could have played more.

I hope Robinson's one point from one FT night is an anomaly.

We were behind Duke in rebounding and turnovers big time in first have but gained in those categories in second half (Duke 45 rebounds, 7 TO's, UK 41 and 10.)

Oweh and Carr were our best clutch FT shooters.

Garrison was 4 of 5 from the floor and put up better stats than Williams.

Duke was awful from three (4 of 23). this could be their achelles heel going forward.

Good observations: I thought Almonor should've played more and Robinson less.
Can't Almonor and Carr play at the same time ??
Carr needs to get more than 5 rebounds in 30 minutes.
Garrison surprised me, as he played much better than I expected him to. That's encouraging for the 5-spot.

 

[megablue]

Love Kriisa's energy and confidence, but Pope needs to rein him in. Too many wasted possessions in the first three games where Kriisa is jacking 30 footers with plenty of time on the shot clock. Has to stop.

Not a fan of how much Amari has the ball at the top of the key. I love his ability to distribute as a big man, but far too often he takes the ball from the top and goes 1-1 into the lane. He ends up holding the ball for 5-6 seconds and forces up a contested shot.

Robinson was a complete no show. I understand Duke made a concerted effort to minimize his opportunities, but he maybe our only "NBA" guy, and he most definitely did not look the part.

Loved our defensive intensity in the second half. Was the turning point in the game.

Great win, as these are games I have unfortunately grown accustomed to losing the past four years. Great to see solid play down the stretch and actual play calls executed by veteran players.

Kriisa is a limited player, despite his attitude and energy. He can pass and shoot threes. That's about it, based on what I've seen. He stirke me as a very steaky player, versus a steady force. There's good and bad in that. Kinda like Dilly was ...
Veteran players with focus, determination, desire and courage will take us a long way. Selfless, for-the-team effort is priceless.
I do wish we had a few more players who can beat their man off the dribble against defensive pressure. Getting Butler and Oweh strike me as great pick-ups by Pope.

 

[SmyrnaCatFan]

Our lack of offensive rebounding and a few missed free throws diminished my joy a little. The first is something Coach has mentioned in the exhibitions and first two games. The latter is an individual matter that each player must address in the gym. Improve in one or both of these areas will save me a lot of stress.

 

[cats#1again]

The Jaxon stat line is painful. I understood giving him min to try to get him going. But, when Pope put him back in around 6:00 left, I thought for sure that was going to cost us, and be Pope's first big mistake. Glad it worked out.

Jaxon was really good defensively last night.
Chandler isn't on the others level. Brea isn't afraid of anyone. I hope we become a good free throw shooting team. The type of team we are, you need to make the free ones

Pope is as smart as any coach in America

 

[jwphelps]

The box score takeaways that popped out...

Carr was our best player last night by stats, 5 of 8 from floor, 2 of 3 from three. He had been lagging behind a bit in first two games, really proved his worth tonight, particularly when Pope put him in at the 5 and made their big guard him away from bucket.

Kirisa took the most 3's of any UK player (7) and only hit two.

Williams took the most shots of any UK player (12) and only made 3, but he did hit 4 of his 5 FT's and that was clutch.

Almonor only played 10 minutes but had decent stats, thought he could have played more.

I hope Robinson's one point from one FT night is an anomaly.

We were behind Duke in rebounding and turnovers big time in first have but gained in those categories in second half (Duke 45 rebounds, 7 TO's, UK 41 and 10.)

Oweh and Carr were our best clutch FT shooters.

Garrison was 4 of 5 from the floor and put up better stats than Williams.

Duke was awful from three (4 of 23). this could be their achelles heel going forward.

Williams tried to force it too much in the first half. Almonor was a key player in my opinion he did what needed to be done. Duke took Robinson out of the game and we still won.

 

[mcwildcats04]

Kriisa just needs to stop taking the crazy ~30 foot threes. He's a perfectly fine 3-pt shooter when he's shooting "normal" 3s and I love his energy and everything else he brings to the game.

 

[kywildcats8]

Kriisa is a limited player, despite his attitude and energy. He can pass and shoot threes. That's about it, based on what I've seen. He stirke me as a very steaky player, versus a steady force. There's good and bad in that. Kinda like Dilly was ...
Veteran players with focus, determination, desire and courage will take us a long way. Selfless, for-the-team effort is priceless.
I do wish we had a few more players who can beat their man off the dribble against defensive pressure. Getting Butler and Oweh strike me as great pick-ups by Pope.

When he hit the 3 late in the 2nd half, the next time we got the ball Gosse was stating that he should shoot it again, which he did from about 35 feet and missed- thought that was interesting & a bad shot

 

[Catfanlou]

I'm here for the hard hitting facts that only Seth Greenburg, Jay Bilas and Jay Williams can provide.

Another poster spelled Bilas as Bias . Much more descriptive.

 

[Dead Cat Bounce]

I think last night will do wonders for Jaxson’s and the team’s development. It’s now clear—if there was any doubt—that he doesn’t have to carry the team and that he can make huge contributions without scoring, just by attracting defensive attention. Last night was the sort of victory that a team can gain a lot of confidence and comfort from.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

The box score takeaways that popped out...

Carr was our best player last night by stats, 5 of 8 from floor, 2 of 3 from three. He had been lagging behind a bit in first two games, really proved his worth tonight, particularly when Pope put him in at the 5 and made their big guard him away from bucket.

Kirisa took the most 3's of any UK player (7) and only hit two.

Williams took the most shots of any UK player (12) and only made 3, but he did hit 4 of his 5 FT's and that was clutch.

Almonor only played 10 minutes but had decent stats, thought he could have played more.

I hope Robinson's one point from one FT night is an anomaly.

We were behind Duke in rebounding and turnovers big time in first have but gained in those categories in second half (Duke 45 rebounds, 7 TO's, UK 41 and 10.)

Oweh and Carr were our best clutch FT shooters.

Garrison was 4 of 5 from the floor and put up better stats than Williams.

Duke was awful from three (4 of 23). this could be their achelles heel going forward.

Kriisa is going to be a frustrating player for many. His energy/moxie is much-needed, but he can and will shoot you out of a game ... unless he's hitting, UK doesn't need him taking the most attempts.

Carr might have emerged as this team's leader last night, along with Oweh.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

We have real problems with rebounding and some issues to clean up on defense.

Fouls are also a bit of an issue. They are super aggressive and pick up some bad fouls sometimes. That will hurt us at some point.

Turnovers are something that we might have to live with considering that Krissa seems to think he is Doncic or something, and Butler can be loose with the ball as well. It should get better as they learn each other's tendencies.

These things can all be cleaned up. The rebounding especially bothers me since it is an effort issue. Williams appears lethargic at times.

The Robinson thing is something else. He looked scared last night. I hope he isn't a shrinking violet or our "go to guy" is going to have to someone else. Carr or Alomar maybe.

I'll reserve judgement on the fouls once we play a few more teams that aren't duke.. a team actively being helped by the NCAA/ESPN to be there in the F4 and Title games.

Not only did we look very tight during some of those early fouls, but they were very ticky tack fouls. And the ones they gave to Duke as "make up" fouls, really didn't help us. I think we were in the double bonus with 8 min left in the 1st half. That really should never happen.

 

[anonymous_2011]

Robinson had a very disappointing game but he didn't try to force anything at least. Some guys would start forcing shots up to get there stats up.

 

[WallMashKyBall]

Great team win, for sure. The three things I yelled loudest at the TV about were: Fouling the 3 point shooter. Turning the ball over on drives in the paint. Missing FT's. I really yelled when Jaxon missed 2 of 3 when he was fouled putting up a three. Butler seemed also a little FT hit and miss. Oh, maybe the 4th thing was missed layups. All of those things can improve with practice repetition.

 

[fatguy87]

Williams was a bit of a black hole. He led the team in shots taken, 12, despite playing just 20 minutes lol

 

[cats#1again]

Kriisa is going to be a frustrating player for many. His energy/moxie is much-needed, but he can and will shoot you out of a game ... unless he's hitting, UK doesn't need him taking the most attempts.

Carr might have emerged as this team's leader last night, along with Oweh.

Agree 100%. Kerr is too trigger happy. I love his fire though

 

[EliteBlue]

Lot of hand wringing about Kerr but a couple of those were late shotclock and just getting a shot up. 2-5 isn’t really an awful night if you remove the late clock prayers from almost mid court and 1 that was blocked. He only had 1 deep one that wasn’t just to beat the clock and it was a heat check after making one the trio before

 

[K_TIME]

To me the minute distribution stood out

1. Duke: Flagg 32 min, Proctor 36 min and Knuppel 36 min
UK: No player above 30 minutes...and our depth/energy kept up the entire game and thought it helped us withstand Duke runs and stay in striking distance...and when we hit some shots..the game was tied vs. being down 5-7 pts

Cal...would have run 4 dudes 32-38 minutes...sporadic minutes for 8th kid...who never gets a flow the entire season. So Pope coaching difference is on full display in box score right now

2. 10 made threes at 40% shooting clip...that is the stat tha tis the difference to me in the game. UK had to win the 3pt line and did.