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Comparing the 2 LSU Games 1/5 and 3/5

IL Wildcat

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Feb 20, 2003
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I was just looking again at the 2 box scores of these games with LSU and the difference between them is very telling.

Here's the one from January 5th.
http://www.ukathletics.com/page/team-stats_m-baskbl_stat-crew

And here's the one from March 5th.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/wayback/ft...-crew/KTY/m-baskbl/2015-2016_stats/uk0305.htm

There are some similarities, of course. Ulis and Murray played well in both games. Ulis actually scored more in Baton Rouge. He had 23 points on 7-16 shooting and made 2 threes. On Saturday, he finished with 14 points on 5-16 shooting and 1-5 from 3. Murray shot 9-17 in the first game and finished with 21. He finished with 22 on Saturday, going 4-8 from 3.

For LSU, Tim Quarterman played great in both games. He finished with 21 points on 9-15 from the field, including 2-4 from 3 down in Baton Rouge. His numbers were very similar Saturday, finishing with 23 on 9-16 from the field and 2-6 from 3. Ben Simmons numbers were very similar also. In that January game, Simmons scored 14 on 5-5 shooting and grabbed 10 boards, had 3 assists and 2 tos, 2 steals, and 1 block. On Saturday he was a little more productive, though not as efficient, finishing with 17 points on 5-12 shooting, 11 rebounds, 7 steals, 4 assists and 6 turnovers.

The big difference came in the post for both teams. For LSU, Victor Craig finished the first game with 15 points and 12 rebounds. In the second game, he only had 7 points and 3 rebounds. His game is directly related to UK's front-line play in both games. In the January game, Alex Poythress finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 5 fouls, and 3 turnovers. Saturday, Alex had 12 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 to, and a steal. In Baton Rouge, Marcus Lee finished with 0 points, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls while only playing 5 minutes. On Saturday, Lee had 12 points and 10 rebounds on 6-7 shooting. Skal Labissiere is the biggest difference of all. In game 1, Skal finished with 3 points and 2 rebounds, 1 to and 0 blocks. But on Saturday, Skal had 18 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers in 25 minutes. And on a related note, Ulis didn't score as well on Saturday, but his assists went from only 6 in Baton Rouge to 14 on Saturday.

We've all been saying it for a couple months now... with our great guard play, we don't have to get elite production from our frontcourt, just average production. Here's to hoping our big guys keep playing well. If they do, look out! I wouldn't want to be in a bracket with UK in March. It looks like this team is peaking at the right time.
 
Lee and Poythress have sprinkled in some very good games at times, and Skal's recent play is greatly welcome, but it's hard to put a lot of trust in any of them. If we were to play LSU again it'd be hard to say which of those two front lines would show up. I need to see them do it consistently all 3 games this week, and then I'll feel better about our NCAA chances. While they're at it I'd be OK if Willis also decided to start playing very good again. It's the post season, and we need all hands on deck.
 
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Lee and Poythress have sprinkled in some very good games at times, and Skal's recent play is greatly welcome, but it's hard to put a lot of trust in any of them. If we were to play LSU again it'd be hard to say which of those two front lines would show up. I need to see them do it consistently all 3 games this week, and then I'll feel better about our NCAA chances. While they're at it I'd be OK if Willis also decided to start playing very good again. It's the post season, and we need all hands on deck.
I definitely agree that I want to see some solid performances from our front line players this week. There is no doubt, if the team wants to see its aspirations of making it to a Final Four realized, the front court must bring it every night. The good news is this, though: with the play of Ulis and Murray, we have some wiggle room. Those guys can win us some games. I think we can also safely say this: Ulis made a bunch of plays for those guys on Saturday, and so did Murray and Briscoe. We're talking about 21 assists between those 3 guards against only 5 turnovers. They made a bunch of plays for Poythress and Lee especially, who finished with dunks off great passes multiple times.

I know I added it as a bit of an afterthought at the end, but Ulis' improvement since January may be the greatest key of all. Yes, the big men are playing better, especially Skal with his excellent shooting, but much of that is about Ulis getting the pass to them in position to score. It's hard to believe Ulis could be much better than he was in January, but he is. Murray is also, and those guys are making life much easier for our big men. But I'm hoping to see these guys perform with some consistency this weekend.
 
How in the world you left out the fact that Keith Hornsby did not play is beyond my comprehension. Everyone knows that's the difference between the two games. [eyeroll]

All jokes aside, he might have helped, a little but he would have just stole other players shots, and missed a few due to depth perception. That's just the way it is.
 
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Yeah BigBluePrint, I also left out the fact that Blakeney played much better this time around. He actually made up for both his and Hornsby's numbers from the first game. Blakeney scored 19 on Saturday and only had 6 the first time around. Honrnsby had 9 the first time, so they combined for 15 in Baton Rouge. So, it's basically a wash. As you say, Blakeney is likely to take shots from Hornsby anyway and the stats bear that out. In the first game, Blakeney put up only 9 shots and Hornsby had 6 attempts. On Saturday, Blakeney finished with 14 shot attempts. Again, it's a wash.
 
I can sum it up for you much simpler: The first game was at LSU. The last game was home, where we don't lose.
 
When we have that 3rd scorer show up regardless of whom it is, we are a very hard team to beat. That's the question going forward, who's going to bring it consistently during our March run?? When a 4th scorer shows, who seriously beats us??? No team ranked ahead of us scares me the slightest, the committee shafting our path does though.
 
We got 50 points from our frontcourt on saturday. We do not have to have that much every day but we need decent production. It seems like the total no show games from the front court are happening less often. I like our chances to make a deep run. I like that Cal is setting Skal up for the mid range face up shots. I think that is the tweak.
 
Our front line guys are certainly capable - see Saturday's game in Lexington. It seems that all 3 are gaining confidence at the right time which is something that they all have struggled with.
 
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I think (outside of Hornsby) the most significant difference was how we played Simmons. In the first game I think maybe our scouting report was off a bit. Our bigs tried to play physical with him and ended up with foul trouble. Being on the road we weren't going to get a great whistle either.Our guys lost confidence and it went downhill from there. Second game we only guarded him around the basket.
 
I think the difference is that LSU has quit playing defense the last 10 or so seconds of the clock. Blakeney and Quarterman are two fantastic shooters, but they don't sustain defensive effort. Simmons was a disappointing presence, too. When he bothered to get into the post, he had good results, but when there was even token pressure, he wouldn't go in there. So, UK has learned its offense better, has more options than in January, and wore LSU out. As the game went on LSU gave less and less attention to defense. UK had a 24 point lead when everyone knew the game was done.
 
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I think (outside of Hornsby) the most significant difference was how we played Simmons. In the first game I think maybe our scouting report was off a bit. Our bigs tried to play physical with him and ended up with foul trouble. Being on the road we weren't going to get a great whistle either.Our guys lost confidence and it went downhill from there. Second game we only guarded him around the basket.

Backing off a POY candidate by 10 ft? I've never seen it before. Has that been standard defense of Simmons for awhile or was that novel with this game?
 
The biggest difference in both games was the play from Poythress, Lee, and Skal. The 3 combined in the second game scored 42 points and 22 rebounds, and the 1st game the 3 combined for 7 points and 8 rebounds. That is +35 in scoring and +14 in rebounds and that right there is the difference maker in the 2nd game to the 1st game.
 
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