Defensive tweaks that worked

[HalHR2500]

Zoning the under basket play - check

Off ball defenders more alert - check

Of course it’s Vandy, but it’s a start

More tweaks needed, UK gives up way too many 3 attempts and too many FTs

Get the other team to take contested 2s and the Cats have a deep March run ahead

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Agreed, the only issue is the ball watching on rebounds, they fix that somewhat and they will be okay

 

[ukwazoo]

I don't think our defense was great tonight, either. But we scored a looottt of points and if we can eliminate all the easy inbounds buckets, that will help a lot

 

[fastpaste101]

Side note. Burke’s was getting after it on defense. Loved to see it.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

Cal needs to teach these kids to not fall for pump fakes

 

[MegaBlue05]

I saw more fight tonight. Going after loose balls and rebounds more aggressively, fighting through screens. Did a little better stopping the dribble.

They still struggled with rotations and were late on some close outs. Still fall for almost all shot fakes. Still foul jump shooters too much. Still gave up too many offensive rebounds.

This team will never be great defensively, but adequate might be possible. Better than awful like we’ve seen the last 2 weeks.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

We played vandy and even they shot better than normal iirc.

Ya the out of bounds defense adjustment was welcome but at least four games late

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

Played with more intensity on D tonight.

 

[TriCountyCat]

Still gave up 11 3s, that is the stat that gets us beat. That and rebounding. I don’t think teams can score enough layups to beat us. We left the corner man open a ton. Edwards, Sheppard and Adou were ball watching some and had their feet in the paint instead of out on shooters. I’m not sure if Cal is telling them to have a foot in the paint to avoid back doors but we are too far away from shooters to chase them off the line.

 

[HalHR2500]

Opponents shoot 42% of their shots from 3 point land, and even though percentage is only 33%, they average 9 makes a game. UK shoots 41% from 3 but with 54 fewer attempts, and average 10 makes a game on 25 attempts.

UK shoots 54% on 2's and opponents shoot 49% on 2's

UK opponents have shot 461 free throws (21 per game), compared to UK 414 free throws.

Run them off 3 point line and stop fouling so much, and you have a winning formula with an elite offensive team.

 

[mcwildcats04]

Side note. Burke’s was getting after it on defense. Loved to see it.

Absolutely loved that. He was out getting aggressive in his man's face past the 3 point line. Really played with energy. He deserves more minutes playing like that. Hopefully it will rub off on the other guys to be more intense more consistently on D.

 

[DreadLox]

Until RR got to it, Cal's practices were just guys sitting around looking at web sites.

 

[EliteBlue]

Still gave up 11 3s, that is the stat that gets us beat. That and rebounding. I don’t think teams can score enough layups to beat us. We left the corner man open a ton. Edwards, Sheppard and Adou were ball watching some and had their feet in the paint instead of out on shooters. I’m not sure if Cal is telling them to have a foot in the paint to avoid back doors but we are too far away from shooters to chase them off the line.

This is why I’d love to see one game where we overemphasize guarding the 3pt line. zero sag and help. Get up into your man’s personal space and deny if you’re 1 pass away. Only help on ball screens to hard hedge but that’s a 2 man game and don’t get lost in all the help rotations of how you typically try to defend and recover. If you give up a semi challenged 2 then oh well but they’ll have to finish over out length and this team isn’t getting beat by 2s alone.

 

[DreadLox]

This is why I’d love to see one game where we overemphasize guarding the 3pt line. zero sag and help. Get up into your man’s personal space and deny if you’re 1 pass away. Only help on ball screens to hard hedge but that’s a 2 man game and don’t get lost in all the help rotations of how you typically try to defend and recover. If you give up a semi challenged 2 then oh well but they’ll have to finish over out length and this team isn’t getting beat by 2s alone.

So, our interior defense is just peachy? The bigs don't bite on ball fakes? Don't hold or push for fouls?

Modern offenses are just far ahead of defenses. The rules encourage offense. Our betters (and bettors) all like lots of points.

It does make for exciting games. And lots and lots of upsets.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Side note. Burke’s was getting after it on defense. Loved to see it.

If anyone on this team can play good defense, that guy becomes almost a must play guy IMO.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I don't think our defense was great tonight, either. But we scored a looottt of points and if we can eliminate all the easy inbounds buckets, that will help a lot

Vandy shot 35% from the field. 31% from 3. We had 12 steals. And were on the road.

 

[sportspm]

I think I saw improvement in the rotation and help defense. Although it was Vandy and we won’t know for sure until they do it against better competition but part of the opponents higher scoring is the pace. We play fast this year on offense which I like a lot. Faster pace gives the opponent more possessions, so of course more opportunities to score. We just can’t have them scoring such a high percentage of the time

 

[jwphelps]

Zoning the under basket play - check

Off ball defenders more alert - check

Of course it’s Vandy, but it’s a start

More tweaks needed, UK gives up way too many 3 attempts and too many FTs

Get the other team to take contested 2s and the Cats have a deep March run ahead

I will reserve judgement when I see the Cats do something against a good team, that Vandy team was horrible.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

If anyone on this team can play good defense, that guy becomes almost a must play guy IMO.

With Thiero gimpy, Burkes can do a better job of providing what AT was giving us pre-injury. Agree w/ poster above who was at the game last night: Adou doesn't look healthy; he's moving w/ a 'stiffness' that's indicative of someone nursing a sore back...

 

[HalHR2500]

Keep in mind that all opponents game plans want to shoot 3s, drive to draw fouls or get offensive rebounds, so it’s a tall task to take away 3s and not foul as much

But if they do accomplish running teams off 3 point line and foul less, other teams have very little chance to win

 

[FilsonCat]

We shouldn't go under the screener period until we prove that we can affect three point shots that way. Fight over it, or hedge and ice the guy with the ball to prevent easy shots behind the screener. We also can't collapse off of the initial drive so quickly. Let the bigs try to make a play. We'll give up some easy baskets that way, but it may keep teams from torching us behind the line so easily.

The other thing would be to switch into a zone for 2-3 possession segments with the large lineup on the floor. Make the other teams adjust and waste clock diagnosing the defense.

 

[TheDude73]

We played vandy and even they shot better than normal iirc.

Ya the out of bounds defense adjustment was welcome but at least four games late

They scored 55 from shooting and 22 from the line. 55 is what we use to rate our defense. I’d say a big improvement.

 

[Bigblueamdyou]

Still gave up 11 3s, that is the stat that gets us beat. That and rebounding. I don’t think teams can score enough layups to beat us. We left the corner man open a ton. Edwards, Sheppard and Adou were ball watching some and had their feet in the paint instead of out on shooters. I’m not sure if Cal is telling them to have a foot in the paint to avoid back doors but we are too far away from shooters to chase them off the line.

yeah but they took 34

 

[ORCAT]

Side note. Burke’s was getting after it on defense. Loved to see it.

Burks was very impressive last night and I hope he gets a chance to build on that going forward. He seems to have a lot of potential and also seems like a great kid. Met his mom before a game this year and I can see why he is such a good kid, comes from the family. Hoping he has great success and it's AT Kentucky, not somewhere else.