Watch the Tape: Texas A&M-Commerce Lions

BRamseyKSR

It can be hard to make predictions based on preseason performance. For that reason, overreacting to games played in August, September, or October is usually a fool’s errand. Admittedly, you can potentially say the same thing is true for these first couple of regular season games.

New Mexico State was an entirely new program that the Wildcats defeated by 40 points. The Texas A&M Commerce-Lions are in their second season of Division I basketball and likely a bottom-50 team in the sport. Sweeping judgments, to the extent they should ever be made, definitely should be reserved for higher-quality opponents. For Kentucky, that higher-quality opponent is coming quickly as they take on #1 Kansas on Tuesday.

Monday’s opener was a much larger margin of victory for Kentucky than expected. However, Friday night’s contest was more competitive than anyone would have thought. Trailing 21-8 over eight minutes into the game certainly opened a few eyeballs across the nation. The Wildcats went on to win in convincing fashion, 81-61, but the wake-up call was certainly served at Rupp Arena. You can’t simply sleepwalk through a game at the Division I level. That was a valuable lesson for this young team to learn before being thrown to the fire against the Jayhawks. Despite the lackluster start, there were still plenty of positives from this win over the Lions. Kentucky put five in double-figures once again, Antonio Reeves shot the lights out, and they only turned it over three times as a team.

The ‘Cats are 2-0 and that is what matters most. However, a bit more critical film session is necessary following Friday’s contest with Texas A&M-Commerce. There are some legitimate issues on the defensive end that need addressed. Turnovers may be low, but poor shot selection is leading to some misses that essentially qualify as giveaways. As stated already though, this team is still supremely talented. There will be clips to reaffirm positive play and build confidence as well. Let’s step inside the KSR Film Room and break down Kentucky’s win over the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions.

Critiquing the Defensive End of the Floor

This Kentucky basketball team is likely never going to be a stalwart on the defensive end of the floor. That is especially true without some combination of the three missing seven-footers, but even with them, there will be holes.

Early in the season this group has shown the ability to force turnovers with some aggressive play. That will certainly help to mask some breakdowns on the defensive end of the floor. However, communication is running behind and players find themselves out of position too often. That is to be expected with such a young team this time of year, but it’ll become much more costly starting on Tuesday at the Champions Classic. Simply outscoring the opponent won’t be as easy against Kansas as it was when facing New Mexico State and Texas A&M-Commerce.

In the coaching world, this is what we would refer to as being “too hugged up on your guy.” Really all five Kentucky players on this possession are too close to their matchup. You never want to take away Rob Dillingham‘s aggressiveness — he can be a REALLY good defender — but here he isn’t actually pressuring the ball. Therefore, he should have gotten off and been ready to hop UNDER this little handoff action. Tre Mitchell needs to see this and be ready to switch as well. Finally, Justin Edwards is the last line of defense. He actually isn’t in a bad position, maybe one extra step to the midline to be perfect, and he seems to be seeing the action take place. However, he is slow to react and it results in a layup. Easy fix in the film room.

Again, at least this early in the season, Dillingham being out there isn’t a problem. However, he needs to either be able to pressure the ball and stay in front or, especially against a non-shooter, he needs to back up and stay in front of the ball. Also, this just HAS to be an automatic switch. One of the biggest positives to having Justin Edwards at the “4” is how switchable it makes Kentucky defensively. As soon as #24 steps up to set the ballscreen Edwards needs to be yelling “SWITCH, SWITCH SWITCH” and then get over to stop the ball. Another easy fix with better communication and showing the mistake in the film room.

Having an all-systems failure against an action you guard against in practice is a little disappointing. This is another example of getting beat at the point of attack while guarding the ball well outside the scoring area. Pressuring the ball can be a strength, but if the ‘Cats consistently get beat by non-shooters off of the dribble adjustments will have to be made.

That being said, this layup isn’t on DJ Wagner. Similar to the previous clip, there HAS to be an automatic switch here. You can see it coming and there is plenty of time to talk it out. Rob Dillingham should take the drive and Wagner/Tre Mitchell can communicate the two left on the perimeter. In a perfect world, you would three-way switch, but the main thing is for Dillingham to stop the ball. Be MORE willing to switch.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom on the defensive end of the floor though. This Kentucky team is going to make some excellent plays on that end of the floor that lead to easy points. Reed Sheppard has already proven he can be a very disruptive defender. He has excellent hands and will get a lot of off-ball steals like the one you see here this season. That is a great read, an aggressive approach, and excellent hands to steal the ball. Sheppard’s defensive play leads to an easy Antonio Reeves layup. Good to see him have the confidence to make this play while Kentucky trailed the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions 21-8.

Shot Selection

The last thing Coach Calipari wants to do is handcuff his freshmen guards’ aggressiveness. A lot of what all three of DJ Wagner, Rob Dillingham, and Reed Sheppard do well comes from their unbridled confidence. This film session will mostly center around Wagner’s shot selection, but that is just because those clips stood out the most in this game against the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions. All three guards, and really everyone on the team, can learn something valuable from these clips. It isn’t about being less aggressive. Instead, it is about learning when it is time to turn on the jets and when it is time to live to fight another day.

Here we will show two clips to learn from followed by two clips of really good opportunities to attack.

There were four options on this drive for DJ Wagner and he chose the lowest percentage one. Again, this isn’t meant to bash the freshman guard, it is just an opportunity for him to see some things on film in order to get better. He seems like the type of young player who will eat it up and not make the same mistakes twice. This is a good drive by Wagner. He drew the full attention of four Texas A&M-Commerce defenders. However, this is not a very high percentage shot. Instead, he could have thrown a lob to Justin Edwards. Antonio Reeves was in the corner after his defender turned his head. Finally, Wagner could have jump stopped, pivoted, and let Rob Dillingham relocate to the top of the key for a redrive.

Shots like this are how you go 5-13 against a lesser opponent. DJ Wagner is too good of a basketball player to go 5-13 against Texas A&M-Commerce. He knows that. However, non-paint floaters with your right hand on the left side lead to low-percentage shooting performances. This is an especially bad shot with 22 seconds on the shot clock. When Wagner can get his shoulders past his defender he is an incredible finisher. His athleticism and strength make him very effective at the rim. If Aaron Bradshaw was in the dunker’s spot instead of Jordan Burks this probably would be a lob though. Further, Wagner could have taken one more dribble and found Reed Sheppard in the corner. These are good clips for him to see and learn from.

This is the perfect example of DJ Wagner at his best off of the dribble. He gets downhill along the lane line and gets his shoulders by his defender. At that point, it’s game over. Wagner is going to shoot a very high percentage on these types of shots at the rim.

Kentucky’s young guards could probably all benefit from taking “one more dribble” at the end of their drives. This isn’t high school anymore when they could just athletically fly by everyone around the basket. Dillingham happens to take, intentionally or not, that extra dribble on this possession. You can see how that last dribble around the second free throw hash lifts his defender and gets Dillingham all the way to the rim for the layup.

Very High Ceiling Offensively

Enough nit-picking following a 20-point victory. Let’s end this film review on a more positive note. The Kentucky Wildcats still have an extremely high ceiling on the offensive end of the floor. Their guard play is special, Antonio Reeves is one of the best shooters in the country, Justin Edwards showed flashes of his NBA lottery pick potential, and Tre Mitchell is the “connector” that brings it all together. It is exciting to think about what this team will look like later in the season.

The Wildcats could benefit from being a bit more selective when they throw the ball ahead in transition. However, that is a different conversation for a different time. This is a GOOD example of when to throw the ball ahead. The ball gets advanced because the defense isn’t back and DJ Wagner has a chance to go lay it up. Wagner with a head of steam getting downhill to the rim is as good as they come. Great transition offense from Kentucky.

It’ll get overused, but calling Tre Mitchell the “connector” of this team fits so perfectly. He simply does not allow the offense to stagnate. Mitchell’s flash to get a catch on the perimeter lifts his defender and opens up the cut to the basket. Then, Mitchell is on balance and delivers an incredible pass to DJ Wagner. Wagner throws the “one more” to Antonio Reeves for a wide-open three-point shot. It doesn’t get much prettier than that offensively. Having your “5-man” make this sort of play is pretty special.

Justin Edwards played very, very well on Friday night. He was 6-7 from two-point range because he consistently got shots like this. Three dribbles or less, straight line drive, left hand. Those are the keys to success for Edwards. Here, he was able to drive down the lane line to his left off of a Horns action for a strong, physical layup. Anytime you can get Edwards in this position it is a win for the offense.

We saved the best clip from Kentucky’s win over the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions for last. This is everything that is great about the new offensive scheme. You start from a Horns alignment and have plenty of space to play in around the rim. Reed Sheppard drives it, plays off of two feet, pivots, and finds DJ Wagner. Wagner then drives it again, plays off of two feet, pivots, and finds Tre Mitchell for the slam. That is beautiful, half-court offense.