…apparently does not stay in Vegas. Get some.
It had the feelings of a trap game, a game where Kentucky would go through the motions high off of their Vegas hangover of joy, win by 20+ points and not look very impressive in doing it. When a team with no TV exposure like Lamar is on the schedule, I like to go to ESPN and check the roster and box scores. I found out that Lamar won the Southland Conference last year, started four seniors and a junior, and their starting guards were both under six feet, which makes you assume that they’re speed demons. What happened in the ballgame was very pleasing. Kentucky jumped out to a great start behind threes from Meeks and Harris (that came from the exact same play) and never looked back.
One thing about the injuries to Ramon Harris and Mike Porter that gets lost in the shuffle is how well Harris was playing on both sides of the ball before the collision. He was locking down his smaller, quicker opponent on defense and was 2-2 from the field. The injuries led to extended playing time from DeAndre Liggins (who was going to get it anyway after the WVU game) and yes, Kevin Galloway. I have to say that I loved what I saw from Galloway in this game. His lack of playing time early in the season had everything to do with not grasping the system as well as others and nothing to do with lack of skills or athleticism. This was a good game for Galloway to get big minutes because Lamar had such tiny guards, and one play really stood out. Galloway went left, posted up his smaller defender with the right hand, swung left and wrapped it around to Patterson in perfect position for an easy score. It was outstanding.
Tom Leach brought this up in last night’s radio broadcast, but he liked the way Liggins and Galloway worked together when they were on the floor at the same time. The biggest benefactor of this was Patterson, who went 11-12 from the field for a career high 31 points. Most of his shots were from directly under the basket as a result of good passes from Liggins and Galloway. In one stretch last night, Patterson broke free to the basket three straight times and Liggins and Galloway found him with long outlet passes. It was a joy to watch and you could see the upside just oozing out of both guys. Liggins took over the game in the second half, building from the confidence he gained after the second half against WVU in Vegas. My favorite move of his is the running bank shot he takes from about 8-10 feet out. I like it because it goes in more often than not, plus it reminds me of the most underrated Wildcat ever, Sean Woods. That shot was the one offensive move that was a specialty of Woods’, and hopefully Liggins gets as good at it as Sean did.
Lamar shot 33% from the field last night, which has become par for the course for this UK team since the first half against Carolina. To add to the great field goal percentage defense, Kentucky also leads the country in shooting percentage. These statistics are typical of Billy Gillispie teams. If memory serves me right, his last team at Texas A&M led the country in FG% differential (offensive FG% minus defensive FG%). Open shots for the Cardinals were few and far between.
So now, we have to shift our attention to Miami. The Hurricanes are coming off of an embarrassing loss to Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in which they blew a 14-point halftime lead. The Canes were already without starting PG Eddie Rios because of an indefinite suspension, and now the status of best player Jack McClinton is up in the air. If you didn’t watch ESPN in the last two days, an Ohio State player accidentally poked McClinton in the eye when swiping for the ball, so McClinton came back and slapped him right in the face. With the OSU player doubled over, McClinton got open, buried a three, then got ejected for a flagrant foul. As it stands right now, a flagrant foul does not result in a one-game suspension, but the ACC can increase the severity of McClinton’s punishment if the conference feels the need. Regardless of whether or not McClinton plays, Miami is an extremely athletic team, and I think Frank Haith is a pretty good coach. He did have a terrible night against OSU after losing McClinton, though. OSU used patient ball movement to attack the Miami defense and get open for numerous threes. On offense, the Hurricanes either jacked up a quick shot early into the shot clock or worked the clock all the way down until forcing up a prayer. They lost all composure with McClinton out. It should be noted that the Buckeyes used a 2-3 zone the entire game, something which I guarantee will never happen on Saturday. Ohio State probably didn’t have the kind of personnel to play man against the U, but Kentucky does. It will be interesting to see if Miami can compose themselves against our awesome man defense.
I’m Seth Stogsdill, and in breaking news, Beverly Hills 90210, Detroit Lions 3.