Kentucky Wildcat BasketBall Preview – Know Your Enemy: Tennessee Volunteers
By Paul Jordan
GAME 23
February 8, 2011 – 9 PM
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS (15-8) (5-3)
Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY
TV – ESPN
SERIES HISTORY
KENTUCKY LEADS 144-66
RECENT GAMES
3/13/2010: KENTUCKY 74 Tennessee 45*
2/27/2010: Tennessee 74 KENTUCKY 65
2/13/2010: KENTUCKY 73 Tennessee 62
2/21/2009: KENTUCKY 77 Tennessee 58
1/13/2009: KENTUCKY 90 Tennessee 72
*SEC Tournament
Tomorrow’s opponent really needs no introduction as the Tennessee Volunteers and Bruce Pearl roll into Rupp Arena for the nationally televised showdown. Kentucky has had the upper hand in this series, winning four of the past five games and seven of the past ten. The dominance continues as Kentucky has gone 15-5 over the past twenty games. Kentucky is even more impressive at Rupp versus the Vols as they have won four in a row and gone 9-1 over the past ten games.
What struck me as interesting is that for such a bitter rivalry, the games have been relatively one sided. The closest game in the last five games has been the lone Tennessee victory, and the last four Kentucky wins have been double digit affairs, culminating in last years SEC Tournament beatdown. Last year, Kentucky bounced back from a nine point loss to the Vols to whip them by 29 just two weeks or so later. One only hopes that seeing that familiar orange and white in Rupp Arena will inspire the same recuperative abilities.
THE STARTERS
#2 – G – MELVIN GOINS – SR 5’11 180
7.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.0 apg
#23 – G – CAMERON TATUM – JR – 6’6 192
10.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.2 apg
#32 – G – SCOTTY HOPSON – JR 6’7 200
16.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.4 apg
#12 – F – TOBIAS HARRIS – FR 6’8 226
14.8 ppg, .7.7 rpg, 1.6 apg
#25 – F – JOHN FIELDS – SR 6’9 222
3.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.2 apg
BACK COURT
Melvin Goins assured himself a spot in the all time “Kentucky villains” list for his cheap shot to DeMarcus Cousins nether region during the SEC Tourney blowout loss. Goins has never been an accurate shot and this year, he is hitting basically the same from 3-point range (35.8%) as he is from the field (36.6%). Goins is not a huge threat to break out and have a huge scoring game, but when he does, it is fueled by hitting treys. He does a good job finding open teammates, but he is very prone to getting rattled and can play out of control. Cameron Tatum has been on a pretty good scoring streak lately, averaging 14 a game, but he is prone to cold streaks as well that can last a few games. Tatum can hurt you from 3-point range, but is hitting just 30.8% on the year. Tatum is pretty active passing the ball and is a pretty solid rebounder. Tennessee is one of the few teams that can equal Kentucky’s size in the two and three position, and he picks up the slack for Goins who is just 5’11. I am pretty much betting that Scotty Hopson will get the start for Kentucky tomorrow night. if he misses his third straight game due to an ankle injury, Kentucky caught a big break. Overall, Hopson puts up solid numbers but he has been called out a few times by Pearl for his inconsistency during the course of a game and “disappearing”. But when Hopson is on, he can take over a game and hits 37.2% of his game and is hard to defend due to his size. You would expect a bit more rebounding from him, but there are very few holes in his game. If Hopson does not start, Senior Josh Bone (6’3, 197) will go. Bone is averaging just 2.8 ppg on the season and only averaged 4 points a game when Hopson has been out. Freshman Trae Golden is a prety good ballhandler coming off the bench with a 2.16 A/TO ratio and he averages 3.7 ppg and is not a great 3-point shooter. Skylar McBee will also make an appearance to lob a few 3-pointers. He is pretty much dimensional as 54 of his 65 shot attempts have been treys and he is hitting 31.5% of them as opposed to 30.8% on all field goals. He’s averaging 3.4 ppg, but there is no reason to leave him alone as he
can get hot.
FRONT COURT
The matchup of this game to watch will be the battle between Tobias Harris and Terrence Jones. As we recall, Harris was heavily recruited by Kentucky and he has a comparative skill set to Jones. Harris has definitely been an impact freshman with seven double doubles on the season. Jones is a better scorer, rebounder, and has 18 more blocks on the season than Harris, but Harris is a better FT shooter. Both pass and shoot about the same, so it should be an interesting pairing. For whatever reason, John Fields has been starting for the Vols lately and he only plays about 14 minutes a game. He shoots well, but is not terribly productive when he is in. This is the third school in four basketball seasons for Fields, and his best game was a 8 point, 10 rebound showing in the very first game of the season. I guess his starting is some type of weird Bruce Pearl motivation for the hockey goon of the SEC, Brian Williams. Williams is big, and bulky (6’10, 272) and he likes to play physical and bang under the boards. In 22 minutes a game, he is averaging 6.9 points and 7.7 boards. It’s hard to predict what Williams will do offensively as he has double digits in three of the last six games, but averaged 4.0 ppg the other three games. He does have the tendency to get into foul trouble so UK has the opportunity to get him on the bench pretty early.
OUTLOOK
It’s interesting to note that Tennessee has 16 players on the roster yet only five players average more than 4.0 points a game, so while Pearl has a lot of bodies he can throw at you, it is not an especially strong bench. As of now, Scotty Hopson’s status was up in the air and may actually be a game time decision. If Hopson is lost, this takes on the look of a Kentucky mismatch. My only concern is that is Harris and Williams can get our frontcourt in foul trouble, but the Tennessee players are about as likely to rack up the fouls. Goins and Tatum can also hurt you, but at 5’11, you would hold Kentucky can limit Goins like they did Walker and let’s hope we can lose the “mystery foul” aspect of the game when Goins drives.
Another interesting thing to watch is how this team plays with Bruce Pearl back. You don’t want to see a team buoyed by the return of their coach and playing at 110%, over their heads. If that happens, Kentucky could have problems. Overall, I like the matchups in this game, like the prospect of a les than 100% Hopson if he plays, and like the fact this game is at Rupp. Let’s get started on a eight game winning streak with a 81-69 Kentucky win.
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