The battle of the kissin' cousins has come to end and in game 1 for the 2012-13 edition of the skirmish, the Blue came out on top.
Now where to begin. Oh, how about Kyle Wiltjer? At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but was that indeed Kyle Wiltjer working on the block and actually, gulp, craving contact? Well, I don't know if I would go as far to say that he was craving contact, but he was going at some of the Tennessee timber, and doing some positive things on the post. He finished with 17, leading the Cats in scoring, and had 2 blocks.(which it seemed on one of them, Kentucky fights each other to get blocks). He was 2-6 from 3-point land.
Still somewhat lackadaisical on D, though.
Speaking of bad D, or more appropriately bad habits on D, Archie Goodwin is now in the same doghouse as Alex Poythress for effort. Seriously, it looks as if he don't even try. With Goodwin, his problem may not be that he he's not buying in, or that he don't get it, it may be that he just doesn't care. He doesn't know when to slow down, he can't stop before ultimately bowling someone over picking up one charge after another, and he is completely out of control. He only wants to play offense it seems, and that is not going to cut it. Archie could be a lock-down defender, but he has no interest in that. Which is a shame, because by not caring on D, not only is he hurting the team, but he is cheating himself.
He plays defense standing straight up, gets bumped off every screen that is thrown his way, and gets rung up on countless fouls for just being lazy. Matter of fact, he fouled out tonight.
And let us not forget to mention this: Low and behold Julius Mays has found his shot. He finished with 9 points, but was 2 for 3 from behind the arc. His shot looked really good tonight, and I wish they would have taken more opportunities to get him some open looks throughout the game.
Poythress made more of an appearance than he has in last several games, but he's still not came around completely. He finished with 10 points and was 2-2 from behind the arc. Poythress should be dominating teams. He should be embarrassing fools every which way. But, he's not. I don't know if he will either. At least not this season. Unfortunately, we wont see that progression in Lexington. When it comes to 'buying in', I hope to God before March he maxes out his Big Blue Credit Card.
Poythress and Goodwin are the new Liggins and Jones.
Willy Cauley-Stein has seemingly went backwards in his progression. It wasn't long ago when people were saying that talk of him being a couple season project was false, and that he was going to get there quicker than was thought. Those feelings have been replaced with perhaps the original prognosis.
There is nothing to be said of Nerlens Noel. He is the only one who can comfortably say is out there digging deep and putting in a full day's work every time he clocks in. He has quietly put up numbers that are comparable to some Anthony Davis type games. Nobody will agree with that statement, and consider it absurd, but go ahead and look for yourselves. it's there in the numbers, kids.
Tonight, Noel finished with a statline of: 12pts, 9 reb, 4 stl, and 6 blocks. Jay Bilas says that Nerlens Noel, while no fault of his own, is one of the most over-rated players in America right now. I respect Bilas, he is actually one of the only people who are employed in Bristol that I actually value what comes out of their mouth, but I think even Jay has punished Noel for the lackluster play of those around him.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Ryan Harrow is the point guard we needed. Tonight, he finished with 12 points, but ran the offense efficiently collecting 4 assists and committing no turnovers. However, he still has a little bit of a tendency to not think certain things through while he is driving inside, and still gets cheap fouls for being a little late with his footwork on D.
All in all, we looked alright in spurts, but allowed Tennessee to take the lead late in the game. We showed some grit, made some big plays, and got back in control and this time didn't relinquish that control and held on for the 'Dub.
Free-throws still need work, too.
And yes, our buddy Jimmy Dykes called the game. His crush Jarnell Stokes struggled all night with the Cats, and had some foul issues of his own that Cuonzo Martin had to deal with.
Jimmy's 'Gem of the Night': "He's slithery, all he needs is a crack." word for word, verbatim quote.
Skylar McBee also is still suiting up for the Vols, in what seems to be his 40th year in Knoxville. I like Skylar though, and the way he approaches basketball and his overall great personality and humility.
He played limited minutes, and finished with 3 points. However, the impact his mustache had on the night can't be measured with digits on a scoreboard.
Oh, and that one kid from Tennessee that air-balled the free-throw and then put up about as bad as shot as you can without air-balling on next attempt on the Julius Mays Flagrant 1.
And, who was that kid shown with the UK Pullover on with a Tennessee hat? Better yet, where the hell were his parents when he dressed himself for the game?
Getting there, but still not traveling the road to March with a full tank, yet.
Cats by 10 over the Vols in Rupp, 75-65. And no, that should not be taken as a comforting 10 point win, but at least it's a win.
No comments:
Post a Comment