Vicky Graff Photo
It’s no surprise when Kentucky coach Mark Pope spreads the positivity and he wanted to make sure Friday night that UK’s 107-59 over Valparaiso was fully appreciated.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said Pope. “This is a good Valpo team. They’re going to win a lot of games.”
Maybe Pope is right about Valpo but Kentucky certainly dominated this game from start to finish and could easily have won by more than 48 points. Kentucky had six players in double figuresled by freshman Malachi Moreno with18 points and 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.
Otega Oweh, last year’s leading scorer, had 15 points while Collin Chandler and Mo Dioubate each had 14 apiece. Denzel Aberdeen and Brandon Garrison both had 12 points.
“I thought our guys came out with tremendous energy from the get go,” Pope said. “I felt like they functioned pretty well. We’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got to get way better, but it’s a good night for us.”
It certainly was better than Tuesday when UK had 28 points in the first half against Nicholls. Chandler (4-for-8) and freshman Jasper Johnson (3-for-4) provided the 3-point fireworks while Moreno (8-for-14) and Garrison (4-for-4) did the work inside.
Kentucky dominated the paint scoring 48-18 and won the rebounding battle 50-34 as eight players had four or more rebounds. Kentucky also had seven players with two or more assists led by Lowe and Johnson with five each.
“They are staying within the offense and scoring out of the offense. I think they have been working on that,” SEC Network analyst Travis Ford said during the game. “The last couple of games they have taken really tough 3’s. As a coach, you love to see sharing the ball and running your offense like they did.
“They were extremely efficient. They also played very aggressive defense. I loved that in transition everybody was making the simple play. Nobody was holding onto the ball. When you are passing the ball that way it leads to really great 3-point shooting.”
Valparaiso coach Roger Powell knew his team was overmatched from the start by No. 9 Kentucky.
“Not much to say, other than, I mean, they’re really good and we played probably pretty bad I thought, especially in the first half,” the Valpo coach said. “Their pace, their size, and they’re talented, and when they get going in transition, it’s hard to stop them. I think we got a little shell shocked early.”
Powell said UK’s physical play took time for his team to adjust to Friday.
“We have some decent length, but they’re strong, and their length was causingus a lot of problems. I mean, we had some layups at the rim that we couldn’t finish because they were, they were making it difficult,” Powell said. “I thought the second half, we got a little bit better. We got more comfortable finishing at the rim.
“But like I said, they’re big, strong, they’re athletic, and they’re in this across the board, even their guards are big and long. That was something that was a struggle for us.”
2 Responses
As skilled and physical as the game is, winning basketball starts in the mind. If you believe you are the better team that will give you an edge once the shots go up and the elbows start swinging. That edge is what makes the difference between a W and a L when playing on the road.
I really enjoyed watching last night's game. It was nicely paced, the players seemed to know each other, unlike Tuesday night, and the team shooting improved in every respect.
The defense appeared as suffocating as it did against Nicholls, but I am still not sure we are seeing gold rather than pyrite, but that question will be answered this coming Tuesday night.
The a::to ratio was off the charts, but against this level of opposition, turnovers come less frequently, and assists seem easier to find. The rebounding remains a concern. On the offensive glass, UK managed go get only 33% of their misses. That is a slight improvement from the exhibitions and first game, but it is not close to championship form, which should be up around 40%.
On the defensive glass, this team has been taking care of business, and last night was more of the same with a defensive rebounding rate of about 78%, which is very strong.
Pope's first team was weak on the offensive glass, 29% offensive rebounding rate for last season. Is there a technical explanation for this in his offensive plays? I don't know the answer, but I cannot understand why strong offensive rebounding would not be a point of coaching emphasis for every team, every year.
Comments are closed.