A couple notes on the Princeton win...

We’ll dive into things much more later this evening, but here’s a few quick notes on this afternoon’s win against Princeton…

 – I absolutely love Brandon Knight taking that final shot.  The play looked like it was set up for Darius Miller to be an option after he set the pick, but I love Knight as the ball handler and decision-maker there – even when he has zero points.  Knight has the type of short memory that all great players have and will never question his ability to hit a big shot.  He said earlier in the season after missing a potential game-winner against Florida that he’ll never shy away from those shots or lose confidence in his scoring ability.  You knew that he was going to break through Thursday at some point.  It turned out some point was the last possession for Kentucky.  And Knight delivered just as we all knew he would. 

 – In the neverending quest to identify growth, the win over Princeton marked another step forward.  Kentucky was able to win a close game on the backs of their veteran players.  Though Knight made the final shot, it was unquestionably a game controlled by the upperclassmen, most notably Josh Harrellson and Darius Miller.  Kentucky was able to overcome the lack of production from their freshmen and withstand a number of lucky bounces from Princeton because they again played well defensively and again played efficiently on offense.  Right now, next to winning, evolution is the single most important thing for this team.  Another HUGE step forward in Tampa Thursday.

 – We’ve talked about this a number of times already, but the new wrinkles in the offense have been incredible the last few games.  The ability of Kentucky to isolate Darius Miller on the block has become the highest-percentage look and this new “find Josh Harrellson” feature has been astoundingly successful.  Harrellson works hard for his position in the post, but also has discovered an uncanny ability to find a soft spot.  When he does, Liggins, Knight and Miller are getting him the ball and he’s finishing.  All of a sudden, Jorts has become a threat to score the ball.  That has to concern the teams that hand out scouting reports.

 – On the negative side, Kentucky got beat on the boards by Princeton.  That’s something that’s going to have to get fixed before Saturday.  West Virginia is going to pound on them and they’re an awful shooting team.  They’re best chance to score with Kentucky will come off offensive rebounds and putbacks.  Cats need to control that aspect much better.

 – Forget Doron Lamb’s ankle.  The hottest postgame injury report talk centered around Terrence Jones being sick.  Twitter reports say he spent much of the postgame coughing.  They deemed him sick.  If it were Rashad Carruth, would it be chalked up to celebration?

 – If we learned anything about Princeton fans, it’s that no matter how fancy of a cover you paste on it, Princeton is still New Jersey.  The other thing we learned:  Princeton girls actually not that bad.

 – Brandon Knight hits the game-winner and Stacey Poole displays athleticsm that we’ve been waiting to see all year.  i hope you caught it.

 – What is this?  Some sort of mind trick?  I’m not buying it.

Finally, here’s the box score….