Rolling Boxscore I'm getting the Arkansas/Southern Cal game instead, but from what little I watched early on, it looked like a very evenly matched game. Mike Nardi looks very healthy too. Perhaps the ankle "injury" was a smokescreen?
Kentucky put together a solid game last tonight, and looked pretty good in the win. Villanova was a fairly tough matchup for us, but we actually did what we needed to do, and that was pound it inside to Morris. They didn't have an answer for him, and he won't have it that easy any more. That being said, there are several key factors that will need to be addressed for Sunday's game if we want to shock the Jayhawks. If we're going to beat Kansas, we need a stellar defensive effort and we have to capitalize on their dry spells. We held 'Nova scoreless for over six minutes and barely pulled a five point lead out. We need our shooting to be on and take advantage of any defensive fits we go through to build a lead. The shooting last night was another great example of our inability to consistently knock down perimeter shots. we have to have our shooters show up for the Kansas game...especially Bradley needs to be a threat. We have great perimeter threats in Bradley, Crawford, Meeks and Perry when they are actually hitting. Kansas won't be as forgiving, though. Rebounding needs to continue like it did! Our players looked hungry for the ball and were tracking it down and getting into position every shot. We'll have a good chance if we can keep a good rebounding margin and hopefully, if our shooting woes continue, get a bunch of good second-chance shots. We've gone the whole season without knocking off a ranked opponent and we've been right there so many times...I think the team might have the fire in them to play a full game of basketball and win one. We've had trouble closing the door down the stretch, and I would like to see us shut it down on Sunday and bring home a W!
It was tough to watch Nova on offense in the 2nd half - Nardi was out so much, it was just Scottie Reynolds dipping around screen after screen trying to find some way to get his shot off. I think they should've actually had Sumpter shooting farther from the basket - I know they wanted to establish some kind of interior threat, but at some point you just have to get points, and it felt to me like their best offensive player didn't have the ball in his hands nearly enough. Kentucky was good, though. Their defense is excellent, and if they didn't take so many bad 3's I'd really enjoy watching them for that aspect. Randolph Morris really frustrates me when I watch him for a full game - even when he's good, I feel like there is just so much untapped potential. UK needs to keep their guards playing at a good level. Crawford did a nice job getting to the rim a couple times - if he can keep doing that, maybe it'll free up some more of those 3 point looks. And Sheray Thomas gave them a nice lift - I don't think he'll be able to play the 5 often in the 2nd round, but anything he can give them while Morris is on the bench will be big. Bobby Perry is key - he had a big tourney last year, and made a couple nice baskets last night. He needs to create his own shot a bit more - it seems like when I see him, he's scoring because he moves well without the ball, but like Joe Krabbenhoft doesn't appear to want to be an offensive player. I think he can be a weapon if he gets more of a scorer's mindset at times.
