Aside from the obviously dominant defensive performance by UK which drove the Cats to victory, the two themes of UK's offense were guard play and schematic adjustments to Carolina's defensive looks. I'm not totally ready to anoint this game the best of the year, but it may have been the most complete. A few notes…
(1) UK's guards were outstanding. Only 8 turnovers against an intense ball club that tried full court press, half court man press, and half court zone press for much of the game. And it was not just Andrew and Ulis. Aaron and Booker both handled the ball extremely well. Adding to their performance, Calipari hardly set a single high post screen for the point guards in the first half. They did everything virtually on their own in the offense. Truly, a virtuoso performance from UK's guards.
(2) Two very different halves for UK's offense. In the first half, UK scored 20 points in transition. In the second, they scored 5. This largely came from the fact that UK's defense was so dominant, Frank Martin had to abandon the plan to crash the boards and send everyone back in transition. UK scored 14 points on 17 half court sets in the first half and 19 points on 21 sets in the second half. Not earth-shattering, but enough to win.
(3) Clutch, once again. UK scored on 9 of its 15 final possessions, including 5 of its last 8 (this is counting the two shot clock heave plays in the last two minutes when the outcome was decided). UK is simply terrific down the stretch.
(4) In the first half, Kentucky ran 17 half court sets. 12 of these sets were not only different plays, they were completely different plays, that not only started out differently, but then evolved into yet another different play if the first look was not there. The second half was less innovative (Calipari "only" introduced four distinctly different plays), but that is because (a) South Carolina essentially forced UK into playing a spread/spaced offense because of the half court presses and traps, and (b) UK ran pass and cut plays for the last 6 minutes of the game, as it was effectively over by then. Overall, it is becoming difficult keeping up with all of UK's various looks in a game.
(5) UK's execution was better offensively against USC. Fewer busted plays and the players responded to running them more instinctively.
(6) IMHO, the most intriguing play of the game came at the 18:40 mark in the second half. Watch it just for kicks and tell me if you see what I think I saw. The play looks like it is going to be a Triangle (which I've not seen yet this year), but then it turns into two sequential screens set by Lee and Johnson that Ulis runs through in succession, before kicking it to Booker for a wide-open 3. To say that South Carolina was "confused" on this play would flatter The Gamecocks' awareness of what was happening. It was basketball perfection, tainted only slightly by the possibility that UK set two illegal screens on the play (I'll let you all be the judge). Regardless, it was pure poetry.
(7) UK did not force feed the post like they did in the last game. Rather, it looked like Calipari trusted his guards to get the ball down low on their own without passing it there. As a result, there were several more ISO and clear-out plays than in the last few games.
(8) Some folks pointed out that Towns did not play many minutes. I'm not sure if this was the reason, but with 9:30 left in the first half, South Carolina ran a tightly packed zone defense that left no room for UK players on the interior. Towns got the ball and pulled a turnaround baseline jumper that missed, with his four teammates all around the perimeter. It wasn't just a bad shot, it came at a frustrating time in the game when USC had just obtained a lucky tip in off the glass to them us to within 3. Cal called timeout and let Towns have it. But after benching him he put him back in 3 minutes later, which I thought was a good sign.
(9) Booker's first step continues to dazzle. Lyles in the open floor continues to baffle. With the ball, he's a work in progress; without the ball, he does very well for himself.
This post was edited on 1/25 5:29 AM by pascat
This post was edited on 1/25 5:37 AM by pascat
(1) UK's guards were outstanding. Only 8 turnovers against an intense ball club that tried full court press, half court man press, and half court zone press for much of the game. And it was not just Andrew and Ulis. Aaron and Booker both handled the ball extremely well. Adding to their performance, Calipari hardly set a single high post screen for the point guards in the first half. They did everything virtually on their own in the offense. Truly, a virtuoso performance from UK's guards.
(2) Two very different halves for UK's offense. In the first half, UK scored 20 points in transition. In the second, they scored 5. This largely came from the fact that UK's defense was so dominant, Frank Martin had to abandon the plan to crash the boards and send everyone back in transition. UK scored 14 points on 17 half court sets in the first half and 19 points on 21 sets in the second half. Not earth-shattering, but enough to win.
(3) Clutch, once again. UK scored on 9 of its 15 final possessions, including 5 of its last 8 (this is counting the two shot clock heave plays in the last two minutes when the outcome was decided). UK is simply terrific down the stretch.
(4) In the first half, Kentucky ran 17 half court sets. 12 of these sets were not only different plays, they were completely different plays, that not only started out differently, but then evolved into yet another different play if the first look was not there. The second half was less innovative (Calipari "only" introduced four distinctly different plays), but that is because (a) South Carolina essentially forced UK into playing a spread/spaced offense because of the half court presses and traps, and (b) UK ran pass and cut plays for the last 6 minutes of the game, as it was effectively over by then. Overall, it is becoming difficult keeping up with all of UK's various looks in a game.
(5) UK's execution was better offensively against USC. Fewer busted plays and the players responded to running them more instinctively.
(6) IMHO, the most intriguing play of the game came at the 18:40 mark in the second half. Watch it just for kicks and tell me if you see what I think I saw. The play looks like it is going to be a Triangle (which I've not seen yet this year), but then it turns into two sequential screens set by Lee and Johnson that Ulis runs through in succession, before kicking it to Booker for a wide-open 3. To say that South Carolina was "confused" on this play would flatter The Gamecocks' awareness of what was happening. It was basketball perfection, tainted only slightly by the possibility that UK set two illegal screens on the play (I'll let you all be the judge). Regardless, it was pure poetry.
(7) UK did not force feed the post like they did in the last game. Rather, it looked like Calipari trusted his guards to get the ball down low on their own without passing it there. As a result, there were several more ISO and clear-out plays than in the last few games.
(8) Some folks pointed out that Towns did not play many minutes. I'm not sure if this was the reason, but with 9:30 left in the first half, South Carolina ran a tightly packed zone defense that left no room for UK players on the interior. Towns got the ball and pulled a turnaround baseline jumper that missed, with his four teammates all around the perimeter. It wasn't just a bad shot, it came at a frustrating time in the game when USC had just obtained a lucky tip in off the glass to them us to within 3. Cal called timeout and let Towns have it. But after benching him he put him back in 3 minutes later, which I thought was a good sign.
(9) Booker's first step continues to dazzle. Lyles in the open floor continues to baffle. With the ball, he's a work in progress; without the ball, he does very well for himself.
This post was edited on 1/25 5:29 AM by pascat
This post was edited on 1/25 5:37 AM by pascat
