Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
From UKAthletics.com
On how the team bounced back after a rough start …
“I thought that we did a very nice job today. Vanderbilt came in and, as we expected, they played very good defense and were very hard to guard offensively and they have a counter to everything that you do. They made some shots at the start of the game that got us in a hole. We were able to start defending better as the game went on. When DeAndre (Liggins) started to get after them in the backcourt it was a nice play for us to extend our lead. We had some foul trouble with Patrick (Patterson) where he didn’t get to play much in the first half but I thought that we had about a 20 minute period there where we guarded them well and were able to get after them.”
On Ramon Harris play …
“He had a great game. You don’t ever expect a guy to be perfect but you expect him to make shots and play and defend. He did a good job of doing that today. We have to have some guys step up and make plays like he made and some guys did today. Michael (Porter) is playing great, Liggins played really well today and I thought Darius (Miller) would score some points and he played better. Josh (Harrellson), A.J. (Stewart) and Perry (Stevenson) have to get going. Ramon really gave us a big lift today.
On Jodie Meeks play …
“To play with the amount of energy that Jodie is expending over 40 minutes is almost impossible. He is trying to guard one of the better guards in the country in a fast break situation every single time and chasing guys all over the court and then not getting any easy opportunities offensively is tough. You have to have unbelievable energy.”
On Patrick Patterson’s play …
“I didn’t think that Patrick had one of his better games today. But they did a really good job of not letting him get too many touches and we didn’t do a good job of adjusting early. I thought we did a better job adjusting later on in the game and he played much better.”
On Kentucky losing its 20-point lead down the stretch …
“I think if you have a lead like we did and then you give it up, I would be ok with ending up with a 10 point win every time, not that we were intending to do that. Sometimes in those situations you think that all they are going to do is shoot 3-pointers and you don’t carry out your assignments like you should because you have to worry about fouling. In that situation fouling at the end is a cardinal sin. I think their comeback started when Jodie (Meeks) got beat on the back door and then he took a bad shot on the other end. He has to learn in that situation you have to stop momentum. We had a strong feeling that they were going to run a back door with his man coming out of the timeout and then we foul a 3-point shooter and before you know it, you have a game. Those are the types of situations that we haven’t been in too much but if we can get a big lead like that next time I think that we will perform better when it gets late. The good part about it was that some of our guys went to the foul line late and I don’t think we missed very many free throws in the final five minutes.”
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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January 11th, 2009 at 3:15 am
1st. ahhhhh
January 11th, 2009 at 4:03 am
2nd.
January 11th, 2009 at 6:56 am
I thought the last 30 minutes of the game UK did a much better job of switching and closing out on shooters. But we still are far from perfect. But I think a lot of the mistakes come from youth (and a lack of speed out front). I’ve not always been enamored with Harris, but he had a solid all-around game (even handled it pretty well). He gave great effort.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:11 am
I thought the CATS do very good yesterday. Liggins played very good
defense and we are turning a corner. I love Gillispie and he will
turn this thing around. Go Cats!
January 11th, 2009 at 9:42 am
3, Good observation about Harris handling the ball better. I think he has a few games this year just as good overall as this one, but his ball handling has markedly improved in the last few months. There was one time in the second half when he was doubled at the top of the key that would have been an automatic turnover at the beginning of the year, but now Ramon is good enough with the ball to dribble out of trouble and get the pass off. That was one of his biggest weaknesses, and he’s clearly been working on it a lot.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Harris really surprised me yesterday. I had just made a comment to my wife that he was not playing well and needed to come out when he got a rebound, hit a basket and then went on to play great for the rest of the game. Maybe he will prove me wrong like Rich and Porter have, but I have not been a fan of his play overall. Gotta love his effort and passion though.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I think Deandre had his best game of the year yesterday and I like having him and Porter both in at the same time. Deandre certainly won’t score a ton, but his length is a huge problem for opposing PG’s on the perimiter, and if that effort continues people can get themselves in huge trouble with him.
Porter is becoming a huge stabilizing force. Dating back to the Indiana game he has 26 asts and 14 tos in about 30 minutes a game. He is getting around 7ppg and 2 stls. For whatever reason he has played his worst games against the likes of VMI. Not a gamebreaker type of player, but solid nonetheless considering the hate he receives from people albeit unfairly.
I think Harris can become a dependable third scorer if he can continue to make people respect his shot. He is a good slasher and has a lot of strength.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:42 am
#4, Whats up with you? Are you schizo? If people don’t know what I’m talking about, just read this guys post from last night. He’s a big fat phony.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:56 am
#4 you definitely have a mental disorder…
January 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I really enjoyed watching the game other than the slow start. UK has to get out on defense at the start of games and defend the 3 pointer!! In several replays when the announcers were talking about Vandy’s 3 point shooting you can see just how many were wide open looks…UK needs to fix that sooner rather than later as it will bite UK against a very good 3 point shooting team!
Porter has improved a ton from the start…I’d like to see him start taking more shots at the top of the key though. He’s open and right now teams are giving him that shot so he should start taking them. Liggins was good but he still dribbles the ball out in front of him and a smaller, quicker PG will snatch the ball from him! Overall a good game from both of them though.
Harris was a nice surprise…I’d guess he’s getting healthy again and it is showing. I like Harris but not sure if we should expect this every game…would be a nice addition though if we can!
Pat and Jodie do their thing and that’s good…some mistakes here and there but you can’t do without them so you live through it.
Stevenson, Harrleson, Miller, and Stewart sound like Coach wants them to the rotation and the game time is theirs to lose…perform and you’ll get the time on the court. Miller looked better yesterday but just couldn’t get the shots to fall…they will start falling! Stevenson has to stay focused and in games for 40 minutes and Stewart is starting to look like a college basketball player…I’m starting to like seeing him out there!!
Good win for sure and I think Coach addressed the 20 point lead going to a 10 point win…I’d agree some mental mistakes were made and would expect that to not be the case next time out.
GO BIG BLUE!
January 11th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Not being able to close the game out is a concern. There have been other instances of this. Goes directly to a lack of leadership. This has to get fixed or it will cost us a loss down the road.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:32 am
As long as this team has a small lead going into the last few minutes, they’ll be hard to beat because they are almost automatic from the line. That’s still their safety net. Vandy’s comeback stalled when the clock got low enough that they had to start fouling. That’s when a 6-pt game became a 10-pt game again. But the Cats do need to play smarter to better use this strength of theirs.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Marco…Polo….Marco….Polo…….LANDON….SLONE….
January 11th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
You can say what you want about Clyde, but his teams are always tough willed, and will continue to be more so as the year goes on. Something that is going to have to happen is that players like Miller, Porter, and Liggins are going to have be able to hit “Some” open shots. Their problem is confidence, especially with Miller. They are going to have to keep shooting until they start to hit a few, which will up their level of confidence and boad well for the rest of the season
January 11th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
here is a prediction for Tenn. Miller who looked a lot better yesterday will have his breakout game. The reason is the same as why Harris had a better than normal game. UT will double every chance they get on PPat and Meeks. Miller with his size will be able to get a lot of 12 footers and he will capitalize on them. I predict he will have 12 to 15 points when it is all said and done, while Meeks may struggle to get 18, even though he will take a lot of shots. The 3 spot will be very productive in the next game.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
wildcatsforlife, granted Miller is close to breaking out, but I doubt it will come tues. He has seemed more rattled on the road. Since he didn’t score or get a board in 12 min. at No.Car. same at Lousyville in 13 min, he hasn’t scored or had a rebound in hostile territory yet. Of course, I do hope you are right.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
A good sign yesterday was KG encouraging and supporting his teammates when they would come off the floor. Don’t know what is going on with him, but we need him on the court.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
17, good point, I notice the same thing. I pay close attention to the demenor of players, and he seems like the biggest cheerleader on the bench. I don’t understand why he isn’t getting minutes. I know it’s beating a dead horse but this practice well play in the game concept worries the crap out of me. Even great players are going to have practices in which they lay a turd, but you got to put your best players on the floor when the score counts. There’s alot about Clyde that I love, but that idea ain’t one of them.