Post UK-Longwood Thoughts

Finally, Patrick Patterson got the ball consistently from the get-go. What did he do with the ball you ask? 28 points, 12 boards, 6 assists, 4 blocks, and 3 steals. That is one of the best lines from a UK player in recent memory, and the majority of the damage done was in Patterson’s 20 point, 10 rebound first half. Not surprisingly, the result was a 91-57 win for UK in what was undoubtedly the Cats’ best performance at this early stage of the season.

It was abundantly clear that Gillispie’s message to his team was to feed Patterson early, and feed Patterson often: a savvy, if not obvious, coaching decision that reestablished Patrick Patterson as UK’s best player. Jodie Meeks is phenomenal, and I love him more than anyone, but Patrick Patterson is the heart of this Kentucky team, and if he is not option number 1, this team will go nowhere.

On a side note, is there any doubt that if Pat lined up at tight end on Saturday against Ewe-Tea, he would catch 100 yards worth of passes? Every time the ball is thrown to him in the interior, he reminds me of a taller, scarier hybrid of Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez. If he gained just a bit of weight, I guarantee you he could play in the NFL. Anyone who disputes that basketball players are consistently the best athletes around is a fool.

Back to the task at hand, Jodie had another performance that makes me think there is no way he doesn’t lead the SEC in scoring with 20 plus per game. The kid’s shot was off last night (1-8 from distance), but he still managed to cobble together a 17 point game with a few trips to the line, a couple mid range J’s, and a few layups. How can he score 17 or fewer more than a handful of times all season?  Also, anyone who says he takes too many shots needs to be quiet, because Jodie is the only consistent threat from outside, and I would rather have him taking a contested three than have basically any other player on the team take a wide open one.

Another side note: how many times does the average person have to check for blood after hitting his/her head on the ground before they accept that it’s not bleeding? I would say about 3-5 times over 30 seconds. Jodie Meeks is certainly not the average human being, because he checked his head for blood probably 25 times over 3 minutes, including one time after getting to the foul line two possessions after said ground hit. That thing must have really hurt, because he just wouldn’t give up on it.

On to everyone’s favorite freshman, Darius Miller. He got his first start out there, but had an uneven game and only was on the floor for 13 minutes. Such is life for a freshman not named Patrick Patterson on Billy Gillispie’s UK teams.

DeAndre Liggins certainly did not lack aggressiveness last night. He actively sought his shot, tried many audacious passes, and almost seemed to be trying to tug at the leash Billy Gillispie has him tied to right now. He knocked down a couple threes very confidently, whizzed a few beautiful passes, and flashed a lot of the promise Billy G raves about. He also had a brutal two minute stretch where he turned the ball over at least twice, should have turned it over two more times, made a few defensive mistakes, eventually getting buried on the bench.

Most impressive outside of Patterson last night were Ramon Harris and Josh Harrellson. If taking his starting spot away for the first time since last season was an attempted motivational ploy by Gillispie to get through to Harris, it certainly worked. Ramon logged 26 minutes, and notched 9 points and, more importantly, 8 rebounds. Gillispie has consistently gotten on Darius Miller for not rebounding enough, so I have to believe he liked seeing Ramon crash the boards like he did. Kentucky as a team had their best rebounding performance of the season in my estimation, winning the battle 50-33, but still allowing 12 offensive rebounds. There remains plenty of room for improvement.

Josh Harrellson had unquestionably his best regular season effort, scoring 12 points and pulling down 7 rebounds in only 16 minutes, resting both Stevenson and Patterson for stretches. Having three big men with very different skill sets who can rotate effectively will be a major asset throughout the season. Also, I’m really looking forward to the game where the opponent doesn’t realize Jorts can shoot from range (because he has not thus far in the regular season) and he goes crazy for a stretch before they catch on.

This season, I don’t think I’m going to be able to analyze a single UK game without some token discussion about turnovers. The Cats picked up the pace and the pressure against Longwood, and their turnover totals went back up from the 12 they had against Delaware State. It’s sad to say, but 19 is not a terrible number of turnovers for this edition of UK basketball, especially this early in the season. The Cats did not make stupid mistakes as consistently as they did against VMI or UNC. They still made stupid mistakes though. If I had to grade out ball handling from last night, I would rate them at a C. I would have graded them below F in the first two games, so progress is being made, but ball handling is an issue that these Cats will never escape from.

The three biggest areas for improvement I would point out for UK so far this season are:

 1) turnovers

2) rebounding

3) establishing Patterson

Think it’s a coincidence UK’s best game happened when they had their best game in two of those three areas?