What Can We Learn Tonight?
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So Kentucky was injured? Or did they just not have any energy?
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@betterfireE outplayed them, made them shoot jumpers.
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Why were they so awful against us? Unprepared? Or is our experience and ability to run sets?
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@betterfireE defense
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Kentucky normally plays good defense, don’t they?
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@betterfireE not as good as us!
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@betterfireE UCLA handled them from tip off to final horn. We handled UCLA from tipoff to horn.
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What Can We Learn Tonight? - That Illinois State would have beaten Kentucky by 25 on a neutral court.
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My Father is a die-hard UCLA fan and even he expected a blowout after seeing how badly KU beat them. I told him this isn’t the same Kentucky team that had you down 40-7 at half-time last year and when your at home magic (can) and will happen. I had mentioned Ulis was coming back from injury maybe too soon and they looked different without him against Illinois St. Kind of like KU, UK’s strength is its 3 headed backcourt of Briscoe, Murray & Ulis. You make them a half-court team like KU and your chances go up of pulling an upset.
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Not sure Ulis was healthy last night. He played a ton, but played pretty badly.
2-12 from the field, 1-5 from three, a couple turnovers. He did have 9 assists, but he wasn’t his normal steady self.
Big win for UCLA. This shows that UCLA isn’t as bad as they looked in Hawaii.
It also demonstrates that we aren’t as bad as we looked when we fumbled the game away against MSU. UCLA is a borderline top 25 team and can do well when at home. UK is a very good team, but Ulis is their key. As he goes, they go. If he doesn’t go, they can’t go.
It also showed the difference in matchups. Welsh didn’t do much of anything against us. Had a big double double last night, and added a couple blocks besides that. That matchup was all the difference in outcome. If Welsh plays like he did against us, UK wins. If Welsh plays like he did against UK against us, that game is definitely closer. I don’t know that they beat us, but it would have been a much more competitive game.
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I think we learned Graham might be our lock down defender. His play on Alford is what made our game with UCLA a cake walk. Alford was getting anywhere he wanted with the ball against Kentucky but couldn’t even GET the ball with Devonte hounding him. Belated pat on the back for that kid.
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he did great defensively on him. I’d be more impressed if he could limit Buddy Hield in January…
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Spot on about Ulis, not sure what the prognosis for an hyper-extended elbow is but that would seem to be more than 1 game fix to me. He’s a tough kid
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He won’t shoot well until that elbow is right, even if he does take care of the ball. You can essentially guard him by daring him to shoot jumpers because I don’t think he can be efficient right now.
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Then its probably not the best that he’s playing with it, because in fact he’s a very good shooter and UK clearly is going to have to rely on his production to win against good teams.
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You think the Kentucky boards are like Buckets with all the Jack Nicholson’s calling for Calipari to be fired?
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@justanotherfan he fell really hard on it too, but then made both throws.
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I learned that in spite of my attempts to have empathy for everyone, I really, really relished Kensucky getting bashed by a team we pounded on recently. Even went to their websites to read about their misery a bit more (but didn’t find many commenters).
Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling and am wishing them many more crushing defeats in the days ahead, one day in late January in particular.
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Free throws are different than jump shots because with jump shots against a defense, there is a lot of stress on getting that shot off. With a free throw, he can slow down his mechanics and put those in.
But working off the dribble, he has to get his release off quick with his size, so that will put more stress and cause him to either fling or push the ball, depending on how his elbow feels - fling if it hurts to bend, push if it hurts to straighten. Neither option is good overall mechanics and that 2-12 suggests that he is doing something mechanically wrong to compensate. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on the shelf til after the New Year if he struggles in their next game.
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@justanotherfan agree. Think cal will go w/out him? Was it lee that had a concussion? Not sure they said for sure.
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Ulis didn’t play badly. He wasn’t hitting shots, but defense was a big part of that. But the injury probably hurt too.
Ulis’ biggest problem was that he had no help. UCLA completely took Murray out of the game and then he lost his composure.
They lost Lee in the first half due to concussion.
And the biggest issu was despite their lethargic style, Parker and Welsh just out worked Kentucky in the paint. More hustle, more resolve, more success.
When UCLA made their runs, it was because Kentucky was getting many consecutive one shot possessions.
And when Kentucky made that shot on a few possessions to close the gap, UCLA would hit a big three or get an and-one.
Kentucky was rattled. And when they got rattled it snowballed. It is common to question a call from time to time…but their players were holding their arms out asking “what?” On almost every call…really felt like Calipari’s coachmanship of politicking every call rubbed off on his team and that it negatively impacted them.
And with Murray (attitude) and Lee (injury) being non-factors, the three headed snake didn’t have any fangs…and it then became the Ulis show., which UCLA could handle.
Good news - and as @Crimsonorblue22 commented - they got exposed.
Bad news is that they got it out of their system and they will learn from it.
I will say that the demeanor of their team leads me to believe they could crumble and lose confidence if Vandy, Florida, LSU… could gang up and hang some conference losses on them…I hope that happens before the last week in January.
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@wrwlumpy Seriously?
Can Kentucky fans type?
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@nuleafjhawk Type? Probably. Read? Well…
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I predict a UCLA victory by 10.
Oh… it has already been played and my prediction was spot on!!!
But seriously…
I didn’t watch the entire game, but I watched a few minutes here and there and then watched the entire last 4 minutes.
Yes, Kentucky got exposed… if you realize from this loss that Kentucky has a heck of a lot of potential and could be almost impossible to beat in March.
Gone is the supersize. They probably won’t have near the shot blocks as last year.
But look at the gain. Ulis and Murray together in March is a monster leap over the twins.
This team is going to be dangerous if they stay healthy and continue to develop. I think much better than last year’s team. And they are actually playing a tough schedule this year… so no more undefeated season. That alone should make them a lot more dangerous because they can focus on improving instead of just defending an undefeated season.
I think their one vulnerability is size in the paint. Especially girth.
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I watched the entire game and enjoyed every minute of it. UCLA force Kentucky into being an outside shooting team and they did not have good shooting night until the end when they connected on several 3s but by then it was too late and UCLA answered every time.
