Good win last night

jjsomer

Senior
Sep 24, 2003
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I agree...it was a good win and a necessary win. However, we should have won by 10-15. The 3-5 min stretch with 10 minutes left in the game and us up 10pts nearly cost us the game.
 

uk78_rivals88018

All-American
Feb 6, 2003
12,401
8,783
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We were a steal away from losing. I haven't seen that mentioned much but at the end of the game the ball was stolen by LSU in their press and would have resulted in an uncontested layup or getting fouled for them to take the lead. Fortunately, the LSU player's foot touched the end line. So yes good win and lucky. Slowing the ball down was OK, slowing the ball down and waiting until under 10 in the shot clock was not good coaching strategy.

One other thing, as good as Wheeler played for most of the game, he can't hit a free throw at the end when it matters.
 

FitchandMurray29

All-Conference
Dec 11, 2021
2,428
4,969
61
I agree...it was a good win and a necessary win. However, we should have won by 10-15. The 3-5 min stretch with 10 minutes left in the game and us up 10pts nearly cost us the game.
Great point about that stretch. None more important than up 7 with 8 to play. Cason misses a 3, Oscar offensive rebound, Cason misses another 3. Instead of hitting one and going up 10 again, LSU gets the ball and a bucket to draw within 5. Next shot? Another missed Cason 3 and KJ hits a 3 to get within 2 with all of BBN getting nervous.
 
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bigbluefitch

Junior
Sep 25, 2014
72
240
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A decent win but we need to be honest here. Saying LSU is a "really good" team is a stretch. LSU is 70th according to KenPom. That team last night was essentially like beating an above average Murray St. team. Don't get too excited yet. Saturday is the real test.
 

chroix

Heisman
Jul 22, 2013
10,508
26,537
113
In close game scenarios Wheeler needs to be on the bench for the last 3-5 minutes.
 
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jjsomer

Senior
Sep 24, 2003
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We were a steal away from losing. I haven't seen that mentioned much but at the end of the game the ball was stolen by LSU in their press and would have resulted in an uncontested layup or getting fouled for them to take the lead. Fortunately, the LSU player's foot touched the end line. So yes good win and lucky. Slowing the ball down was OK, slowing the ball down and waiting until under 10 in the shot clock was not good coaching strategy.

One other thing, as good as Wheeler played for most of the game, he can't hit a free throw at the end when it matters.
We were certainly fortunate to win as you mentioned in addition to Wheeler's banked 3 and Toppin's line drive 3. The flip side is that LSU hit a lot of tough buckets on good defense. We should have made the front end of the 1-1 and closed the game out.

Calipari started the grind way too soon...either he called for the slow-down or Wheeler just stopped executing the offense...I'm not sure. But, up 10 with 10 minutes to go, we should have continued to run our stuff and stretched the lead. It was way too early to grind at that point.

LSU is a tough team. They did a lot of good stuff that will cause other teams issues. I'm glad we got that W.
 

Padsfs07

All-Conference
Jan 19, 2013
3,566
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Slowing the ball down was OK, slowing the ball down and waiting until under 10 in the shot clock was not good coaching strategy.

One point on this is that it seems Wheeler and Wallace really struggle to recognize when the other team is in zone vs. man. A couple of those possessions you talk about, LSU was in zone and they were trying to run pick-n-roll or some other man offense.
 

TheDude73

Heisman
Jan 7, 2006
24,049
23,360
113
A decent win but we need to be honest here. Saying LSU is a "really good" team is a stretch. LSU is 70th according to KenPom. That team last night was essentially like beating an above average Murray St. team. Don't get too excited yet. Saturday is the real test.
They are better than you might think. They just beat Arkansas - a team with a coach many UK fans would love to poach.

However, aside from KJ Williams, I doubt they’ll be hitting 11+ threes every game. That, Cason deciding to launch and miss three straight threes, and a little bit of Doug Shows is why they kept it so close.
 

Padsfs07

All-Conference
Jan 19, 2013
3,566
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Calipari started the grind way too soon...either he called for the slow-down or Wheeler just stopped executing the offense...I'm not sure. But, up 10 with 10 minutes to go, we should have continued to run our stuff and stretched the lead. It was way too early to grind at that point.

Like my point above, LSU was switching from what looked like 1-3-1 to 2-3 zone to man every other time down the floor and we had no recognition of what they were doing.
 

Cats_2010

Heisman
Jan 8, 2010
11,706
19,851
103
A decent win but we need to be honest here. Saying LSU is a "really good" team is a stretch. LSU is 70th according to KenPom. That team last night was essentially like beating an above average Murray St. team. Don't get too excited yet. Saturday is the real test.
Funny you say that, almost half their points were scored by two players who played for Murray last year.
 

qwesley

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
17,606
23,461
0
I use voice recognition software and it comes up with some really funny stuff sometimes.
I have a few relatives back home that when they leave VMs my phone just says "unable to transcribe". I get it.
 

wildcat111

All-Conference
Dec 9, 2020
1,534
1,732
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That was a big win last night. LSU is a really good team. I liked what I saw from the guys that needed to do it. It’s encouraging. Big game this weekend. If we can steal a couple on the road it would go a long way to determining our fate.
Yeah, we beat an unranked team at home by 3 points....we were favored by 10 ...but nothing to celebrate if you are Kentucky. Look we have all of the 5 stars and were ranked top 3 in preseason...so we should be much better. Still have not beaten a ranked team all year.
 

fadkins82476

All-Conference
Nov 19, 2019
1,341
1,714
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LSU is literally 73-75 in NET. We barely won. LSU does at least have a Quad 1 win, something we're still lacking.
 
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Burly

All-American
Sep 3, 2002
17,129
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Great point about that stretch. None more important than up 7 with 8 to play. Cason misses a 3, Oscar offensive rebound, Cason misses another 3. Instead of hitting one and going up 10 again, LSU gets the ball and a bucket to draw within 5. Next shot? Another missed Cason 3 and KJ hits a 3 to get within 2 with all of BBN getting nervous.
True nobody wants to mention the open jumpers Wallace kept missing
I’m more worried about our defense than I am offense
We are not good on defense
 
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BGCATFAN2012

All-American
Aug 19, 2020
3,765
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Cason has to get going for this team to really take off. He's letting the game come to him and we need him to be more offensive threat. Playing within the system whatever that is might be holding him back.
 

ScottGreene22

Heisman
Mar 18, 2018
11,172
15,043
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Let’s win enough too get in the dance and win a game or 2 about as good as we can hope for at this point.
 

BigBlueFanGA

Heisman
Jun 14, 2005
26,435
23,456
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That was a big win last night. LSU is a really good team. I liked what I saw from the guys that needed to do it. It’s encouraging. Big game this weekend. If we can steal a couple on the road it would go a long way to determining our fate.
Yes. I'm on the adios Cal train but last night actually looked like Kentucky basketball for much of the game. It was refreshing to see. If Toppin can keep this intensity level up along with Cason and Oscar, we should still have a pretty good season.

I give Cal enough crap, I'll at least acknowledge a good game.
 

JC CATS

Heisman
Jun 18, 2009
23,517
12,221
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We were a steal away from losing. I haven't seen that mentioned much but at the end of the game the ball was stolen by LSU in their press and would have resulted in an uncontested layup or getting fouled for them to take the lead. Fortunately, the LSU player's foot touched the end line. So yes good win and lucky. Slowing the ball down was OK, slowing the ball down and waiting until under 10 in the shot clock was not good coaching strategy.

One other thing, as good as Wheeler played for most of the game, he can't hit a free throw at the end when it matters.
1 play makes the entire game lucky? You realize a 100 things happened in that game. How bout that 3 LSU banked in
 

jjsomer

Senior
Sep 24, 2003
735
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1 play makes the entire game lucky? You realize a 100 things happened in that game. How bout that 3 LSU banked in
Agree...lots of very lucky things happened for LSU. The biggest of those being the missed Doug Shows call on Cason Wallace...one of the worst I have ever seen.
 
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KyCPA2000

All-Conference
Nov 24, 2007
1,022
1,104
113
That was a big win last night. LSU is a really good team. I liked what I saw from the guys that needed to do it. It’s encouraging. Big game this weekend. If we can steal a couple on the road it would go a long way to determining our fate.
Let's see what happens Saturday.