Watch the Tape: Ole Miss Rebels

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Tuesday evening started with bad news for the Kentucky Wildcats. Matt Jones broke the news that starting point guard Cason Wallace would miss the game. Jack Pilgrim later confirmed the story adding it was a “leg issue” and the television broadcast eventually mentioned a knee contusion. Luckily, it isn’t expected to be a long-term issue and Wallace sitting out was primarily a precaution. However, it did cause some panic before tip-off against the Ole Miss Rebels.

To add insult to injury (or I guess injury to injury), Sahvir Wheeler went down late in the first half with what appeared to be an ankle injury that sent him to the locker room. He was able to return though in the second half and provided an excellent spark for the Wildcats in the absence of Wallace. While Wheeler did play very well, nine assists to just one turnover, the story of the night was Antonio Reeves. The sharp-shooter nailed six of seven three-point attempts on his way to a game-high 27 points. He is now averaging 19 points per game and shooting 16-34 from three during Kentucky’s five-game SEC winning streak.

Along with continued emergence of Antonio Reeves as a primary scorer, the ‘Cats were excellent in transition and showed incremental improvement in their ballscreen defense. While it wasn’t always pretty, Kentucky escaped Oxford with a 75-66 victory to move to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in the Southeastern Conference. The loss dropped Ole Miss to 9-13 overall and 1-8 in the league. Now, let’s step on inside the KSR Film Room and break down what led to Kentucky’s fifth straight conference win over the Ole Miss Rebels.

Fast ‘Cats Dominated the Rebels in Transition

It is no secret that Sahvir Wheeler has been a polarizing figure for Big Blue Nation this season. On one hand he is the two-time SEC assist leader and one of the most dynamic playmakers in college basketball. On the other hand he can make some poor decisions, is not treated as a shooting threat, and can struggle defensively due to his size. However, regardless of which side of the debate you are on, there is no denying his talent in transition. With Cason Wallace out, Coach Calipari once again handed the keys to the car to Wheeler. Kentucky’s point guard torched the Ole Miss Rebels for nine assists and was the catalyst for scoring 1.909 points per possession in transition.

This is beautiful basketball and the perfect example of Kentucky at their very best. Oscar Tshiebwe gets the rebound and hands it to Sahvir Wheeler who pushes the tempo. He gets corralled near the top of the key, but finds a slashing Jacob Toppin who drives it down the lane line. Then, Toppin kicks to a wide open Chris Livingston who unselfishly delivers the one-more pass to Antonio Reeves for his first of six three-pointers on the night. The easiest way to combat spacing concerns is to never let the defense get set.

When Sahvir Wheeler is in the game you can’t help but play faster. He is so quick with the ball and also very willing to throw it ahead. Here, he advances the ball to Jacob Toppin who does a good job of slicing the floor back towards the middle to shorten his pass to Antonio Reeves running to the corner. Kentucky is a high percentage three-point shooting team in transition. They are now 39.8% on 43 made three-pointers in transition this season.

The Ole Miss Rebels had no chance of slowing down Sahvir Wheeler and the Wildcats in transition. It is really hard to guard an offense sprinting down the floor with dangerous playmakers and good shooting threats. Wheeler slices the floor to go make a play with Antonio Reeves for his third three-pointer just midway through the first half. This is how you put up nearly two points per possession in transition.

One of the reasons why Antonio Reeves is so dangerous in transition is because of how hard he runs. As soon as Kentucky gets the rebound he is sprinting towards the corner looking for a three-point attempt. There might not be a better guard in the country than Sahvir Wheeler at finding shooters running ahead in transition. That was on full display against the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday night.

Incremental Improvements in Ballscreen Defense

Let’s be clear. Kentucky still has issues to sort out with their ballscreen coverage. However, they at least made a step in the right direction on Tuesday night against the Ole Miss Rebels. The Wildcats allowed just 0.688 points per possession in 32 ballscreen opportunities in Oxford. Part of that significant improvement from the Kansas game is due to the talent gap between the Jayhawks and Rebels. There still were some real improvements though specifically from Oscar Tshiebwe who was much better in drop coverage. Let’s take a look at the film.

It is still very much up for debate in terms of what ballscreen coverage Kentucky should be running. In the KSR Scouting Report we talked about wanting to go UNDER the Ole Miss Rebels ballscreens. That obviously did not happen. There is also a school of thought that the Wildcats should be more aggressive by hard hedging or even trapping the ballscreen. However, that isn’t as practical due to concerns of getting Oscar Tshiebwe into foul trouble. Regardless of what cover they potentially should use, the ‘Cats are sticking with their very conservative drop coverage. On Tuesday, Tshiebwe was much better at giving ground to both stay in front of the ball and take away the lob on the roll. Here, his defense forced a pass to an 0-7 three-pointer shooter that air-balled this attempt.

There is nothing wrong with giving up contested two-point shots. On this possession Oscar Tshiebwe was significantly more active with his feet to prevent hitting the roll man while also staying in between the ball and the basket. He eventually gets vertical and forces a wild shot attempt that completely misses the hoop. Unfortunately the Wildcats weren’t able to collect the rebound, but the defensive effort from Tshiebwe was good to see. This is good execution of Kentucky’s current ballscreen coverage.

Ballscreen defense is all about deciding what you want to give up. When you play the drop coverage that Coach Calipari and the ‘Cats keep rolling with you are looking to force the Ole Miss Rebels into taking contested long two-point shots. Therefore, when you get them to take those shots you have to be fine living with the results. Just because they make a couple doesn’t mean it was bad defense. In fact, you got them to take the exact, low-percentage, shot you wanted them to take. In this clip, you see Sahvir Wheeler fighting over top of the screen while Oscar Tshiebwe corrals the ball off of the little pitch back. They end up getting #1 Abram to take a relatively contested 20-foot jumper. He happens to make this one, but you’ll live with that shot every single possession.

Kentucky did a much better job staying between the ball and the basket against Ole Miss than they did against Kansas. Again, obviously, there is a difference in talent that played into that fact. However, they also gave more ground at the point of the screen, fought over top a little bit better, and Oscar Tshiebwe was more active with his hands and feet. The Rebels scored on this possession, but it was a tough, contested, two-point shot at the end of the clock. You can live with allowing these type of shots. This is exactly what the Wildcats ballscreen coverage is set up to give up.

Antonio Reeves as a Go-To Scorer

Antonio Reeves has emerged as Kentucky’s go-to scorer during their recent five-game SEC winning streak. He stepped up even more on Tuesday night against the Ole Miss Rebels in the absence of starting point guard and primary playmaker Cason Wallace. Reeves scored a season-high 27 points including knocking in six three-point shots to help lead the Wildcats to the road victory. He dominated in transition, was excellent playing off of the ballscreen, and created his own shot consistently off of the bounce. Reeves is averaging 19 points per game while shooting 47.1% from three during the ‘Cats conference winning streak.

This is excellent structure to get Antonio Reeves into a ballscreen. Beginning with the misdirection handoff, Oscar Tshiebwe is able to step up and catch Reeves’ defender off guarding heading back to his right hand. Similar to our discussion in the previous section about Kentucky’s ballscreen defense, this isn’t terrible by Ole Miss. They have forced a semi-contested mid-range jump shot. However, Reeves is playing at such a high level right now that it doesn’t matter.

Antonio Reeves is a pure scorer in every sense of the term. He is on the floor to get buckets and he is really stepping to that role fully here of late for Kentucky. Against the Ole Miss Rebels his confidence was full display. It is great to see him immediately call for a ballscreen upon getting a catch in this possession. He knows he is about to go make something happen. Oscar Tshiebwe’s defender isn’t high enough at the point of the screen so Reeves just rises up and fires. Bang!

This was an incredible stretch on the offensive end by Antonio Reeves on his way to 27 points. The Ole Miss defense simply didn’t know what to do to stop him. After connecting on a few straight jump shots, this time Reeves turns the corner off of the ghost screen and lays it up for an And-1. Simple offense is good offense and the Wildcats got plenty of it on Tuesday night from their go-to scoring threat.