Kentucky vs Ole Miss....A Preview

Kentucky vs. Mississippi

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Ole Miss 2/1/11 Tuesday 7PM-EST/6PM-CST (ESPNU)
UK leads the series 97-12

Location: Oxford, Miss.
Enrollment: 18,344
Arena: 9,061

Head Coach: Andy Kennedy
Career Record: 106-63 (62.7%) 5 seasons
At Ole Miss: 85-50 (63.0%) 4 seasons

2009-10 Record: 24-11
2009-10 SEC Record: 9-7
2009-10 Postseason Record: 3-1 (NIT)

2010-11 Record: 13-8
2010-11 SEC Record: 1-5

Ole Miss 68 Arkansas State 60
Ole Miss 77 Murray State 61
Dayton 78 Ole Miss 71 (OT)
Ole Miss 84 Penn St. 71
Miami (FL) 86 Ole Miss 73
Ole Miss 86 Southern Miss 81
Ole Miss 84 Arkansas-Little Rock 70
Ole Miss 101 Mississippi Valley St. 69
Ole Miss 71 East Tennessee St. 50
Ole Miss 83 Texas St. 72
Colorado St. 68 Ole Miss 61
Ole Miss 69 St. Louis 61
Ole Miss 100 Alcorn St. 62
Ole Miss 68 Southeastern Louisiana 59
Ole Miss 75 SMU 57
Florida 77 Ole Miss 71
Mississippi St 69 Ole Miss 64
Georgia 98 Ole Miss 76
Vandy 84 Ole Miss 74
Ole Miss 88 LSU 51
Tennessee 74 Ole Miss 58

PPG-75.8
FG%-46.0%
3 PT.%-34.2%
FT%-75.4%
RPG-36.1
APG-13.0
SPG-5.2
BPG-5.3
TO’S-12.6

Probable Starting Lineup

Chris Warren G 5’10” Sr………………..18.2
Zach Graham G 6’6” Sr…………………14.0
Nick Williams G 6’4” So………………..7.8
Terrance Henry F 6’9” Jr………………..8.8
Reginald Buckner F 6’8” So…………….7.1

Other Key Players

Trevor Gaskins G 6’2” Jr………………..8.0
Dundercous Nelson G 5’11” Fr………….7.0

Coach Andy Kennedy had high hopes this season after Ole Miss finished last season with a 24-11 record just missing getting to the NCAA.. Unfortunately. after last season’s NIT several key Ole Miss players transferred out and the result has been a tough season thus far for the Rebels. Ole Miss is currently 1-5 in the SEC so barring a huge winning streak….the Rebels will not only miss the NCAA, but may not make it back to the NIT.

Ole Miss is led by seniors Chris Warren, one of the elite players in the SEC, and Zach Warren in scoring. Warren leads the team in assists with 82…..while Buckner and Henry are the Rebels leading rebounders. In addition, Buckner is a great shot blocker with 59 thus far this season. Nick Williams leads in perimeter shooting hitting 39.5%. As a team, Ole Miss is a terrific FT shooting team nailing 75.4% from the charity line. Amazingly, Warren has hit 93-99 FT’s for an incredible 93.9%....while is running mate Graham is close behind hitting 85.9% of his FT’s! Obviously, no opponent wants to send Ole Miss players to the FT line!

The Rebels will have an advantage playing UK at home, but Ole Miss just doesn’t match up talent wise.

UK is coming off a pay back victory over Georgia 66-60. The game was a tale of two half’s. In the first half, UK played very well….playing with high energy….and hitting 15-29 from the field for 51.7% and 6-12 from the perimeter for 50%. The result was a solid 15 point half time lead. However, in the second half….the wheels came off. UK couldn’t make shots from anywhere….they were a paltry 7-22 for a miserable 31.8% and that included missing all 5 perimeter shots. Liggins had some nice drives to the basket, but failed to convert on all but one drive. In the final 5 minutes or so….the Cats made a number of TO’s and even had a 5 second call when they couldn’t get the ball thrown in to a player. In addition, the Cats missed two critical front ends of one and ones.

UK was saved by Lamb who had a solid shooting game with 7-11 and 3-6 from the perimeter. Georgia won the 2nd half outscoring the Cats 36-27 and also outrebounded UK 41-32. UK even struggled from the FT line hitting only 16-25 for a poor 64%.

The 2nd half performance was very disturbing and the reasons can only be guessed at. Is playing only 6 players wearing the Cats down? Does this team simply lack a killer instinct to put teams away? Or is it because there isn’t good leadership on the floor? Certainly, the team is young and that is undoubtedly part of the reason. Whatever the reasons, UK cannot win the SEC or go far in the NCAA playing hard and executing for half or part of a game. Also, the Cats are living on the edge playing with just 6 players. As the season wears on it is likely that playing some players 36-40 minutes will take it’s toll. Of course there is also the inevitable foul trouble and God forbid a key injury. It is beyond disappointing that UK is getting virtually nothing from Hood, Poole and Vargas at this point in the season. It won’t be easy to play just 6 players in the SEC tourney and win 3 games in 3 days.

Hopefully, the loss at Alabama was a wake up call that playing on the road against virtually any opponent is seldom easy. The rest of the SEC season is not easy at all…..because in 6 of the remaining 10 SEC games…UK faces Florida, Tennessee and Vandy twice!

Coach Cal has worked his butt off trying to enable the players and the team as a whole to reach their potential. There have been glimpses of excellent play from these young Cats, but too often they lose intensity and focus….and do not play well. The season is flying by and it’s time to see these young Cats make a major step forward in playing a solid 40 minutes of basketball.

The game at Ole Miss will not be easy if UK doesn’t bring great intensity and good offensive and defensive execution to the game. I see a UK win by 11 points. GO CATS!