Those who think Wofford is nothing to worry about are showing foolish hubris. But this game will be about playing hard and playing smart for 40 minutes.
We are down to nine healthy players, so our guys have to stay out of foul trouble. That can be an unpredictable variable in the NCAA Tournament because the officials are on a big stage.
Turnovers and perimeter defense have been bugaboos all year, and could get us beat tomorrow.
Basketball games are about using your strengths against the opponent’s weaknesses. If we had a healthy PJ Washington, this game would tilt UK’s way. But things didn’t work out that way. Cameron Jackson and RT are good baseline players that roughly cancel each other out. Alumna and Montgomery more or less cancel each other out, although Montgomery’s inexperience and tendency to foul are concerns.
On paper, UK has enough athletic perimeter players to make Wofford’s shooters work hard for their shots. But if Keldon Johnson plays well, Wofford has no individual player big enough or athletic enough to handle him on the wing. So I think the game outcome will swing on whether Keldon can score enough points, and whether Wofford’s perimeter shooters wear out in the second half after chasing Herro, Quickley, and Hagans all over the court. Look for Wofford to try a zone defense in the second half, and for Keldon and Herro to test it. If UK can limit turnovers, we should win a competitive game that could be scary in the first half.
