Kerr Kriisa had 12 of UK’s 23 assists against Bucknell. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Bucknell coach John Griffin III thought his team was prepared for the challenge of playing Kentucky in Rupp Arena.
He was wrong.
Kentucky rolled to a 100-72 win, its first time to score 100 points in its first two regular-season games since the 1978-79 season. The Cats had five players in double figures and got a double-double from Amari Williams (13 points, 14 rebounds) along with a 12-assists performance from Kerr Kriisa.
“Mark Pope has done an excellent job of assembling a roster of very good basketball players and they’ve quickly through hard work — I can only imagine — found the magic wand of unselfishness and it’s impressive,” Griffin said. “Kentucky’s offense was a little faster than we anticipated of getting the ball up the floor.”
The Bucknell staff had studied BYU’s pace of play when Pope was coach there but was not able to slow the Wildcats down.
“We want to be in the NCAA Tournament, make no mistake about it. We want a team similar to Kentucky (to play) come March and we need to experience adversity like the NCAA Tournament,” the Bucknell coach said. “It was a great experience for a mid-major college basketball program.”
Griffin revealed his first job was as video coordinator at the Indiana Pacers for coach Jim O’Brien, a former UK assistant coach under Rick Pitino.
“One of the people that took me under their wing was (former UK player) Walt McCarty and I know Walt was loved around here. So, I already have a great education into Big Blue Nation and then along with that we have Nate Sestina who entered Lexington from Lewisburg by storm and I’m sure he captured the hearts of many like he did at Lewisburg and so this was a unique opportunity – and I’m glad that we did it,” the Bucknell coach said.
Kentucky went 13-for-36 from 3 against Bucknell and Koby Brea had six of the makes. Griffin said he was impressed that UK doesn’t always take the first shot available unless it’s a “good” shot by Pope’s standards. Kentucky’s style also can lead to long rebounds that Kentucky was able to grab.
‘I’m gonna kinda go back to this thought here, they (Kentucky) have really good college basketball players. When you have a team full of really good college basketball players, what you see is the ball moving with under ten minutes of the second half, with nobody holding it, hoping to get points per game,” Griffin said.
“And when you have a really good group of college basketball players they’re gonna attack the glass when they see an advantage and that’s what they did.”
One Response
Wow he just mentioned Walt mccarty. I just mentioned him in my other comment. Bucknell didn’t look like a bad team. We just look very very good. He’s right we have real good college basketball players. That’s what you need in college basketball. When your whole team consists of McDonalds happy meals you don’t have this type of chemistry. I’ve never seen one Calapari team move the ball like we do. If they would have he would have won 4 or 5 more championships at Kentucky. You had to many players competing against each other instead of for each other. That’s what it all boils down to. Did they want to win. Yes but was a player more happy and less upset about a loss if they improved there draft stock absolutely. And nobody can tell me any different. That’s what killed the mojo on cal teams. Players running to the basket throwing up circus shots to score more points instead of passing it to the open man. Almost every game you would see wide open people and someone would drive to the basket with 2-3 people guarding them and would still throw up a shot. Dillingham and Wagner were notorious for this. This team is refreshing to watch. Now we need Stoops to step down at seasons end. I hope the fans give him the respect he deserves for what he did do for the program. If he leaves this year he’s leaving it in a better spot roster wise then when he found it. So hopefully the next coach can take this team to the next level.