Kentucky vs. Ole Miss Post Game

Kentucky got a more-than-impressive win tuesday night in front of over 24,000 fans in Rupp Arena.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Cats with 18 points and 13 rebounds—fourth consecutive double-double—in a 85-75 win over the Mississippi Rebels.

Sparked by an early 15-0 run, the Wildcats took a quick 18-point lead before once again letting the large advantage slip away, down to only a 9-point edge at the half.

Coach John Calipari must have said something about taking quality shots during his halftime speech because Kentucky got John Wall (17 points and 7 assists) and sharp-shooter Darnel Dodson (4-4 3PT) involved in the shooting early. Dodson nailed two threes in the first three minutes of the second half and it created a confusion on the defensive end for the Rebels.

The win over Ole Miss pushes Kentucky’s record to 21-1 overall and 6-1 in the SEC. More importantly, the win puts the Cats at 6-0 vs. ranked opponents, a mark that is tops in the nation.

Notes

– With 13 rebounds against Ole Miss, DeMarcus Cousins now has 216 on the season, pushing him past Rick Robey for 3rd in rebounding by freshmen. He should pass Chris Mills (277) and Sam Bowie (276) by the end of the season.

– Darnell Dodson scored 14 points tuesday including 4-4 from behind the arc. Dodson has scored in double-figures and hit at least 4 three pointers in back-to-back games

– The 21 assists the Cats had ties their mark against Sam Houston State for the third-most this season

– By scoring 46 points in the first half, the Cats set a season-high for first-half points

– With the win, UK moves to 97-12 (.889) all-time vs. Ole Miss including winning 11 of the last 12 matchups

Kentucky vs. Florida – Post Game Notes

In a night where Lane Kiffin-to-USC was more talked about than the actual game, Kentucky  held off Florida in front of a crazed crowd in the O’Connell Center in Gainesville for a 89-77 win.

Eric Bledsoe led the Cats with a career high 25 points including 10-13 from the field and 3-4 from behind the arc with fellow freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins adding 19 and 13 points respectively.

Notes:

Eric Bledsoe was clearly the most important and surprising factor in the game tonight and actually outshined the college basketball darling that is John Wall.

DeMarcus Cousins surprised me tonight by making the little plays. He tied his lowest rebound total since his freshman debut but still was great on the offensive glass and came up with perhaps the biggest rebound of the game following Patrick Patterson’s missed free throw with the Cats up two points.

Daniel Orton came off the bench and had perhaps his best game of his young career. His three blocks on one possession set the tone that Florida better not enter the paint unless they come hard. Orton also set a career-high with nine rebounds tonight as well.

Besides Orton and Darnell Dodson the bench did not show up tonight, scoring zero points and not attempting a single shot.

Other than very short stretches the Kentucky defense was stellar. UK held the Gators to 38.2% from the floor and had six blocks along with six steals in the game. You would like to see them force more than 10 turnovers but when Florida is jacking up shots as quickly as they did at times it was harder to force those turnovers.

UK/Georgia Post Game Notes

First off, its great to be back writing the blog since I have been away for many many months. The Cats pulled out another game against a far-inferior team, again showing their ability to close out games better than UK has in the past five years. Ashley Judd was in the house for her first game of the season and many top recruits were there as well—CJ Leslie (2010), Quincy Miller (2011), Nick Johnson (2011), as well as the entire Word of God and Quality Education basketball teams.

Now, onto the notes:

– I was very impressed how the Cats were able to get out to a quick start against a team that tried to slow the pace as much as Georgia did, granted it did not always look pretty, UK still took an early 11 point lead before letting UGA take a 1 point lead into halftime

– DeMarcus Cousins again was not able to stay out of foul trouble, getting two fouls in the first 11 minutes of the game. But even through the foul trouble “Big Cuz” still managed 16 points and 7 rebounds

– Although he was not his usual, flashy self, John Wall still played a great game in my opinion. With 3 turnovers in this game, Wall has only 11 turnovers over his last four games, as opposed to 18 in the previous four.

– I was very disappointed in Darnell Dodson AND Darius Miller today. Dodson took a few bad shots, which is nothing new, but also played probably the worst defensive game a Wildcat has played this season. He consistently allowed his man to beat him off the dribble and to gather offensive rebounds around the basket. Miller still needs to be much more aggressive offensively or Ramon Harris and DeAndre Liggins will take his minutes.

– That brings me to my next point, DeAndre Liggins. Liggins was the most impressive player in the game to me. He had six points and three steals in only 14 minutes and was again the best on-ball defender today.

– The last note. I was disappointed in the overall rebounding by the Wildcats today. UK has been one of the best, and most dominating, rebounding teams in the nation to this point but got outrebounded by a small Georgia team. One excuse is that both DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton got in foul trouble and Perry Stevenson has never been known as a dominant rebounder.

Recruiting News

Quincy Miller, a 5-star combo forward out of the 2011 class, was sitting behind the UK bench rocking a UK hoodie today. He was joined by the Cats top 2010 target CJ Leslie. Leslie was a teammate of current UK star John Wall last season at Word of God Academy (NC) and has said that Wall has been recruiting him to choose UK.

Jodie Meeks To The NBA: What It Means For The Kentucky Wildcats

With news coming out today that All-American guard Jodie Meeks is heading for the NBA instead of another year at Kentucky, many Wildcat fans thought the same thing, “Where do we go from here?”

To answer this question you have to look at the players that will be replacing Meeks in the Kentucky lineup next season.

Two new players to the program, Darnell Dodson and Jon Hood, will look to replace Meeks in the Kentucky lineup by using a mix of lineups to confuse opponents.

Dodson, a 6-foot 7 junior, spent last season at Miami Dade College after transferring from Pittsburgh during his freshman campaign.

Hood, a 6-foot 7 freshman, was born and raised in Madisonville, Kentucky and is the reigning “Mr. Basketball” in the state of Kentucky.

Like Meeks, Dodson is a deadly shooter from long range with the ability to completely dominate a game from behind the arc.

Hood can stroke from long range as well but makes his presence known from mid range because of his silky smooth jumper that becomes impossible to block when factoring in his length.

Meeks’ departure leaves the Wildcats much thinner at the shooting guard spot. Eric Bledsoe, one of two incoming five-star point guards, will play along side John Wall—the other five-star point guard joining the Cats—in the Kentucky lineup.

The biggest question surrounding Meeks’ exit is how will Kentucky’s preseason ranking be affected. Many believe they will remain within the top three, along with Kansas and Villanova.

In my mind, Kentucky moves from second to third in the preseason rankings, falling behind Villanova after Scottie Reynolds announced his return to Nova.

Bledsoe to Kentucky!

Jerry Meyer is reporting that Eric Bledsoe will make his commitment to Kentucky tomorrow at a 10:00 AM CT press conference. Coach Calipari will be there in Birmingham to meet him.

Bledsoe will join fellow five-star recruits DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton as well as four-star prospects Jon Hood and Darnell Dodson. This will vault Kentucky to the #1 ranking in terms of team recruiting.