The battle for the state crown, as two undefeated teams met up at the KFC Yum! Center on sunday afternoon. The Kentucky Wildcats, maybe the most impressive team in the country visited their state rival, the Louisville Cardinals of Rick Pitino.
The 1st half was just a battle of 2 strong defense, as both offense really struggled. The Wildcats shot 37% and they were very in trouble with the Cards pressure, as Louisville forced 10 turnovers in the 1st half. But Kentucky was superb on D, as they hold Louisville to just 21% of success, as Chris Jones was not on his game : the combination of Chris Jones and Terry Rozier went just 2/13 in the 1st half, then this is normally a superb outside scoring duo. Even PF Harrell was very in trouble with the Wildcats big guys like C Johnson and Cauley-Stein. Kentucky had just 1 player with more than 1 buckets, as freshman PG Trey Lyles was good and connected 3 times on mid range jumper. The trees of Kentucky was so huge as they out rebound the Cards by 9. A put back jam by PF Marcus Lee and a 3 by SG Devin Booker made this one a 4pt game at the half : Kentucky leaded 22-18.
The second half started with a great steal by C Cauley-Stein against Montrezl Harrell, as the junior picked the ball and finished with a vicious two hand slam. But Louisville was better, as Terry Rozier and Wayne Blackshear started a quick run for the Cards and they were just down by 2. But the freshman class of Kentucky got back on track and they were superb on their first true road game. Karl Anthony Towns was great inside, SG Booker showed some outside success and PG Ullis was huge, as he drained a couple of big 3’s and he really handle the ball well for the Wildcats. Louisville was unable to get back, as the Kentucky D was rocking on saturday. But Louisville stayed in this game thanks to his defense, but a couple of offensive boards by PF Towns and a huge 3 point shot by Aaron Harrison killed the game. The Wildcats hits their free throw late and they finally win by 8, 58-50.
This was really an intense game and both defense had a huge performance. Louisville hold Kentucky and his great offense to just 58 points, but the squad of Calipari did better, as they hold the Cards to a season law 50. The ability to escape from the Cards press was the key for Kentucky, even if they had a tone of turnovers. The Wildcats out rebound Louisville by 14 and they collected 16 offensive boards. We saw also in this game I think the limits of PF Harrell, as he really struggled against the Wildcats big guys, and his absence of post moves are too hard to handle : you cannot succeed against top opponents if you play just with your energy and your physical abilities. I give my MVP to all the Kentucky’s freshman, as Lyles, Ullis, Booker and Towns combined for 39 of the 58 points for the Wildcats, and they picked the slack of their teammates who in part struggled, especially the Harrison twins.
With the collaboration of Alan Guillou
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