Kentucky Falls To Rebels

  

  Last night Kentucky played it's worst game of the season as Ole Miss downed the Cats by the score of 71-69.   The loss was much worse than the score indicated, as we saw upper classman play like freshman and vice versa. Once again, there were turnovers that made you want to eat broken glass and decisions that made the turnovers look brilliant.

  Sure the freshman had a lot of turnovers but none near as costly as the one's the "experienced" players had in the final minutes of the game. First, there was the crossing the inbound line before inbounding the ball.  Then, the stepping out of bounds on the way to an open layup. Oh and lets not forget the passed up  WIDE OPEN three with 21 seconds left in the game, while nursing a one point lead. All of these mistakes were made by players that have been playing on the college level long enough to know better.  But the so called "EXPERIENCED" players were perfectly content deferring to the freshman on the team for plays down the stretch.

  I keep hearing people say "you can't win with freshman" but I'm telling you this is not true. Take last night's game for instance. Kentucky scored a total 69 points for the game, and the freshman accounted for 59 of them led by Terrence Jones with 22, Doron Lamb 20, and Brandon Knight 15. ALL FRESHMAN!  Darius Miller (JR) had 3 points, DeAndre Liggins (JR) had 5 and Josh Harrellson (SR) had 2. None  played  less than 22 minutes and this is all they could produce? It's  frustrating when I know Darius Miller could be the best player in the conference, but he just doesn't put forth the effort.  I'm not saying DeAndre Liggins should be a scoring machine, but he should be able to get at least double digits every night just by driving to the basket.  As for Harrellson, I guess he thought the season ended with  his brilliant performance at Louisville. If either one of these juniors or seniors had given just a little help Kentucky would have won the game going away.

  I know we had a lot of turnovers in the first half  five of them coming  at the hands of Brandon Knight. He more than made up for them in the second half.  He did what he does best, slashing to the basket and
finding ways to score.  Doron Lamb showed he could be the kind of player to hit big shots when Kentucky needs them most, and Terrence Jones done what he always does.  But it was too little too late as the final score would indicate.

  Now, what can we take away from this game?  One things for sure, Kentucky has a lot to work on. They cannot have players  unwilling to take wide open shots at the end of the game! They've got to have more scoring and leadership from the older players.  And they cannot turn the ball over 18 times, especially on the road and expect to win the game. Just not gonna happen.

  Kentucky travels to Florida on Saturday.  Let's hope Coach Cal  gets things figured or things will get ugly in a hurry in Gainesville!