Kentucky Wildcats Win a Dog fight, Top Georgia on the Road
By J Bill Sosh
Kentucky Basketball made some big plays late to earn a hard-fought win in Athens on Saturday.
You can excuse Coach John Calipari and the rest of his Wildcats if they would prefer to avoid Georgia again until next season. After needing overtime to defeat the Bulldogs in Rupp Arena a couple of weeks ago, the Cats escaped Stegman Coliseum with another close win.
As in the earlier meeting between the two teams, the game went back and forth and the outcome was in doubt late. Kentucky made the plays they had to have to get a big road win. The Cats remain tied for first place in the SEC. Kentucky Basketball took advantage of certain areas to pull out the much needed win.
Making It On The Line
Free throw shooting has been a frequent bane of Coach Cal’s teams at both UK and at Memphis. But accuracy at the charity stripe was a big factor in the win tonight. The Cats went 23-28 (82%) from the line. The young Cats led a stretch of 17 straight makes in the last few minutes. De’Aaron Fox hit 8 of those consecutive foul shots. The freshman has had a very streaky season from the line. He started off by hitting his first 18 free throws. But since, he had shot only 69% from the line. The Cats point guard has the ball in his hands a lot. His turnaround from the foul line was much needed tonight.
Malik Monk went 9-of-11 from the foul line. As has often been the case this season, the Wildcats were paced by their freshman backcourt as he and Fox tied for team scoring honors with 16 points apiece.
The Bench Veterans Came Through
Seniors Dominique Hawkins, Derek Willis and Mychal Mulder all made key contributions as substitutes. Hawkins had nine points and did as good a job as any of his teammates in slowing down Georgia’s J.J. Frazier. Frazier, who has been around so long I think he was recruited by Hugh Durham, led all scorers with 36 points. Willis had seven points and led the Cats with 12 rebounds. One big rebound kept the ball alive which led to a put-back with four minutes left. Mulder had nine points on three of six shooting from behind the arc. Mulder is seeing an increase of minutes as the season moves along.
Winning The Battle On The Glass
The Wildcats out-rebounded the Bulldogs 41-26. And included in those numbers was a huge 14-2 advantage on the offensive boards. Which led to an 8-0 margin in second chance points for Kentucky. Holding a conference opponent to zero in that category is a rarity. Rebounding has been a bit of a weakness for these young Cats. The Wildcats have been out-rebounded in each of their five losses on the season.
Kentucky Got a Little Lucky
One can’t overlook Georgia’s loss of Yante Maten in the first couple of minutes. The Bulldogs’ leading scorer hyper-extended his knee in a collision with Isaiah Briscoe. Georgia undoubtedly missed the Junior forward, who had 22 points in the first meeting. To be fair, Kentucky was without the flu-ridden Fox in that contest.
A Good Piece of Coaching
John Calipari is often criticized for being ‘just a recruiter’. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his X’s and O’s capabilities. But Cal, or defensive coordinator Kenny Payne, or someone on the Wildcat bench came up with a key defensive adjustment at a critical juncture. J.J. Frazier had been killing the Cats off the pick and roll the entire second half.
With the score tied at 75 with 27 seconds left, Mulder flashed out to help double team Frazier just as he crossed mid-court. That tactic forced the senior guard to give up the ball early. Bam Adebayo then blocked a driving floater by Pape Diatta. Fox came up with the rebound. The Freshman Guard was fouled and hit two free throws to give Kentucky the lead for good.
Next: How Kentucky Fans Experience Games
Coming Up
Kentucky goes on the road again to face the Missouri on Tuesday night. The lowly Tigers are 7-19 overall and 2-12 in conference play. The Cats need to take care of business in Columbia, because the season concludes with a stretch of tough games. Florida travels to Lexington for a rematch in Rupp Arena next Saturday. Kentucky fell hard to the Gators in Gainesville on February 4. The matchup will most likely decide the SEC regular season champion and with it the top seed in conference tournament.