Did Aggies Give Other SEC Teams Blueprint of How to Beat UK?

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Jack Givens understands that championships are not won in January and that even the nation’s best teams can lose on the road in conference play.

After all, Kentucky’s 1978 national championship team when Givens was Final Four MVP lost not one but two SEC road games late in the seasoning had to rally to beat Florida State in its first NCAA Tournament game that season.

That’s why the former UK all-American knows UK’s 97-92 overtime loss at Texas A&M was not devastating. But the UK Radio Network analyst does worry that the game might give other SEC teams a blueprint on how to beat the Cats.

“There is a lot of basketball left and a lot more big games to be played. The real key is every team Kentucky faces will play them exactly the same way as Texas A&M played them,” Givens said.

“Send four guys to the glass and leave a point guard back to take away early offense but that doesn’t happen if UK gets a clean rebound. Teams are going to defend Kentucky hard and be physical, especially with guys like Aaron (Bradshaw) and Justin (Edwards) who have not proven they like to mix it up inside.

“Get used to it because this is the kind of game Kentucky is going to see a lot. They just have to face that.”

Givens said giving up 97 points to a struggling Texas A&M offense should convince UK players they have to make improvement on defense and not rely on always outscoring foes.

He also said giving up so many offensive rebounds (25) to the Aggies hurt UK more than the second chance points Texas A&M had might indicated.

“Those offensive rebounds took Kentucky out of its transition game. When they (UK) got clean rebounds, they were scoring. There was nothing Texas A&M could do,” Givens said. “But to give up rebounds or have the ball knocked around, that negated Kentucky’s transition and where it hurt even if A&M did not get a lot of points off those rebounds.”