Yes, I know it's Kentucky and we are probably going to lose. Yes, we've taken teams up there far better than this one and gotten destroyed. But there's always a shot. I have already convinced myself that we have a puncher's chance tomorrow night. Here's why.
* They've made the fewest threes in the league. What? Did you read that correctly. Yes, you did. UK only has 93 made threes on the year. For reference, Florida has 183, Auburn 181. Both of them hurt us with the three and we don't shoot well enough to answer when a team gets hot. UK is middle of the pack on three point percentage at 34.3% but they shoot far fewer than every other SEC team.
* They don't have a dominating post guy but they do have a lot of bodies. Ado and Holman have to stay out of foul trouble, but they should be able to compete with Gabriel, Richards, Killeya-Jones, Washington, etc.
* While they get to the line a lot (shocker), they are not a good FT shooting team.
* They have five players averaging double figures, but they don't have a true alpha dog. In fact, their leading scorer is Kevin Knox, who averages fewer ppg than Q. (We don't have one either.)
* They're even looser with the ball than we are. It's only about a half a turnover per game, but it's there. We need our worst offenders (Q, Ado, and Peters) to tighten up in this area.
* They are young, unranked and vulnerable. They've lost two straight and are just 4-3 in the conference. Even the wins are not impressive by their standards, in total by just 14 points. If we can make some shots early (huge if) and keep their crowd out of it, maybe we will have a chance to close it out.
* They've made the fewest threes in the league. What? Did you read that correctly. Yes, you did. UK only has 93 made threes on the year. For reference, Florida has 183, Auburn 181. Both of them hurt us with the three and we don't shoot well enough to answer when a team gets hot. UK is middle of the pack on three point percentage at 34.3% but they shoot far fewer than every other SEC team.
* They don't have a dominating post guy but they do have a lot of bodies. Ado and Holman have to stay out of foul trouble, but they should be able to compete with Gabriel, Richards, Killeya-Jones, Washington, etc.
* While they get to the line a lot (shocker), they are not a good FT shooting team.
* They have five players averaging double figures, but they don't have a true alpha dog. In fact, their leading scorer is Kevin Knox, who averages fewer ppg than Q. (We don't have one either.)
* They're even looser with the ball than we are. It's only about a half a turnover per game, but it's there. We need our worst offenders (Q, Ado, and Peters) to tighten up in this area.
* They are young, unranked and vulnerable. They've lost two straight and are just 4-3 in the conference. Even the wins are not impressive by their standards, in total by just 14 points. If we can make some shots early (huge if) and keep their crowd out of it, maybe we will have a chance to close it out.
