Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky struggled in the first half, went just 8-for-22 from 3-point range and did not have any of its three 7-footers available to play in last week’s 92-69 exhibition win over Georgetown College.
Senior Antonio Reeves, the team’s leading returning scorer, had 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting, including 2-for-6 from 3, in his 26 minutes of play. He liked what he saw from the freshman-dominated team.
“I like where this team is at right now. They play hard, they’re paying attention to what we’re doing on the scouting reports and where we’re headed is just getting better defensively,” Reeves said.
“I feel we struggled some on the defensive end. We can definitely get better at.”
Reeves said there was not any specific change coach John Calipari made at halftime that enabled the Cats to break the game open. Instead, Calipari told them how hard the Tigers were playing and would keep playing.
“He just wanted us to keep competing and keep our heads up as much as possible and just stay as a team,” Reeves said.
Reeves knew his freshmen teammates were excited playing in Rupp Arena even if it was just an exhibition game. He tried to help them relax.
“Just discussing relax, try to execute as much as possible. I told a couple of them to just relax out there. I’ts going to be okay,” Reeves said. “I saw a couple of them rush some shots and just try to play a little bit, I wouldn’t say selfish, but me basketball.
“But we definitely corrected it as we went in the huddles and when we got into the locker room.”
One Response
The Kansas game will tell where we are, even if we don’t win. That game just might be the kick in the mouth that we need to get past the jitters that some of our kids seem to be dealing with.
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