Post UK-Auburn Thoughts

That was one of those games that you’re glad wasn’t played on national TV. There was very little about UK’s 73-64 win over the Auburn Tigers that was pretty, exciting, or particularly enjoyable. It was one of those games that people will see on an ESPN ticker and think “Kentucky beat Auburn relatively handily, nothing to see here”, but, in reality, Auburn gave UK a whole lot more trouble than I or pretty much anybody else expected.

We knew coming in they were going to play small, they were going to shoot threes, and they were going to try to force UK into mistakes and turnovers and they did not disappoint. Auburn started four guards, they attempted 26 threes (and made 10), and forced UK into 22 turnovers.

I heard some comparisons between Auburn and VMI in terms of style of play before the game, and it felt kind of similar, which was discouraging, because UK’s performance was a bit of a step backward from the progress they have been making. The Rupp crowd was tense all night and UK never quite settled in offensively. The difference between that game and the VMI game was that UK took better advantage of the areas that Auburn struggles in (interior defense and rebounding) and that UK defended much, much better, especially the last 10 minutes or so when UK turned a game that was very much in doubt into one in which Jodie got to pad his stats on the free throw line.

I’m going to keep my thoughts on that game short, because it’s honestly not any fun to write about a game like that, and I imagine it’s not that much more fun to read about it. The phrase “Jodie Meeks scored a quiet 20-plus points” is quickly becoming cliché, but like most clichés, it gets overused because of how true it is. Jodie had 31 points on 7-13 shooting, hitting 5-8 threes and 12-13 free thows. There is nothing about those numbers that is pedestrian, but I must be jaded because that game felt commonplace on the part of Jodie. It may have felt that way partially because of Jodie’s lack of contribution in other areas. His line in the box score read all zeroes except for his points, 1 rebound, and 5 turnovers. Jodie’s game has become much more complete of late, but it was not that way against Auburn.

Patrick Patterson, on the other hand, was phenomenal across the board. He shot 7-13 like Meeks (and scored 21), but also grabbed 18 rebounds, dished 3 assists, swatted 2 shots, and made 2 steals. He, along with Perry Stevenson, basically turned the interior into Kentucky territory. They blocked 6 shots between them and outrebounded Auburn by 8 on their own. They also played 79 minutes total, and didn’t look the slightest bit worse for the wear at the end.

This was not the kind of game that Josh Harrellson was going to thrive in. He would have been run all over the court by Auburn’s small lineup. I understand why he stayed on the bench, but I don’t quite understand the way the rest of the bench was handled. DeAndre Liggins was the only bench player to play more than 5 minutes. Darius Miller and Kevin Galloway played only 8 minutes total, and I think either of their presences on the floor would have facilitated UK’s offense a bit. With Galloway on the floor, UK has an additional guy who is a pretty solid with the ball in his hands and can make some very nice passes. Miller is a guy who can get to the basket and provide more offensive punch that a Ramon Harris.

I understand Coach Gillispie’s focus on defense, and I appreciate it, but I think these two guys need to be thrown out there more. Michael Porter needed another guy on the floor who could take some of the defensive pressure off of him, and Harris, no matter how well he plays defense, is not going to do that. This game was another example of Coach Gillispie tightening down his rotation in a close game, and no matter how well conditioned the guys are, UK is going to need more than 6 guys that Gillispie is comfortable with playing double digit minutes.

I realize my words in this article have been significantly less optimistic than most of my writing of late, so I’ll mix in some positive: UK is all alone in first place in the SEC. With Florida’s last second loss to South Carolina and LSU’s beatdown of Mississippi State, UK is the last undefeated team in conference at 4-0. It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it was a win, and the ‘Cats are where we want them to be.

Let’s grade the performance:

Turnovers/Point guard play: D+

When I referred to this performance as a “step backward”, this was the main area I was talking about. UK made a bevy of unforced errors and constantly had trouble getting into their offensive sets. Neither Michael Porter nor DeAndre Liggins played well (although Porter had 6 assists to go along with his 4 turnovers). Also, a quick rant: any fan out there that was among those who booed Michael Porter when he reentered the game at one point needs to SHUT THE HELL UP. I would apologize to anybody that might be offended by that, but honestly, I don’t mind offending the people who were booing. The kid has improved drastically this season, and has been a key component of UK’s recent good play. No matter how well DeAndre Liggins plays, Porter is always going to have a role on this team, and he deserves it.

Rebounding: A

With the way UK played in other areas, they had to be tremendous on the boards, and they were, winning the battle 42-22. Even though Auburn missed 41 shots and 16 threes, Auburn was only able to get 7 offensive rebounds. Patterson and Stevenson were huge today.

Getting the ball to Patterson: B-

Patterson got plenty of touches when UK was able to get into their sets, but the turnovers and generally frenetic play of UK on offensive prevented them from getting in their sets as much as they need to, so consequently this grade is a little lower.

Secondary scoring: C

Perry Stevenson did a great job finding easy baskets by running the floor and going to the open space in the half court, and he scored 13 points by doing that. This kind of performance needs to become the norm for Perry. Outside of Perry, nobody did much of anything to help Meeks and Patterson with the scoring load. Porter and Harris were on the floor the majority of the time, and they simply are not scoring threats on a nightly basis.