Teams like Vanderbilt suck to play against, but it is what it is.

[LockedonUk]

I said it on Twitter, and I'll say it again here: this is why I don't like teams like Missouri, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt because of their style of play. They play extremely physical, put you on the free throw line, and hope the officials don't call half of the fouls they should. It makes the pacing of the game extremely choppy and awful to watch.

Kentucky's opponents average 14.8 fouls per game. Vanderbilt had 27. Kentucky was in the double-bonus with a little under 10 minutes to go in the second half.

Kentucky also only shoots 15.3 free throws per game. They shot 35.

It sucks, but honestly you can't change it. I mentioned Missouri, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt as teams that foul a lot without looking at the numbers first. All three teams are 213th or worse in fouls per game nationally. It's not by coincidence, but mostly by design in my opinion. Simply because they are less athletic and are unable to beat better teams straight up. So, they play incredibly physical on the defensive end.

Nothing we can do to change it, it just sucks to play against. Honestly in Vanderbilt's case, it probably sucks to play for. Imagine being coached to play your heart out on defense only to turn around and have almost exactly half of the shots that go up on the other end come from one player while your team averages 68 PPG. It's not good basketball.

 

[Lempface]

Wish we could just not play them, it's an absurd strategy that goes against the spirit of the game. Anytime you try to game the official whether a flop, or extreme selling like head snaps or just foul so much they won't call em all it's an affront to the game.

 

[Wildcats1st]

We will play a physical team in March. Maybe two. These types of games are very valuable to get tournament ready

 

[HerrosHeroes]

This type of game and win will just continue to motivate these bosses.

 

[MakinMusic]

It is terrible to watch but it’s the only chance they have of winning or at least keeping it close. Kansas should have tried it. Haha.

 

[CowboyGumBoots]

I think Stackhouse is a fine coach if they give him a chance. The mess he walked into was ridiculous. He’s been getting at least some talent there, and slowly turning it around to have competitive teams

 

[RunninRichie]

soft

 

[LockedonUk]

We will play a physical team in March. Maybe two. These types of games are very valuable to get tournament ready

Very true. Nothing we can do but improve form here. Just sucks to play against.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Wish we could just not play them, it's an absurd strategy that goes against the spirit of the game. Anytime you try to game the official whether a flop, or extreme selling like head snaps or just foul so much they won't call em all it's an affront to the game.

I don’t know if it is an absurd strategy. Bruce Pearl uses the exact same strategy and has the number 1 team in the nation. Tell me how else Vandy could have played and left Rupp only losing by 7. I don’t like it but it seems to be a style that is catching on in the SEC, reminds me of a lot of the old Big East games I used to watch.

 

[Cawood86]

I think Stackhouse is a fine coach if they give him a chance. The mess he walked into was ridiculous. He’s been getting at least some talent there, and slowly turning it around to have competitive teams

No.

 

[jacobbleedsblue]

The only thing that would fix it is have a tight whistle from the jump, and call it the same both ways. Do this for an entire season. That would result in a +15 or so foul disparity at halftime and the whole starting lineup for one team in foul trouble. Everyone who wasn't a fan of the team not fouling would lose their mind. Next day talking point would be something like, "this is the 4th time this year Kentucky has shot <25 more free throws than it's opponent, basketball is broken."

It can be fixed, it just won't.

 

[deplion]

Our best teams can still manhandle inferior opponents who try to muck things up.

This isn't one of our very best teams . . . yet.

Still a chance we can get there by March though.

All the main pieces are in place. Don't quite have the bench / role players developed as much as we need at this point. But, again, we may yet wind up getting there.

 

[gwjenning]

Gotta play these type games too

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Hey we got the win. I don't think any player gave more than 90% of what they have, and some were well off their games. It was a trap game, we came out flat. The fouls mucked it up. Stackhouse tried to play bully ball.

And we still got out of there with a win. I'll take that all day.

 

[CowboyGumBoots]

No.

You’re one of them that thought Bryce Drew would be a great coach. Typical flash in the pans like Nate Oats. I’ll take the coach without the media hype and is slowly showing his stuff

 

[deplion]

I don’t know if it is an absurd strategy. Bruce Pearl uses the exact same strategy and has the number 1 team in the nation. Tell me how else Vandy could have played and left Rupp only losing by 7. I don’t like it but it seems to be a style that is catching on in the SEC, reminds me of a lot of the old Big East games I used to watch.

Louisville rode that hackathon strategy all the way to a national title in 2013.

Err. Wait a minute.

I sure thought they did, but I can't seem to find a record of it anywhere. 🤔

 

[UK_born_b_bread]

Y’all! When Cal doesn’t f**** up a gimme, we hit the jackpot! makers for everyone! We are winning in spite of this clown and his rodeo jokesters.

 

[Lempface]

I don’t know if it is an absurd strategy. Bruce Pearl uses the exact same strategy and has the number 1 team in the nation. Tell me how else Vandy could have played and left Rupp only losing by 7. I don’t like it but it seems to be a style that is catching on in the SEC, reminds me of a lot of the old Big East games I used to watch.

Because you are taking advantage of human psyche instead of playing the game how it's meant to be played because you realize you are entirely out classed. Refs aren't gonna call 100 fouls in a game so you muck it up hoping they only call half, that's not a legitimate strategy.

 

[RunninRichie]

Y’all! When Cal doesn’t f**** up a gimme, we hit the jackpot! makers for everyone! We are winning in spite of this clown and his rodeo jokesters.

?

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Y’all! When Cal doesn’t f**** up a gimme, we hit the jackpot! makers for everyone! We are winning in spite of this clown and his rodeo jokesters.

Not really sure what Cal could have done to change the way this one played out. He worked the officials hard the whole game, made timely substitutions and had the ball in the right peoples hands late. Pretty good game coaching tonight IMO.

 

[BigKari]

Yeah that was not a fun game. Especially after watching us get up and down the court against Kansas. That game was a blast. I was just ****in annoyed the whole game tonight.

What’s hilarious to me is that coaches keep doing this shit to Kentucky and they all lose their jobs. They aren’t making their teams better at basketball. Just look at Texas A&M, they were a borderline top 25 team before playing UK, and after losing to us in a rugby match, they haven’t won since. We broke them. It’s like UK made them realize they don’t actually know how to play basketball.

 

[deplion]

Y’all! When Cal doesn’t f**** up a gimme, we hit the jackpot! makers for everyone! We are winning in spite of this clown and his rodeo jokesters.

Just a heads up, but trolling tends to work a whole lot better after an actual loss than it does a close win.

Who knows, maybe you can get lucky and come back this weekend?

 

[Cawood86]

You’re one of them that thought Bryce Drew would be a great coach. Typical flash in the pans like Nate Oats. I’ll take the coach without the media hype and is slowly showing his stuff

What? When did I pimp Bryce Drew? He did get them to the tourney. Something the Angry Bird in charge hasn't done yet.
Nate Oats is your fall back. Guess you haven't hear they have beaten Baylor, Gonzaga, and Houston. All, really, really good teams.
Stackhouse is a punk. He has a team of goons who tried to play football last night. Figures he wouldn't know which sport he is a coach of. Figures you'd dangle off someone like that.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

I don’t know if it is an absurd strategy. Bruce Pearl uses the exact same strategy and has the number 1 team in the nation. Tell me how else Vandy could have played and left Rupp only losing by 7. I don’t like it but it seems to be a style that is catching on in the SEC, reminds me of a lot of the old Big East games I used to watch.

Yep it sucks but it works. Officials are so wrapped up in evening the foul numbers, they let tons of stuff slide for these teams. Heaven help you if you play these teams on the road because it's even worse. It's ridiculous

 

[runt#69]

I've always thought that the (overly) physical play in the SEC toughens up Kentucky so that we can learn to fight thru the contact, score with them hanging all over us, and stay focused mentally, while keeping poise in the road games. Home games are no picnic either.

In my mind, when the SEC is having a stellar year for the league, in general and overall, when Kentucky is at the top of the conference when this happens, that's when we are at our best and we perform the best in the national tournament.

I think it bodes well, even if we drop 2 or even 3 more here on out. The SEC is extremely tough this year, in my opinion, top to bottom the best conference in the country.

We're in great shape heading into the stretch. Stay focused and work hard, keep the intensity exceeding the other team efforts, and we are good the rest of the way!

Go Big Blue!