Let's be real

[KyFord]

The shots Powell/Seton Hall were hitting were high difficulty, off balance, contested, double pumps and fade aways. Sometimes there is nothing you can do besides tip your cap and move on.

I'm not even sure if that kid missed a damn shot in the 2nd half and in overtime?

Our young guys battled until the end and made some mistakes, we just couldn't overcome the beer muscles this time. You live and learn, the season is far from over.

This same type of thing will happen to Duke this year too, once they play a decent team outside of Cameron.

So as much as it hurts to lose we need to chill out and move on.

 

[John Henry]

Actually what it was, was poor defense. No not poor, it was terrible. This happens far too often. We have to get over this "We are everybody's Super Bowl" and tell it like it is. We are not very good.

 

[KyFord]

Actually what it was, was poor defense. No not poor, it was terrible. This happens far too often. We have to get over this "We are everybody's Super Bowl" and tell it like it is. We are not very good.

Powell hit 6 out of 6 from three point range in the 2nd half and in overtime. Did you not see some of the shots he was hitting?

 

[saxonburgcat]

Actually what it was, was poor defense. No not poor, it was terrible. This happens far too often. We have to get over this "We are everybody's Super Bowl" and tell it like it is. We are not very good.

If you saw the IU/UL game, you saw something as different as night and day from our game. SH and their fans were cheering as if this were the NC. The IU fans and their players were acting like this was just "another game" on the schedule. We are everybody's Super Bowl!

 

[saxonburgcat]

Powell hit 6 out of 6 from three point range in the 2nd half and in overtime. Did you not see some of the shots he was hitting?

The final shot that won the game for SH was wide open. Maybe we were so focused on Powell that we allowed another player to beat us but, even so, our D wasn't in front of him when he shot the ball.

 

[ManitouDan_anon]

Just Relax , Wait for March ... SMH

 

[John Henry]

Powell hit 6 out of 6 from three point range in the 2nd half and in overtime. Did you not see some of the shots he was hitting?

I was focusing on our lack of defense.

 

[qwesley]

Powell hit 6 out of 6 from three point range in the 2nd half and in overtime. Did you not see some of the shots he was hitting?

This is true, he hit some hellacious shots. My only issue is we continually let guys get rolling before or never making adjustments.....doubling off screens, overplaying/denying, etc. On the last 3 in regulation they iso'd him on one side, PJ should have been out to help way earlier.

 

[richbrookstomato]

We missed too many shots of our own to win the game. The way you offset a hot shooting player is to match him and capitalize on EVERY opportunity to score.

We didn’t. Our supposed best 3 pt shooter went
0-6.

We have McDonalds All-Americans, Seton Hall has kids that eat at McDonalds. No excuse for letting that team beat us, NONE!!

 

[bassworship]

They was playing out of their minds in the 2nd half for sure. You had guys taking and making double clutch step back 3's and draining them. Teams aren't afraid of us and we get their best game every time.

 

[KyFord]

They was playing out of their minds in the 2nd half for sure. You had guys taking and making double clutch step back 3's and draining them. Teams aren't afraid of us and we get their best game every time.

Exactly, our kids need to learn from this and be ready to take everyone's best shot. Seton Hall will not play like that the rest of the year.

If anyone thinks this won't happen to Duke or Kansas this year then you must not watch college basketball.

 

[Doc4UK!]

31 points in the first half. That is what killed us We should have been up by 20 at half time

 

[Cats192]

If you saw the IU/UL game, you saw something as different as night and day from our game. SH and their fans were cheering as if this were the NC. The IU fans and their players were acting like this was just "another game" on the schedule. We are everybody's Super Bowl!

You know, that's a cute quote. Cal loves to say everyone gets up for us like they do for no one else. But you don't think small schools get up for Duke? You don't think they get up for UNC or Kansas?

IU and U of L don't fall in that range. But also, we don't want to be on the same level as those guys.

Yes, Seton Hall hit ridiculous shots. The other team can hit tough shots AND we can play poor defense in the 2nd half.

 

[TheWyldKat_rivals45219]

Just Relax , Wait for March ... SMH

But it sucks soooo bad waiting and waiting for 3 good weeks of b-ball

 

[LadyCaytIL]

See this is what happens when people don’t know the game nearly as well as they like to think

You prevent Powell from getting the ball. You make someone else beat you after he hit two of those shots in a row.. or you foul the **** out of him.. hit his shooting hand so hard he will be reluctant to shoot that shot again

Payne talked about this after the VMI game. A guy going off is no excuse...

 

[NYShoreGuy]

See this is what happens when people don’t know the game nearly as well as they like to think

You prevent Powell from getting the ball. You make someone else beat you after he hit two of those shots in a row.. or you foul the **** out of him.. hit his shooting hand so hard he will be reluctant to shoot that shot again

Payne talked about this after the VMI game. A guy going off is no excuse...

Powell was planting off screeners 2 feet beyond the nba line on 3 or 4 of the threes in the last 5 min

 

[TBCat]

Actually what it was, was poor defense. No not poor, it was terrible. This happens far too often. We have to get over this "We are everybody's Super Bowl" and tell it like it is. We are not very good.

I agree. Our 3 point defense is historically bad. There's a reason why every team we play has some guy just go off. Happens once it's a fluke. Happens every time you play someone then you have to be doing something wrong. Last night we didn't run Powell off his spot. Once he got comfortable it was just like shooting in a warm up drill. The fact that a defender was with in a step doesn't really affect things. He shouldn't have been allowed to catch the ball cleanly and square towards the basket. There has to be some defensive recognition of where the screen will be coming and how he's going to curl off of it. You don't have to just follow him around the screen. Beyond that there needed to be pressure on the passer. There wasn't any.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

Powell was planting off screeners 2 feet beyond the nba line on 3 or 4 of the threes in the last 5 min

Because our defense is piss poor at defending screens.

 

[jc2010]

31 points in the first half. That is what killed us We should have been up by 20 at half time

31 pts is bad, 31% is a killer

 

[mdlUK.1]

The final shot that won the game for SH was wide open. Maybe we were so focused on Powell that we allowed another player to beat us but, even so, our D wasn't in front of him when he shot the ball.

And the shot powell hit to make the game 70-67, he was falling down backwards and threw up a prayer. Most of his shots were very difficult and if our guys took them, people on here would be criticizing them. The game winner was open because everyone was trying to stop powell.

 

[C5matt_rivals373900]

31 points in the first half. That is what killed us We should have been up by 20 at half time

This is correct! Herro and KJ—one or both—have got to get off with better starts every game or this will be the result! They both wanted to play in the big-time at KY so now it’s time to shake off the jitters and get after it!!

 

[Wildcatfan66]

I do agree that the shots Powell hit were generally crazy. And even wide open to hit that many in a row is a rare occurrence. And we did keep him in check for the first 35 minutes of the game. So yea, sometimes this just happens and you move on.

The bigger issue I have, is I would not feel much different this morning had we won. Just don't care much anymore, after living and breathing UK basketball for 40+ years. UK just hasn't been the same since the Wisky loss in 2015. We had a chance to do something that may never happen again. And we blew it. Calipari teams seem to blow it a lot in critical situations. Yea we have gotten to a lot of FFs under Calipari. But odds are we should have won at least 1 more. FT shooting, failure to adjust during games, whatever. UK is just not the same program it was the first 5 years under Cal.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

And the shot powell hit to make the game 70-67, he was falling down backwards and threw up a prayer. Most of his shots were very difficult and if our guys took them, people on here would be criticizing them. The game winner was open because everyone was trying to stop powell.

Game should never of been in that position with SH. All you want to focus on is 5 minutes of a guy going off ... well PJ went off during that time too.... what about the other 40 minutes of the game where we failed?

 

[SkyPrince1]

Powell really struggled first half and we didn't capitalize.
We gave him the opportunity to get his team back in the game by our inability to make runs.
Remember when Joe Crawford would heat up when we got down 20+?
Only thing that helped was Joe's stat line because the game was over.
SHU would have been buried by Duke after a 3pt half from Powell.
He could have went for 40 and it wouldn't have mattered.

 

[BBNinSCar]

The final shot that won the game for SH was wide open. Maybe we were so focused on Powell that we allowed another player to beat us but, even so, our D wasn't in front of him when he shot the ball.

PJ blew that defensive assignment. He tried to recover late and just blew past the shooter, who just waited for PJ to jump and then nailed the shot.

 

[TortElvisII]

Powell hit 6 out of 6 from three point range in the 2nd half and in overtime. Did you not see some of the shots he was hitting?

Some people can shoot. Coach probably left him in when he missed one before and he found his shot.

 

[TortElvisII]

31 points in the first half. That is what killed us We should have been up by 20 at half time

We needed a good rock fight.

 

[CB3UK]

The crisp passing around the horn and patient shot selection by Seton Hall on their last possession
V
our disjointed effort to bring the ball up with 9.5 seconds to go to get an open layup or 10 ftr

I thought it was a pretty nice visual summary with what the issue with our approach is.

 

[TankedCat]

I cannot let Powells shooting be an excuse to losing to Seton Hall.

We were unprepared to face a team that will struggle to make the NCAA tournament.

At no time should there be an excuse or reason to just say it happens and move on for a situation like this.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

And the shot powell hit to make the game 70-67, he was falling down backwards and threw up a prayer. Most of his shots were very difficult and if our guys took them, people on here would be criticizing them. The game winner was open because everyone was trying to stop powell.

Powell didn't touch the ball on last possession Nelson drove middle kicked to mcknight who drew volume kicked to Thompson who shot faked nick Richards back to Lexington and then when cale got the pass he faked to get the last rotated defender out of the way and Richards was too far away to make a real difference

 

[NYShoreGuy]

I cannot let Powells shooting be an excuse to losing to Seton Hall.

We were unprepared to face a team that will struggle to make the NCAA tournament.

At no time should there be an excuse or reason to just say it happens and move on for a situation like this.

Depending on how big east play shakes out its really wide open this season shu is a middle tier team that will be on the radar for the ncaas

 

[TankedCat]

Depending on how big east play shakes out its really wide open this season shu is a middle tier team that will be on the radar for the ncaas

ok

We were unprepared to face a team that depending on how big east play shakes out its really wide open this season, shu is a middle tier team that will be on the radar for the ncaas

 

[LadyCaytIL]

ok

We were unprepared to face a team that depending on how big east play shakes out its really wide open this season, shu is a middle tier team that will be on the radar for the ncaas

Makes ya just look forward to facing middle tier SEC teams doesn’t it

 

[MadaboutBlue]

So the narrative is now "one guy went off on us and played out of his mind." That seems to be what I read the most. While that's fair to a point, it sure would have been nice to have made a few shots in the first half-especially since this is Cal's best three point shooting team. It would also have been great to not have had that four/five minute drought in the first half. And maybe, it would have been effective for someone to have called a time out and organized a plausible strategy for a quality shot at the end of the game. While I'm at it, didn't an opponent just set a record in Rupp Arena for the most three pointers of anyone in the history of Rupp Arena? If guys are setting records and "going out of their minds", maybe, just maybe it might be time to take a look at our defensive strategy.

 

[TankedCat]

Makes ya just look forward to facing middle tier SEC teams doesn’t it

yah, pumping up Seton Hall's resume is not the answer here.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

yah, pumping up Seton Hall's resume is not the answer here.

I think that guy was a seton hall fan so he’s ok fluffing them up some. But yeah... failing to beat that seton hall team is very troublesome

 

[TankedCat]

I think that guy was a seton hall fan so he’s ok fluffing them up some. But yeah... failing to beat that seton hall team is very troublesome

ahh..OK, fair enough, I'd do the same if I were him

 

[Mike-D]

Powell hit 6 out of 6 from three point range in the 2nd half and in overtime. Did you not see some of the shots he was hitting?

Don’t even waste your time. You can’t convince the blind. I will say, though. The game was still our fault. You put a bad team like that away early, and none of this matters. We went like 10 minutes in the 1st half without a field goal. That was our opportunity to put the game away. We blew it. It’s on Cal.

 

[KyFord]

Expecting the team to be perfect for every half of every game is unrealistic and unfair, especially early in the year.

This WILL happen to Duke this year when they stop playing cupcakes at home btw.

Some people have to realize that we are not going to be undefeated and win every game by 50, and neither is any other team.

 

[IYAOYAS1]

Some of these kids that burn Kentucky weren’t recruited by the blue bloods and they have so much to prove.

It’s personal and our young players are used to dominating average talent at the high school level so they aren’t fully preparing mentally for these games. They aren’t used to having to play their *** off to squeak out a win.

This tough loss resulted in more growth than blowing out a Div II mid major by 30.