UK Wildcat Country

Whenever there’s a performance as transcendent as the one we saw from Jodie Meeks yesterday in Fayetteville, I like to open the column with a song lyric, usually from one of the greatest artists in music history. Today, we’ll go with Cinderella. They fit the category, or else you’re no friend of mine.

“Don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”

Enjoy this season and these phenomenal games by Meeks. I think he’ll be back next season, but you don’t know for sure, and that’s why you cherish these moments. Kentucky was better than Arkansas going into the game. Then Patrick Patterson sprained his ankle, and it was probably a push, and definitely a cause for concern. Then John Pelphrey suspended Courtney Fortson for reasons that still haven’t been made clear, and all of a sudden, it looked like the good guys had the momentum in their favor. But given how important Patterson is to this team in how he opens things up for his teammates on offense and provides leadership on defense, nobody really knew what to expect.

What we got was a performance from Meeks that I feel was better than the 54-point show he put on against Tennessee in Knoxville. Against Tennessee, Jodie had Patterson to set screens for him up top and demand attention from two defenders at all times. All due respect to Perry Stevenson or Josh Harrellson, but they’re not at that level yet. Perry doesn’t have the figure or strength to set a killer screen, and when Josh almost killed Stefan Welsh on a pick, they called an offensive foul – incorrectly, I might add. So Meeks wasn’t able to get open from three on his signature play, the curl from the top of the key. The absence of Patterson also meant that Meeks had to do more creating off the dribble, which always means more difficult shot selection. But it didn’t matter. He finished strong at the rim, and had to use some incredible moves to get himself open for threes. Two stand out, and they happened on consecutive possessions in the second half. On the first one, he had it at the top and was looking to drive left, but Welsh and Michael Washington were ready to surround him, so he switched right and went back to the top, Welsh fell down and Washington wasn’t fast enough to close – buckets. Next time down the floor, Meeks has it up top and wants to drive the middle, but two Razorbacks cut him off, so he cuts left and Darius Miller has screened off the two defenders, leaving nobody in sight at the elbow – buckets. And that was just his offense. Never mind his excellent defense against Stefan Welsh and the clutch rebounds he grabbed every time it looked like Arkansas was going to make a run.

The team defense was improved tenfold from the Florida game, and all things considered, it wasn’t that bad in that game. Arkansas probably didn’t have the personnel to run the high screen as effectively as Florida did, since Fortson was out and Washington isn’t as beefy as the Florida big men. But whenever they did try it, the Cats fought through the screens better than they have in any game since Auburn. When a Razorback got an alley to the basket, there was Perry Stevenson to politely remove the ball from the vicinity of the rim. I don’t know what happened to that defense against Ole Miss, South Carolina or Mississippi State, but I’m glad it’s back, and not a moment too soon.

I want to see Kevin Galloway play more after he was the single biggest determining factor in the outcome of the Florida game. I halfway understand why he didn’t get minutes that most of us would call sufficient yesterday. Ramon Harris, for all his faults, had a perfectly adequate game. He scored seven points and led the team in rebounds and assists. When he plays like that, you’ll take it. When he has a bad game like he did against Florida, I think Coach Gillispie will be more willing to make moves, whether it’s Galloway, Miller or whoever.

Speaking of Miller, he’s quietly having a pretty good conference slate for a freshman, not necessarily in terms of points, but in rebounds, defense, hustle and overall solid decision making. You can see his confidence grow every game, especially on defense. He still has a way to go on offense, but he can still help this team with his passing and court awareness.

Last week, once I got my cable back, I said something to the effect of “This might be naïve, but I think two wins this week could turn this thing around in our favor.” Now is the time to see if I’m a prophet. If it’s true, please send me money.

Beat Vanderbilt. Thanks for reading.