38 points in the paint
Especially impressive considering 26 points came from made free throws. That means 64 of UK's 78 points were at the charity stripe or in the paint. They were at least working hard to get the ball into a good scoring position and not settling for jump shots.
6 second chance points
Some of this is because UK only missed 22 shots. But consider: UK had six second chance points on seven offensive rebounds. Some of this is because fouls put some of those points on the free throw line when you look at the final stat sheet. But against Duke, the Cats had 17 offensive rebounds and just 14 second chance points (compare to Duke's 15 OR's for 23 second chance points). Against NJIT, UK turned 22 OR's into 23 second chance points, and against Albany they turned 12 OR's into just 11 second chance points. That's not a glaring problem but I think there is room for UK to start converting more of those bunnies into points, or those could turn into missed opportunities against better teams in some cases.
Minutes Played
For all the talk about how long the rotation would be, how efficient Matthews has sometimes been, how hot Willis was to start the year: Ulis played 36 minutes, Briscoe played 35 minutes, Murray played 34 minutes. The three-guard line up is quickly becoming the default, the status quo for Kentucky.
Free Throw Breakdown
27 of Kentucky's 37 free throws were attempted by their three starting guards. 24 of those three players' 27 free throws were attempted in the second half. They are dominating the ball for so much of the game it's doing several things: Their poise is making it difficult for opponents to go on runs, because they're pretty good at protecting the ball and they're not making bad mistakes or forcing too many bad shots that are creating long rebounds, runouts, etc. At the same time, Marcus Lee, Skal Labissiere, Alex Poythress, etc., have to find their best game within the context of a team that basically revolve around those three players dominating the ball for the length of time that those three do.
Especially impressive considering 26 points came from made free throws. That means 64 of UK's 78 points were at the charity stripe or in the paint. They were at least working hard to get the ball into a good scoring position and not settling for jump shots.
6 second chance points
Some of this is because UK only missed 22 shots. But consider: UK had six second chance points on seven offensive rebounds. Some of this is because fouls put some of those points on the free throw line when you look at the final stat sheet. But against Duke, the Cats had 17 offensive rebounds and just 14 second chance points (compare to Duke's 15 OR's for 23 second chance points). Against NJIT, UK turned 22 OR's into 23 second chance points, and against Albany they turned 12 OR's into just 11 second chance points. That's not a glaring problem but I think there is room for UK to start converting more of those bunnies into points, or those could turn into missed opportunities against better teams in some cases.
Minutes Played
For all the talk about how long the rotation would be, how efficient Matthews has sometimes been, how hot Willis was to start the year: Ulis played 36 minutes, Briscoe played 35 minutes, Murray played 34 minutes. The three-guard line up is quickly becoming the default, the status quo for Kentucky.
Free Throw Breakdown
27 of Kentucky's 37 free throws were attempted by their three starting guards. 24 of those three players' 27 free throws were attempted in the second half. They are dominating the ball for so much of the game it's doing several things: Their poise is making it difficult for opponents to go on runs, because they're pretty good at protecting the ball and they're not making bad mistakes or forcing too many bad shots that are creating long rebounds, runouts, etc. At the same time, Marcus Lee, Skal Labissiere, Alex Poythress, etc., have to find their best game within the context of a team that basically revolve around those three players dominating the ball for the length of time that those three do.
