The Big Blue Lowdown

UK 91-61 Coppin State

Early on, Coppin State couldn't hit the side of a barn. UK was sluggish but relentless and finally blew it open by halftime. Coppin scored much better in the second half-- they actually looked like a real team--but the game was long over by that time.

UK played its most complete game of the year tonight. And Coppin State was the perfect opponent: they made UK work without ever striking any fear that they could pull off an upset. Coppin were scrappy on D, tenacious on the glass, played some press, handled the ball well, but just painfully unable to score. They had one flurry of baskets early on where Coppin cut the lead down to 9 or so, but even then it felt like they were just getting lucky. That was shortly before the second TV timeout, but UK's offense kicked into overdrive shortly thereafter.

This was UK's most complete game in that everyone played well while doing what they do best. Knight was a magician with the ball and hit a few early jumpers. Jones was a leader without dominating the ball (dude, that was a quieter 18 points than I would've thought possible for him). Liggins was constantly active on D and moved well in transition and the half court. Lamb had one of his money nights where he just couldn't miss. Harrellson got some garbage points and finished well in transition while providing some toughness inside. Miller got rebounds all over the place, had a few blocks and assists, while knocking down a few timely 3's. Vargas had good minutes, didn't score but was useful on defense. Even Hood, Poole and Polson got some real playing time and gave the crowd some thrills. (Man, Enes Kanter sure would fit in nicely underneath, fingers crossed)

A couple of interesting wrinkles tonight. UK slipped in some 2-3 zone defense in the first half. It seemed to be key off Harrellson in the middle: like Rage Against the Machine's first record, I see the new-ness of it and even though I have nothing to compare it to, I still feel like they're not doing it right. But Coppin was a good opponent to test it out on and if they can stay as disciplined on D as they seem to be on offense, then it might just be a handy defensive set as the year wears on. Also, UK started the second half with Lamb in place of Harrellson, going with a small, fast team out of the break. I liked it! Foul trouble to either Liggins or Miller will probably make this only an every-once-in-a-while tactic, but I thought it was effective for jump-starting the offense.

And I thought it was Coach Cal's best game. He (like all coaches) blathers on endlessly about 'team concept' and that sort of pseudo-management junk that sells books while producing only meaningless soundbites. But tonight I saw it in action: he drew the teamwork out of pure individual performances, everyone complementary to each other. At its best, everyone is united in purpose while being free to play however they want to.

All right, you ready for Louisville? I watched their first game of the year when they throttled Butler. Not a blowout but the Cards controlled the game pretty convincingly, less because Louisville was dominating as much as Butler was just overrated and overmatched. Then the Cards blew past 6 straight cupcakes and won the showdown against their first real opponent of the year (UNLV), before receiving their first loss in their new building to Drexel. Drexel? They've since polished off 3 more cupcakes--wait a minute! Drexel?--and now their ready to play host to UK. Not sure what it is U of L does to win games these days, but I am confident that if Miller, Knight, Lamb and Liggins shoot well, we've got a good shot at taking them out. We just need a little Drexel magic!