Kentucky Wildcats: Three Thoughts on Win over Louisville
By Daniel Tran
1. Watch out, America. The Kentucky Wildcats can grind out games.
The unfortunate side effect of total domination in sports is that a team’s toughness is not truly tested. A lot of times when a team is tested, the dominant team will fall because they do not have a lot of experience in games where things are not going their way. Kentucky proved today that they could succeed in a hotly contested game.
The Kentucky Wildcats passed their toughest test of the season when they went on the road and faced their longtime rivals, the Louisville Cardinals. The KFC Yum! Center was loud and Louisville showed their defensive power, forcing Kentucky to shoot 37 percent from the field in the first half.
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However, in a tough game on the road, the Kentucky Wildcats came together in the second half and persevered. They finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field and turned the ball over 18 times, but behind incredible defense, Kentucky was able to win the game 58-50.
As good as the Louisville defense was, Kentucky’s was even better. The Wildcats forced Louisville to shoot 25.9 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from three-point range. They also out-rebounded the Cardinals with a +14 rebound margin and held Louisville to one assist FOR THE GAME.
Though their offense was not clicking, the Wildcats’ defense showed that they could dominate a game to the point where they do not have to score 70-80 points a game to have a chance at winning. This is the Wildcats identity as the competition gets better: shut down the opposition and score in anyway possible to get the win.
2. Tyler Ulis should really be starting ahead of Andrew Harrison
Ulis is a freshman? It is hard to tell when he so calmly picked the Louisville defense apart in a hostile environment.
After watching freshman guard Tyus Jones step up for the Duke against Wisconsin, Ulis showed incredible poise in the face of the pesky Louisville perimeter defense. The freshman guard from Lima, Ohio finished the game shooting five for eight from the field and two for four from three-point range, leading the Wildcats in scoring at 14 points.
Prior to the game, Ulis was averaging 48.7 percent shooting from the field, including an impressive 52.6 percent on his three-point shots. Per 40 minutes, he averages 8.1 assists, almost one assist more than Andrew Harrison who had a ghastly game against Louisville.
Harrison finished the game shooting 16.7 percent from the field and committing an inexcusable six turnovers. He looked absolutely devastated after he was pulled after his last turnover and looks like he has lost all confidence in his game, which has been the theme for Harrison this season.
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During the 2014-15 season, Harrison leads the Wildcats in turnovers committed at 1.9 per game and is shooting 38.4 percent from the field, including an abysmal 29.6 percent from beyond the three-point line. A demotion to the white platoon that comes off the bench may be in the near future for Andrew Harrison.
3. The Kentucky Wildcats now have a relative cakewalk the rest of the season.
The Louisville Cardinals represented Kentucky’s highest ranked opponent at No. 4 in the nation. In their nonconference schedule, Kentucky has faced a number of opponents were nationally ranked at the time of their respective games: Kansas (No. 5), Texas (No. 6), and North Carolina (No. 21).
With conference play starting next week, how many of Kentucky’s remaining opponents are currently ranked? Zero. Currently, the Kentucky Wildcats are the only ranked team in the Southeastern Conference. However, there are a couple games that the Wildcats have take into account.
They have to deal with the Florida Gators, who were ranked as high as seven at one point, twice. Historically, Billy Donovan teams are notoriously stingy especially at home. They also have to play against the Arkansas Razorbacks who were ranked as high as No. 18 this season. However, with Kentucky playing as well as they are defensively, they are in a great position to finish the regular season undefeated with no other teams aside from Florida and Arkansas breaking the top 25 remaining on their schedule.