Last Knight Kentucky went into the game against Ohio State with hardly anyone in the media giving them a chance to pull off the upset. But none of that mattered to this group of Cats. They played calm and collected, had a game plan and executed it almost to perfection. Let Ohio State freshman phenom Jared Sullinger have his points, just stop the three. Coming off a game where they connected on 16-26 threes against George Mason, the Buckeyes hit only 6-16 last night, thanks in large part to Kentucky's defense. The largest lead of the game belonged to OSU at 7 early in the first half, but the score was knotted at 30-30 at intermission. The second half was a battle that had the feel of a National Semi-Final game, with neither team ever leading in the second half by no more than four.
The Co MVPs of the game was "Jorts" and DeAndre Liggins. They both played the best games of their careers last night, and Kentucky needed it more than ever. With Knight having just a horrible game shooting 3-10 from the floor, 1-6 from three to end the game with just 9 points, none more important than his last shot that won the game. Knights poor performance was in LARGE part due to the defense played by Buckeye freshman Aaron Craft. Most of you remember Craft as being the recruit that single handedly brought the Tennessee basketball program under investigation by the NCAA for a BBQ at Pearls house. Now I see why Bruce took that risk, Craft is a great player and played a hell of a game last night against Knight.
Josh Harrellson was just an absolute beast last night against Sullinger. Going into the game, everyone said Jorts would have a hard time containing Sullinger, not to mention scoring. But Jorts met that challenge in convincing fashion, scoring 17 points on 7-9 shooting from the floor 3-3 from the free throw line, and grabbing 10 rebounds, with 5 of them coming on the offensive side. He didn't however shut down Sullinger as he went on to post a double double of his own(21pts 16rbs) but that was to be expected. No one in the country can stop Sullinger one on one, and the coaching staff didn't expect that out of Jorts. They got what they wanted from him, try to score when you can, and don't foul out. Jorts played with fire we have not seen all season long, from his 3 block shots all of them on Sullinger, to the Nolan Ryan like way he sent the ball into the chest of Sullinger to "save a possession". The performance by Jorts even led OSU coach Thad Matta to say "he is the most underrated player in college basketball".
The other Co MVP has to be DeAndre Liggins and the defense he played on the OSU shooters last night. He was the main reason that OSU didn't catch fire from three point range. But the most impressive part of his play last night was the offense he brought to the team. Liggins scored an impressive 15 points on 5-8 shooting from the floor, and 5-7 from the charity stripe. Every time someone tried to guard Liggins close, he drove the lane drawing a foul or scoring on a "and one". Liggins done a little bit of every thing last night, dishing out 3 assists, blocking three shots all while committing just one turnover in 34 minutes of action.
It was, in my mind the best game of the tournament, not just because Kentucky won, but how both teams fought for every point, rebound, and loose ball they could get.
Now Kentucky finds themselves in familiar territory tomorrow, facing a very good and dangerous North Carolina team for a chance to go to the Final Four. If the Cats expect to win this one, they better bring the same type of urgency they had against the Buckeyes, and Knight, Miller, Jones, and Lamb have to step it up on offense. Kentucky will need all the firepower it can muster to pull off another upset of a top seeded team.
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