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Kentucky coach Mark Pope praised Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff for how well he runs his program and how disciplined his teams always are.
However, Acuff could not stop talking about Pope’s team after Kentucky blitzed Lipscomb 97-68 after jumping on top 20-6.
“I know most of the guys in the SEC don’t know him (Pope), but I can tell you I’m tremendously impressed. Tremendously, tremendously impressed,” Acuff said. “We play a lot of these games—unfortunately—we play a lot of them, and we’ve done well in a lot of them.
“But that’s the best, offensive, power four team we’ve played in my six years at Lipscomb. I’ll tell you what, if (Lamont) Butler, (Jaxson) Robinson, and (Koby) Brea play like that, they’re going to be a tough, tough, tough out.”
Tough out is music to Kentucky fans’ ears since UK has been far from a tough out in postseason play the last five years.
“When we play these games, a lot of times it’s the defensive end — they really get after us on defense. I think they are underrated defensively, but I think we had good shots. If the ball does not go in, it’s a hard game,” the Lipscomb coach said. “But you make one mistake, or you are one half second late, it’s three [points].
“And I know they went 12 for 25 (from 3) and we fouled them for three more. So, good for them. I know what basketball means in the state of Kentucky. You’re going to have a team that’s fun to cheer for. I’ll tell you that.”
Again, say amen Big Blue fans.
Acuff knows in today’s college basketball it is possible to recruit a new team like Pope had to do. However, most teams don’t work out this well.
“You can go and get a new team, but you just need to get the right guys. The thing that is so impressive is their DNA. They are very unselfish. It does not seem like to me they care who shoots,” Acuff said. “We were showing our guys film last night, and they go one more (pass) three different times, and 90 percent of those teams we play don’t do that.
“They will take a bad shot, or a tough shot, so that really tells me something about his relational ability, and they also must have really high-character kids who care about winning, and it’s really pleasing to the eye if you don’t have to guard them.”
4 Responses
If Perry hits 95% on threes in practice. Why can’t he make a open one in the game? If he doesn’t shoot the ball at a high percentage in college he will never get any playing time. His job is to shoot the ball. Because he’s going to be liability on defense. So if his offense doesn’t make up for it he’s hurting more than helping the team. Definitely a redshirt year for Perry and Noah. If they play in 2 more games they will burn there redshirt. Maybe Pope doesn’t care about redshirting them. If this is the case they should have went to a smaller college for a year or 2 and transferred back into the program. Then you could see how they handle weaker competition and make a decision on whether they are good enough to play in the SEC. I think Noah becomes the better college player out of the 2. He has a college body that can soak up the contact.
I guess you’ve never actually played or you would know that it’s a whole lot different between a game and practice.
I could shoot 95% free throws in practice but only 85% in games.
Remember Josh Carrier? Best 3 point shooter l ever saw, in practice.
Didn’t miss. Couldn’t buy one in a game. Seemed to lack confidence
under game conditions.
Yep, that was Josh’s problem.
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