Is UK being haunted by the ghost of Jodie Meeks?

2 games into the season, the Kentucky Wildcats have to be feeling a lot like many of the ‘Cats opponents felt playing against Jodie Meeks last year.

On Monday night, it was Nick Winbush of Miami (8-10 from three point range), on Thursday night against Sam Houston State, it was Corey Allmond knocking down a Rupp record 11 threes in 16 attempts on his way to a 37 point night.

Luckily, the ‘Cats had enough offensive firepower to overcome the ‘Kats on this night.

From the beginning, as UK raced out to a 14-2 lead, the outcome was never truly in doubt. That didn’t stop Allmond from making us nervous though, cutting Kentucky’s once comfortable 19 point lead to 8 with just under 7 minutes to play. UK, though, whenever threatened, punished the undersized BearKats inside with DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson. The two Wildcat big men were on the floor a combined 59 minutes, notching a total of 47 points and 27 rebounds, nearly outrebounding SHSU on their own.

We’ve heard a lot about the need for consistent effort from DeMarcus Cousins, that his contribution can range from game changing to non-existent based on whether he shows up or not. With that in mind, the way DeMarcus Cousins has responded over the last three halves after a terrible opening stanza against Miami, is VERY encouraging. I don’t expect this to be a permanent flip of a switch for Cousins, but he has shown that he does respond to John Calipari. I can’t remember a time when UK has had two big men capable of 27 point 18 rebound performance like Big Cuz put up tonight, but they certainly do with him and Patterson.

The only time that the BearKats could come close to stopping UK is when the ‘Cats turned it over. After limiting their mistakes to only 15 against Miami, UK turned it over 23 times. It was a team effort too, as John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins all had at least 5.

I’ll chalk some of that up to inexperience and lack of familiarity with what Cal is asking of them, but I’ll also chalk it up some to the amount of time they were asked to stay on the floor. Conditioning is still a work in progress at this point, and with Darnell Dodson and DeAndre Liggins (in my mind, UK’s two best guard/wing options off the bench) unavailable, Wall and Bledsoe played 37 and 38 minutes respectively. I’ll get into this more in my discussion of UK’s rotation.

In the long run, UK obviously is going to need Dodson and Liggins to contribute, but in the short term, their loss could be Darius Miller’s gain. Miller is UK’s best option at small forward even with Dodson and Liggins, but without them, he is by far the best option ahead of Jon Hood and Ramon Harris. It has always come down to confidence for Darius, and his awareness that he is clearly the best option has given him a boost in my opinion.

He had a strong performance in the win over Miami, and took another step forward Thursday night. Before fouling out, he scored 15 points on 5-10 shooting and 3-6 from three, adding 3 assists against no turnovers. He showed a willingness to drive the basketball and finish at the basket when it was there. With the way that teams are defending UK with zones and sagging man, penetration from the wing is going to be a key all year. Darius Miller, when he’s right, provides exactly that.

Defensively, the ‘Cats frustrated John Calipari yet again with their perimeter defense. Perhaps they have become accustomed to defending the drive first because of the competition in practice, because they are allowing entirely too much space for shooters. On a couple occasions tonight, we saw John Calipari absolutely lay into his team, something he doesn’t make a habit of. Granted, teams are not convert on their looks at the same rate all season as Miami and Sam Houston, but 33 treys in two games is pretty awful.

John Calipari pulled no punches in his post-game remarks, calling his team the worst defensive squad he has coached since 1988. For the most part, I don’t think it’s due to a lack of effort, rather, shockingly poor communication. UK looks like they are trying to navigate the Bermuda Triangle on ball screens, getting lost all over the place. Sometimes both players chase the ball, sometimes both players stay with the screener. I had assumed that UK would rely on its defense early as the team learned the dribble drive, but I’m not sure if that will be the case.

Luckily, UK did its thing with the outside shot as well. Eric Bledsoe scored 19 points on 5-7 shooting from beyond the line and the ‘Cats as a team were 11-22. This is really the only way UK will ever get their opponents to play anything except zone or sagging man is by hitting shots, so this is a positive. Eric Bledsoe is looking very confident with his outside shot even though he didn’t come in with a reputation as a knockdown shooter. That gym time could be paying off.

There really aren’t too many times where you can give up 99 points over 2 games on three point baskets and win both, so that’s a positive. But again, John Calipari will have plenty to talk about tomorrow at practice before UK takes the field against a quality Rider team on Saturday.

The Rotation

John Calipari, over the past few years, has never used his top players as much he has to this point in the year. Even Derrick Rose played about 29 minutes a game during his year at Memphis. However, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe have both played almost every minute to this point in the year, which, again, you can chalk up partially to the inavailability of Dodson and Liggins.

UK’s lack of quality depth at this point demanded that the starters do the bulk of the damage. The starters obliged, all scoring in double figures, accounting for every last one of UK’s points. Daniel Orton and Ramon Harris meaningfully contributed while they played, but without Dodson, UK just doesn’t have much scoring punch off the bench.

UK played but 9 men tonight (Bledsoe – 38 minutes, Wall – 37, Patterson – 32, Miller – 31, Cousins – 27, Harris – 12, Orton – 10, Jon Hood – 8, Perry Stevenson – 5), with the starters getting the bulk of the time. I think it’s safe to say that John Calipari is leaning toward an 8 or 9 man rotation when Dodson and Liggins return, but I have no indication what the timeframe is for their returns.