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Even though Rob Dillingham had just one field goal in the first half at LSU Wednesday night he got high praise from ESPN analyst Jay Williams.
“Rob Dillingham is a guy that should be going to the free throw line 10 to 15 times per game,” said Williams. “Talk about a guy that is explosive and a guy that can change gears.”
And a guy that can score points in bunches at times.
Even though UK lost to LSU 75-74 that again puts UK in danger of not securing a SEC Tournament double bye, Dillingham was sensational the second half.
He scored 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and 5-for-5 at the foul line. He scored in a variety of ways and hit a clutch shot from the corner with 12 seconds to play to give Kentucky a 74-73 lead before LSU scored at the buzzer to win.
The freshman guard scored UK’s last 12 points of the game.
“Most smaller guards stop short and shoot mid range shots or floaters but not him. He finishes in traffic,” Williams said.
Former UK All-American Jack Givens worries about the slow starts Dillingham has had in recent games.
“I was not going to say he was back until I saw a smile back on his face,” Givens said on the UK Radio Network postgame show. “His body language says a lot and then made shots and he’s back smiling. He was huge down the stretch.”
Dillingham said he wasn’t “really comfortable” in the first half and knew he had to play better the second half.
“I feel I played alright but I could have been better,” Dillingham said.
He said coach John Calipari told the players to take an open shot if they had it and he did.
“I had it on the wing and was going. I felt like it was a good shot,” Dillingham said about the shot he made to put UK ahead.
Also give Dillingham credit for taking the blame on LSU’s game-winning shot.
“I gave up a little bit on the last play. That was on me a little bit. Actually a lot,” he said.
11 Responses
.LSU is not a good ball team. They didn’t have to be. Their fans even had trouble getting into the game. Just when you think this UK team might be turning the corner reality comes back to bite again. Califraudi said it was 50/50 balls that cost us the game. We really only had 2 guys that were plugged in to play this game and one that only showed for a half. This team continues to show lack of maturity and urgency. This coaching staff continues to show ineptitude and inability to make in-game adjustments. The main achillies heel for this team, and there are many, is our inability to make shots within 10′ of basket. We get nothing from the 5 position. Our defense was porous in 2nd half. This is destined to be another year of failed expectations for the team.
Too many people evaluate their team based on the team’s best games while the same people evaluate their team’s opponents based on the opponents’ weakest games.
The best way to evaluate team strength is the adjusted net efficiency, which is based on a team’s entire body of work.
UK is a round 2 type team this year. The win over Auburn did not change that, nor does last night’s loss.
A leopard cannot change its spots. Neither can a Wildcat change its character.
Our best chance to win from this point is to go with Sheppard, Dillingham, Reeves, Thiero, and Onyenso. The pets will just have to get over it, but I don’t think Calipari can. If Mitchell and Wagner can get healthy by the SEC tourney, maybe we could make a run, but that’s a big MAYBE. Until then, Bradshaw and Edwards have to make up the difference. I don’t see that playing out very well.
Bradshaw and Edwards are both very overrated players. They both seem lost they both seem lazy and they both don’t care about winning.
I disagree about them being lazy and not caring about winning. However, they do seem "lost" way too often on the court
Relax everybody! We’re built for March.
Next Friday morning everything is going to be great!
Just wait till JUNE—JUNE IS ALL THAT MATTERS!!!
That’s what ALL of them are waiting for.
Since start of last year we are 29-20 in games vs. SEC and "marquee" OOC games. The sad thing is, included wins over Yale, St. Joseph, Penn and Louisville x 2. Take those out and focus only on biggest OOC games and SEC and we are 24-20.
Defense isn’t the problem. This team has no will to win. When Theiro played good defense and we had the stop our players were nowhere on the block. This team has no urgency to win. When you slow the game down it throws them all the way off. They start playing how the other teams are playing and we never run plays on offense so you can forget winning at that point. The reason we beat teams like north carolina is because they run up and down the court with us and if we are hitting shots we can beat anybody but when we play the other teams game we never win. Kentucky was very fun to watch the first 12-15 games and since then I don’t know what happened to the chemistry of this team. Mitchell not playing is hurting us alot because he’s the best rebounder we have and this team is horrible at rebounding the ball. I wish this would be Calaparis last year. I know alot of coaches that are better that make alot less money. We could probably get Mark Few for about 6 million. He would be a upgrade from calapari ball. I never thought calapari would ride on the ship until it completely sank but that’s what is happening. We should have let him go to LA when other teams actually wanted him. Since he signed a lifetime contract we haven’t been the same. He thinks he’s bigger than Kentucky basketball but that’s just not the truth. We need a coach to come in here and save our program that calapari has rode into the ground. I have been saying if the real fans stopped supporting John Calapari they would have to do something about it but every time we win a game everyone forgets all the horrible losses that we have had and starts saying final 4. I was dumb enough on betting we would win the SEC now we don’t have a chance at that. Calapari is the most overrated coach in basketball. If you gave him all recruits ranked even 50-100 we would never make it to the sweet 16. Look at Uconn and their players and recruiting look at Creighton look at Purdue. They might have 1 Mcdonald all American but most of there players are 3 and 4 star players. Calapari would never even win 20 games with there rosters. Fact the Facts Calaparis time is over. He would do better at like Memphis as the coach or Seton Hall where he can win 30 plus games not big anybody. If you’ve noticed since the SEC upgraded on there coaches in basketball Calapari has been irrelevant. I think half the coaches in the SEC are better than him. The only thing he can do is recruit 5 star players but this isn’t 2010 anymore. The teams that are the best are the teams that stay together for 3,4,5 years. The one and done circus is over. We have no role players. No bulldogs who just rebound and set good picks we have a bunch of sissys who are hurt more than any other team I’m ever seen.
This is Cals’ baby. Whatever path Kentucky Basketball follows is that of its head coach and nobody else’s. His methods are not working. And the charade or facade that a talented basketball player can’t make it to " the league " without going to UK is obviously false. Cals’ players might not be robots but he is. Same worn out rhetoric every year.