My Take on the Cousins Forearm and UK By the Numbers – 1/3

In my recap of UK’s win on Saturday over Louisville, I mentioned only in passing the exchange involving DeMarcus Cousins, Jared Swopshire, and Reginald Delk. Upon second thought, I think I probably owe you a little more than that, because it is a bigger deal to people than I realized.

First of all, let me say that DeMarcus Cousins’ elbow on Swopshire was a cheap shot. Was the elbow itself, if isolated, an “ejectable” offense? Absolutely. However, when you are evaluating a play like that, you have to look at it in context, so let’s do that.

The game opened with a level of intensity that I don’t think anyone was ready for, and it wasn’t the kind of positive intensity that brings the best out of two competitors going head to head. It was the kind of hostile intensity that can actually be dangerous.

Before the play we are talking about, there was already one verbal exchange that caused John Calipari to bench Eric Bledsoe. Then, there was the scrum that ended in an official review and three technical fouls. Here is some video of the incident from CBS.

At first, as Swopshire and Cousins jockeyed for the ball, it was good clean effort. Then, if you watch closely, you will see that Swopshire brings his knee up to give himself more leverage to get the ball from Cousins. By no means do I think it was intentional, but the knee makes contact with Cousins’ head. At that point, Cousins is above Swopshire, and as soon as he gets kneed, he drops forearm on Swopshire’s head and drives it through.

Let’s get this out of the way, DeMarcus’ assertion that he was “just going for the ball” is not true. However, it is my opinion that the officials called the exchange exactly as they should have. The elbow by Cousins was purely a reaction to being kneed in the head. You can easily tell this because he did it as soon as he was kneed and pulled up immediately once he was finished reacting. It wasn’t a premeditated haymaker or anything like that. It was a reaction to being hit in the head and deserved the unsportsmanlike technical that it drew.

Hopefully that will put this whole thing to bed, but I’m not optimistic about that.

Individual Stats

John Wall – 7.3 assists per game (2nd nationally)
2.4 steals per game (31st nationally)

Patrick Patterson – 63.0% field goal shooting (t-26th nationally)

DeMarcus Cousins – 9.6 rebounds per game (43rd nationally)
1.8 blocks per game (t-89th nationally)

RPI

Hartford was so terrible in the RPI that beating them knocked UK all the way down to number 23 in the RPI from number 11. However, the win over 54th ranked Louisville boosted UK, moving them back up to 14th nationally.

UK’s first four conference opponents are ranked 95th or higher in the RPI, so that ranking of 14th should remain pretty flat until the ‘Cats face some better opponents.

Ken Pomeroy

The ‘Cats continue to climb in KenPom’s rankings, up to 13th in the nation now. It was an interesting couple of performances for the ‘Cats this week. In the Hartford game, UK operated with impeccable efficiency with the ball, buoying their offensive efficiency. Against UofL, UK was suffocating when the Cards had the ball, buoying their defensive efficiency.

The result was that UK stayed pretty flat in the offensive rankings (16th), but moved up 13 spots to 37th nationally in defensive efficiency. Each week, UK is not only moving up according to KenPom, but also becoming more balanced.