The questions swirled for a day.  How would Kentucky respond to being ranked #1?  It appeared that they didn't react too well to it, losing on the road to South Carolina by the score of 68-62 on Tuesday night.  Today the questions are still firing.  Did Kentucky overlook South Carolina?  Was the call from the President a distraction?  Is Devan Downey really that good?

It did appear Kentucky overlooked the Gamecocks.  They didn't exactly play inspired basketball.  DeMarcus Cousins played a solid game, but overall the players seemed to be flat. 

The call from the President is a non-issue to me.  It was just another act in the circus Coach Calipari has created of the Kentucky basketball program.  I'm in no way panning Cal for his promotional skills.  His ability to be a politician and marketing genius is nothing but good for UK basketball.  There's just a lot going on in that program.  There have been a million distractions coming at these players from the start of the year.  John Wall is being called a player of the year pick and a lock for the #1 pick in the 2010 NBA draft.  DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and now Eric Bledsoe are all being rumored to have chances at being as high as lottery picks in that same draft.  A phone call from Barack Obama is just another act in the sideshow.  It's nothing these kids haven't gotten used to.

That brings us to the issue of Downey.  Is he good?  Hell yes he is.  The guy completely disrupts you on defense.  You almost can't guard him with one person because you're giving up either open jump shots or layups.  It bothers me that everyone is talking about how great of a game he played last night.  Yes, he scored 30 points in a game where his team only had 68.  He scored those buckets against good (and fresh) defenders throughout the game. 

If you look at his stats, even in passing, it's hard to say he had a stellar game.  Downey shot 9-29 from the field and 10-11 from the free throw line.  He was 2-5 from the three point line but he needed almost 30 shots to get to the 30 point mark.  In addition, he only had 3 assists.  I give Downey all the credit in the world for hitting those acrobatic floaters and fadeaways (the and-one on the quick in bounds was tough) but how many bad shots did he take when he got driving lanes?  If it were not for Muldrow and Jefferson hitting the offensive glass the game would not have been close. 

Now I do say this in total ignorance to South Carolina's game plan.  It is quite possible that Darrin Horn has instructed Downey to shoot any time he makes it to the lane.  If that is not the case, then SC's big men have at least done a good job of learning their point guard's tendencies.  South Carolina had 16 offensive rebounds last night, and if you watch the film closely you can see why.  It wasn't simply that UK's players weren't blocking out or that Carolina's big men were crashing the boards hard (they were), but about 80% of the offensive rebounds were a result of Downey penetrating, shooting a wild floater over a help defender, and then that defender's man getting an uncontested put back.

Kentucky never made an adjustment on this.  You obviously can't just let Downey shoot, but the adjustment should have been made on the penetration.  Once Downey clears his man you have the help defender come to pressure him.  At that point either the man guarding Downey has to get back to the help defender's man or you have to have a complete defensive rotation to make sure that man is screened out.  I understand Devan is quick and gets his shot up quickly in the lane, but UK has outstanding team speed on both ends of the floor.  They should have forced South Carolina to drive and kick more often.  SC shot 25% from behind the arc as a team.  They shot much better than that off offensive rebounds.  It is unacceptable that UK never made the adjustment to get more men on the boards on dribble penetration.

The final thought on the game is that South Carolina impressed me last night.  Not because I think they are a good team; they are not.  They didn't impress me because they beat a good UK team or because they beat the number one team in the nation.  Darrin Horn's squad impressed me last night because after leading for about 7 minutes of the second half they found themselves down by 5 with just under 10 minutes to go.  It is very hard for a team with lesser talent, and playing against a highly ranked team, to pull themselves back up when they have given up a lead in the second half of a game.  South Carolina showed me last night what Tennessee showed in their win over Kansas.  They have some guts, and on any given night they can push a team to the brink.  Carolina did not play very well last night, but Kentucky played awful.  That is why Kentucky ultimately lost the game.  But SC's ability to hang in there in that second half gave them a chance, and for that alone they should be applauded for at least one game.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment