Well thanks to the wonderful job the selection committee did seeding teams this year, Kentucky finally has a chance to play West Virginia in the NCAA tournament tomorrow afternoon. Wait, didn't they play last year? God forbid Kentucky play someone they haven't faced in a while. But, at least we get a chance at revenge against a team that of course played their best game of the tournament last year against the Cats. Only this time it's different, there's no John Wall or Demarcus Cousins on this team. Kentucky has a whole host of new talented freshman, and not mention some VERTERANS that are playing good at the right time.
Last season, Kentucky had trouble solving the 1-3-1 zone that Bob Huggins teams are known for and as a result, WVU ended a magical season that Kentucky hadn't seen in some time. So one has to think that Cal will have a different plan of attack.
Once again, West Virginia played their best game of the season Thursday beating a very good but tired Clemson team. Clemson started the game on fire, but by the end of the first half one could tell that they were out of gas, and WVU went on to win fairly easily 84-76. The player of the game for WVU had to be Kevin Jones, he shot a highly unlikely 3-4 from three and 6-11 from the floor to end the game with 17 points. Now the reason I say highly unlikely is because on the season, he averages 27% from long range. So now that we know that Jones can suddenly shoot the ball like Larry Bird, Kentucky will have to guard him close just to be on the safe side.
Everyone's favorite Mountaineer Joe Mazzulla finished the game with 12 points but only hit one field goal the entire game. So how does one end up with 12 points by hitting one shot? You guessed it, by going 10-12 from the free throw line. So I don't have to tell you what will happen tomorrow every time Ole' Joe has the ball in his hands. But drawing fouls aside, the one thing Mazzulla is excellent at is sharing the ball. He averages a little over 4 assist a game on the year and had 7 in the game yesterday. So Kentucky really need to limit his touches as much as possible. As far as scoring goes the guy who played like Magic Johnson last year in the elite eight (17 absurd points) actually isn't that big of a scorer on the season. He averages just a little over 7 points a game, but shoots a pretty decent 45% from the floor. So he can score, and no doubt he will tomorrow.
The other guy Kentucky has to be concerned about is Darryl(aka Truck) Bryant who missed last years battle due to injury. This guy just seems to find ways to score regardless. He had a team high 19 points yesterday, shooting 5-13 from the floor and 1-6 from long range. But not surprising was the fact he got to the line 9 times, and connected on 8 of them. In a late game situation, the Cats can't afford to send this guy to the line as he shoots a cool 82% from the charity stripe. He is second on the team in free shooting behind Casey Mitchell who shoots a crisp 86% from the line.
Speaking of Mitchell, he is the teams leading scorer at 14.1 points per contest and their best three point shooter at 38%. But Clemson seemed to hold him in check yesterday, allowing him just 4 points for the day.
West Virginia's Turkish big man that was paid but allowed to play after a suspension last season of 20 games(Damn you NCAA)is another to keep an eye on. He isn't traditionally a high scoring threat but let's face it, he's playing against Kentucky so he will have a career game against the Cats. Jorts will have to keep him in check without fouling.
West Virginia is an excellent rebounding team, averaging 37 on the season, but what I saw yesterday was the fact that they got 12 offensive boards against Clemson. If Kentucky is going to have any chance at winning this game, they HAVE to keep WVU off the offensive glass which means Terrence Jones has to get more than 2 rebounds sick or not. I think this is where the game will be won, second chance points. Kentucky's inside players need to rebound the ball and try to get easy transition baskets when the opportunity presents it's self.
If Kentucky can find the SEC Tournament version of itself, they should win the game. If they don't, and play like Thursday, it could be painful to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment