Watch the Tape: Robert Morris Colonials

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Well, that was fun. The Kentucky Wildcats put up 100 points Friday night in a 40-point blowout of the Robert Morris Colonials. Across the board, the ‘Cats were firing on all cylinders.

Oscar Tshiebwe collected 20 rebounds again, Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz were excellent from beyond the arc, we got a full dose of the Daimion Collins experience, and Sahvir Wheeler was in total control of the offense. Scoring 100 and beating teams by 40 points simply wasn’t something Kentucky could do last season. However, this is a new year and a new team.

When you sit down to watch the tape a few things really stand out from Friday’s Robert Morris beatdown. Most importantly, head coach John Calipari seems to really have a good feel for this team. He has done some things on both ends of the floor already that are not necessarily in his comfort zone but give the Wildcats their best chance to win. That is very encouraging to see early in the season.

Extending the defense full court and setting a bunch of ballscreens offensively aren’t necessarily what Coach Cal is known for. However, it seems like this group will excel in those areas. Let’s watch the tape to see what allowed the 100-60 blowout to happen.

Defensive Upside

Much of the talk has been on the offensive end and understandably so. After a year of mostly bad offense, it’s refreshing to see a team score 100 points. However, when you watch the tape and break things down what really stands out from Friday night is the defense.

This team isn’t necessarily made up of outstanding individual defenders. Outside of Sahvir Wheeler there isn’t anyone worthy of a defensive grade above “average.” There are some ways to mask the one-on-one deficiencies though and the Wildcats did just that against Robert Morris.

In this first clip you get a look at Kentucky’s extended 2-2-1 press. It is really just token pressure meaning that the goal isn’t really even to create turnovers with the press. Instead, it is just to make the Colonials spend more time getting into their offense. Robert Morris doesn’t begin their offensive possession until the 20 second mark on the shot clock. That means Kentucky only has to play half court defense for 20 seconds. This could be a very effective tool this season.

After allowing Duke to shoot 30/48 from 2-point range in the Champions Classic, the Wildcats quickly adjusted how they guard in the half court. Against a Colonials team that isn’t known for outside shooting, Kentucky really packed things in and made them shoot jump shots.

Robert Morris finished 16/39 from two and still were only 7/22 from beyond the arc. Being willing to bring a lot of help and cutting off driving lanes also leads to forcing 14 turnovers and getting some easy baskets. The Wildcats had 22 points off turnovers Friday night.

Kentucky also showed a man-to-man press where they do look to turn the pressure up a little bit more. When they go run-and-jump they are looking to create turnovers leading to easy baskets. Unlike the 2-2-1 zone press that is meant to slow down the opponent, the ‘Cats are looking to speed up the other team in their man press.

Keion Brooks Jr. has the perfect blend of length and athleticism to be great in the run-and-jump press. Coach Calipari was wanting to throw some pressure at Robert Morris coming out of the halftime break. The ‘Cats showed this look a handful of possessions in the first half as well, but this was their first time turning the Colonials over. Kellan Grady’s steal led to an easy two points for Brooks.

Half-court Playmakers Offensively

To be a Final Four caliber team you need multiple guys that can make plays in the half court. We’ve already seen through two games what Sahvir Wheeler can do with the ball in his hands. However, there are still some limitations there due to his size and shooting ability. That is why having TyTy Washington develop into an All-SEC caliber guard will be what decides this team’s ceiling.

Against Robert Morris, Washington looked much more comfortable. Obviously the talent level wasn’t the same as playing Duke, but it still was encouraging seeing him do some good things offensively.

Kentucky is going to need Keion Brooks to be a 35% or better 3-point shooter this season. It’s a small sample size through two games, but it is encouraging to see him already have seven attempts from beyond the arc. When guys like TyTy Washington make plays getting downhill the ‘Cats must let it fly from deep. Just beautiful basketball here on the drive-and-kick from Washington to Brooks.

Speaking of Washington, he is still Kentucky’s best “bucket-getter” in terms of just being able to turn it on and get two points. He will need to be able to do that not just against the Colonials, but against the best competition in the Southeastern Conference as well.

In the clip above you see Washington play with great pace off of the drag ballscreen set by Tshiebwe. This is a perfect example of just being skilled and getting a bucket. Robert Morris does a pretty good job in their ballscreen coverage here, but Washington is just better.

He keeps his defender on his shoulder, jumps off his left leg to create a little separation, and knocks down a pretty little floater. Nothing flashy here, but it is what the Wildcats need from their star guard all season long.

The Wildcats improvement in the shot-making category is night and day. A lot of that has to do with the addition of Kellan Grady. He is truly one of the elite shooters in the country and it is plays like this that show just how good he can be. There is very little space between Grady and his defender but that doesn’t seem to matter. The fifth year senior just lifts up and drains it off of the handoff from Collins. This is how you get “shoot them all” credentials.