The House of Blue

Spot on JD. Vandy was playing out of their mind. We weren't nearly as motivated yet we still had every chance. Just shows how
Good this team is.

Lamb misses those kinds of shots pretty often, drives me NUTS. He missed 2 pretty WIDE open 3's yesterday against Florida as well that would have put us up 12....a couple minutes later it was a 2 point game.

Good recap on what could have won it. The game though was actually lost at the free throw line imo. UK made more baskets than Vandy, even matched them 3 pointer for 3 pointer but lost the free throw battle by 9.

PS. UK also got outrebounded today and just as the talking heads said during the game Vandy made more free throws that UK took.

While watching the game, I thought the Lamb miss at the 8 minute mark was going to be huge. Unfortunately I was right. Lamb missed some big shots last week at Florida, and again yesterday, but no one noticed cause we won.

UK didn't make shots down the stretch against Florida and they got away with it. They didn't get away with it against Vandy.

Could have easily put them away time and time again.

I stand by the fact I think they were gassed. When you're legs are gone, your shot is gone, you can't sit down on defense and you can't rebound, all things that cost the Cats down the stretch.

Davis looked completely spent. And no wonder after pushing Ezeli's 280 pounds around all day. Plus, UK got outrebounded 37-29 by a team that's not a very good rebounding team.

Yeah, Lamb misses half of those 3 point shots! Darn him!

The problem as I see it is fatigue - either mental or physical.
D was not quite as sharp.
And on O, yes, we had several open 3s that could have been daggers, but shooting 28 3s in any game is too many.
When you are tired, it is easy to settle.

That said, the Lamb miss followed by the Tinsley 3 was the turning point IMO.

Another huge factor - look how emotionally invested in this game Vandy was. We joke about UK being other team's Super Bowl, but quite often, it is the truth. Esp w the SEC tourney title on the line.

Vandy gave everything they had, we missed several shots that could have made the difference, and the ball bounced their way.

So, they get their celebration now, we'll go for the real celebration in NOLA in a few weeks...

AND, I'm with JDrum - I'm not going to allow VU to ruin my bracket again!

I just wonder where "fresh legs" Wiltjer was? Why was he not in the game at all toward the end when it was obvious everybody else was gassed???

i bet Eloy would have been more productive this year if Cal would have given him time. he gave Kyle time and his offense has responded.

IMO UKs short bench is a real worry going into the NCAA tournament. They basically have 6 players that are championship type players. Foul trouble, an injury or just plain fatigue from having to play the starters too many minutes could derail UKs drive to a NC.

Calipari needs to build better benches. UK needs two or three more players on the bench that can give the starters a blow without losing hard earned leads and step in in case of injury or foul trouble.

The fact that Miller is versitile and can play 3 or 4 positions helps but he need some help.

I think, the last part is the reason why he hates SEC tourney.

Just because of three straight games, it's almost a different game he is coaching. Time management of each players become more important.

When you have 2 games in 3 days, with rest in the middle you can play Davis 40 minutes, no problem.

While short rotation, i think, works great for NCAA, but not so much for conference tourney. (Coach K also does this, and last year's UConn also had short bench)

While I dont think it is a necessity it would be nice if we had a deeper bench. If we had another big body off the bench that could defend/rebound it would have been a HUGE help for us. I wouldn't mind using a scholly on a big body from the juco ranks to be honest, someone similar to what Cal had in Joey Dorsey at Memphis(even though he wasnt a juco).

One play in the final minutes of the game that I thought was big -- and I haven't gone back to review it -- was the foul called when Jenkins was shooting the 3 (and missed it). It appeared as if he kicked his leg out to draw the foul but I haven't gone back to review. 3 point swing there.