4 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Everything went the Cats way today, could have beaten the Celtics!! Gave up 95 points again defensively but that’s just what they do. So Auburn missed over 15 uncontested shots and Ky got the win, Cats blow a 15 pt lead vs LSU and got beat, until the defense gets better and they take better care of leads, I’m not getting excited about their chances in tourney play, today’s game will never happen again, actually yesterday’s game.

Well it’s a good thing that basically every team in the country this year has flaws that have led to a lot of losses for everyone this year. UK has also now beaten three teams in the top 10 of the NET rankings. So while yes the defense definitely is still a weakness. This teams strengths has also shown they can beat anyone. So besides maybe Purdue and UConn, UK is similar to most teams entering the tournament and has flaws, but also most likely a higher ceiling than most of those teams. 

5 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Everything went the Cats way today, could have beaten the Celtics!! Gave up 95 points again defensively but that’s just what they do. So Auburn missed over 15 uncontested shots and Ky got the win, Cats blow a 15 pt lead vs LSU and got beat, until the defense gets better and they take better care of leads, I’m not getting excited about their chances in tourney play, today’s game will never happen again, actually yesterday’s game.

It was 29 to 28 Alabama, by the time Alabama could score their next four points the score was 33 to 48 Kentucky. In that 6 minute run the UK defense held Alabama to 4 points while putting up 20 of their own.

At 16:41 of the 2nd, Sears hit a 3 to cut the lead to 14 at 54 to 68 Kentucky. By the time Alabama could break 60 points UK had added another 24 to go up 92 to 59. A few minutes later Big Z hit a 3 to make it 104 to 67 at that point the game was basically over. Alabama scored a TON of trash buckets down the stretch as UK was trying to not foul or stop the clock. During the meat of this game when it was still in doubt, UK played very good defense and built a 33 point lead. 

1 hour ago, sportsfan41 said:

Deflections and tips.  No steal, but we all know what happened. 

Do you know whether it counts as a "deflection or tip" if the other team gets the ball? Or only if our team gets it?

3 hours ago, Bluto said:

Do you know whether it counts as a "deflection or tip" if the other team gets the ball? Or only if our team gets it?

I guess it depends on the stat guy. Those aren't typically tracked. But coaches big on defense love them and track them.  

I’ll just be glad when Kentucky will have their entire roster available for a game. I don’t think that has been the case so far this season. Mitchell has been out for a few games. Before that Theiro was out for a couple weeks. Wagner has also missed time due to injuries. And of course all three bigs were out for much of the season. 

This win moved UK up 5 spots in the NET rankings to #19.

1 hour ago, The Professor said:

I’ll just be glad when Kentucky will have their entire roster available for a game. I don’t think that has been the case so far this season. Mitchell has been out for a few games. Before that Theiro was out for a couple weeks. Wagner has also missed time due to injuries. And of course all three bigs were out for much of the season. 

The only game that they began with  their entire roster available was the Ole Miss game.  And Mitchell had to leave the game with injury in the 2nd half.  So they haven't had their entire roster available for an entire game yet.  

A great win, but I am not getting too excited. UK was making everything. If they shoot like they did yesterday, UK will be cutting down the nets (unlikely). The pessimist in me knows the correction game is coming. The optimist in me is saying this was the correction game from LSU. ?

This was a perfect match-up against a non-physical team. When UK is allowed to run unimpeded, they are tough to stop.

On 2/24/2024 at 9:36 PM, futurecoach said:

Cal gets a lot of hate from people on here. However, rarely does he seem to get credit. Cal has to get credit for developing Theiro right? Theiro has shown that he is one of the most important pieces on the team. So Cal has to get credit for developing him right?

Also I would say Cal deserves credit for sticking with Edwards. Most people including myself was wanting him to stop really playing him, but he stuck with him. Now we are seeing his confidence really start to grow, and showing signs of the highly ranked player he was. He is not always going to go 10 for 10, but with his game stepping up. It just gives this team another weapon. 

I'm so happy for both players. I didn't wanna give up on Edwards. Might have been one of the last around here to let go. So happy for him. 

Love yesterday for all three od the people you mentioned!

10 hours ago, Bluto said:

Several times Reed Sheppard poked the ball away, but someone else on our team caught the ball. Does Reed get credit for a Steal? Or if not, is there a category for "possession break up," similar to football's "Pass Break Up"?

I don't think there is an official stat but lots of teams track deflections, which I'd count those as such.

I just watched the game. One word...fun.

Love seeing the guys celebrating Edwards. Everyone was questioning him even playing a month ago and I'm sl glad Cal stuck with him. He does a lot on D and rebounding that goes unnoticed. If he plays with confidence, along with Thiero, what a duo of weapons on the wing.

6 hours ago, bugatti said:

A great win, but I am not getting too excited. UK was making everything. If they shoot like they did yesterday, UK will be cutting down the nets (unlikely). The pessimist in me knows the correction game is coming. The optimist in me is saying this was the correction game from LSU. ?

This was a perfect match-up against a non-physical team. When UK is allowed to run unimpeded, they are tough to stop.

Yes, teams seemingly always come back to earth after a game like this. Look at Auburn right before we beat them, they killed South Carolina. 

I hope we come out and just take care of business, I'll take a win by any margin.

21 hours ago, Bluto said:

Several times Reed Sheppard poked the ball away, but someone else on our team caught the ball. Does Reed get credit for a Steal? Or if not, is there a category for "possession break up," similar to football's "Pass Break Up"?

I believe in the basketball world this has changed universally to Reed getting the steal stat.  He had 4 in the box score so I'm sure those he tipped and caused UK to get the possession are the ones he got the stat for.

11 minutes ago, brown4 said:

I believe in the basketball world this has changed universally to Reed getting the steal stat.  He had 4 in the box score so I'm sure those he tipped and caused UK to get the possession are the ones he got the stat for.

You are correct. You also see this with rebounds now when a player makes a controlled tip-over to another player, they give the rebound to the player tipping the ball.

Sheppard has 19 steals in the last 4 games, 26 over the last 6. He is creeping towards averaging 3 a game which is big-time elite.