with the quickness of their guards and ability to penetrate the lane, along with the perceived foul prone Hicks and a very possible less than 100% Berry what do you believe Roy can do to counter this? I believe Carolina must dominate the paint on offense and utilize our bigs against a weaker Kentucky front line. Isiah cannot get into foul trouble and needs to stay home on D. Same with Kennedy and Bradley. Pinson needs his best game as he may see much of Fox. Fox's quickness is their key. Forget Monk he will get his but Roy has to find a way to neutralize Fox. If not it's gonna be a long night for our Heels.
How do we beat Kentucky
- Thread starter Iammyfathersson
- Start date
I think it's fairly obvious, but I'll start...
Better perimeter defense: UNC was fortunate Butler only shot 28%. Monk and Willis will take advantage if Carolina gives them open looks. Having Theo back will help, but we lost Kenny who was a good defender.
More production from bigs: Meeks/Hicks/Bradley combined for 16 points (equalling Luke) on 10 shots total. That is dreadful for an inside-out team. Need to work to our strengths and not depend on the 3-ball so much. Also please stay out of foul trouble.
Contain Monk and Fox: I have no earthly idea.
Free throws: They are free, but it doesn't mean you have to throw them.
Better perimeter defense: UNC was fortunate Butler only shot 28%. Monk and Willis will take advantage if Carolina gives them open looks. Having Theo back will help, but we lost Kenny who was a good defender.
More production from bigs: Meeks/Hicks/Bradley combined for 16 points (equalling Luke) on 10 shots total. That is dreadful for an inside-out team. Need to work to our strengths and not depend on the 3-ball so much. Also please stay out of foul trouble.
Contain Monk and Fox: I have no earthly idea.
Free throws: They are free, but it doesn't mean you have to throw them.
Fox is their best player. He's an absolute stud and difference maker too. Theo will have his hands full. We can't over rotate on help and leave wide open threes.
1) Keep Fox working for his shot. Contain him.
2) Three point differential has to be 12 points or less
3) We have to own the rebound margin on both ends
4) We have to hit 40%+ from 3 and hit at least 7
5) Hit out FT's
Overall, this isn't a great match up for us. Fox will be the best player on the floor and we have to keep him from raising his draft stock in this game.
1) Keep Fox working for his shot. Contain him.
2) Three point differential has to be 12 points or less
3) We have to own the rebound margin on both ends
4) We have to hit 40%+ from 3 and hit at least 7
5) Hit out FT's
Overall, this isn't a great match up for us. Fox will be the best player on the floor and we have to keep him from raising his draft stock in this game.
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100% the key is staying out of foul trouble.
Kentucky has the advantage on the perimeter. We have the advantage on the interior. Our big guys need to stay on the floor.
Joel has to keep Fox out of the lane though. If Fox eats a part of the lane on each possession, we're gonna be in trouble. He can get our bigs in foul trouble and stress the D.
Also, if Theo keeps giving the opponent 7 free points in this one, we probably don't win. It's important to have him play vs the first meeting... But Theo needs to play the smartest game of his career against UK.
Kentucky has the advantage on the perimeter. We have the advantage on the interior. Our big guys need to stay on the floor.
Joel has to keep Fox out of the lane though. If Fox eats a part of the lane on each possession, we're gonna be in trouble. He can get our bigs in foul trouble and stress the D.
Also, if Theo keeps giving the opponent 7 free points in this one, we probably don't win. It's important to have him play vs the first meeting... But Theo needs to play the smartest game of his career against UK.
Put the pressure on them to stop us.....attack Fox and Monk as much as possible and force them to defend.....if we sit back and let THEM bring the game to us...we are screwed!!!! We have to be the aggressive team!
Absolutely.
Meet the keys: Defensive intensity, Score in transition, JB aggression and FT shooting.
If we get any kind of a decent whistle, Bam should be in foul trouble. Run Monk and their Stretch-4 off the 3-pt line, dare (ask) Fox and Briscoe to shoot 3s, pound the glass.
One of my biggest worries is JB getting into foul trouble. He likely can't stay in front of Fox and he's gotta prevent fouling him as Fox blows by. Like someone else said, we HAVE to keep Fox out of the lane. If he drives and kicks all night, UK has enough perimeter shooters to kill us. We have to kill them in the post and on the boards. They'll have the advantage on the perimeter. Let's hope either Monk and Fox is cold because if they're both hot like last night, I don't like our chances.
The only time Fox blew by anyone last time we played was in transition, just like JB does to people in transition.
Ky has three legit 3-pt threats, 2 starters (Monk and Willis) and 1 off the bench (backup PG #25). Fox is languishing in the 20s% from deep, and you hope Briscoe makes one because that just encourages him.
We have to maintain gap/help discipline on their dribble-drive stuff, not bail out Briscoe and Fox with reach fouls, and keep a body on Bam to keep him off the offensive glass or getting cheap short lobs.
Edit: And I'll add one other thing: This is a game where not having KW available will be particularly harmful. There are some diffeicult defensive matchups for Nate --- maybe save him for #25 which would be his best match.
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Thought we played pretty damn good last night-in first half especially. Agree on the Arkansas game though. But we put up 92 on a program that doesn't allow anyone to do that. Besides the ft shooting I thought it was our most complete game in awhile.
I disagree that we need to play "a lot better"than we did last night in order to beat them. That's just not true.
I would play some zone against UK... It's almost impossible to guard Fox 1-on-1 and Monk is really hard to play 1-on-1 too.
This is a game Roy should mix up his defense, but I doubt he'll do it.
This is a game Roy should mix up his defense, but I doubt he'll do it.
Actually the charity stripe has been one of the place you want to put us lately unfortunately haha.
Okay... I think it's absolutely true. "A lot" is subjective. But, Kentucky is A LOT better than Butler or Arkansas, to say nothing of the March of Dimes team we played in TSU. Kentucky just played a Top 10 team and beat them convincingly. We didn't. We even let Butler hang around.
Hicks' performance was poor and the free throws were unacceptable. If we are going to beat UK, and probably Kansas next, we will need the best performances from all of our players... period.
You do know butler is a top 20 -25 team by almost any metric, right? I guess we let them "hang around", if maintaining a constant double digit lead is letting a team hang around. I still don't think we need to do anything overtly special to beat them besides play similar to last night game and make our fts. Idk how much better you expect the heels to play than they did in that first half last night. By the way you're writing youd think we are playing the 96 bulls tomorrow.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Roy threw some zone at them in the first game in the second half.
#25 is Dominique Hawkins. He comes off the bench but he is no slouch. He was Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky his senior year of high school. He has a 44 inch vertical (highest on the team), he can stroke it from 3, and is Kentucky's best on ball defender. He can really guard you.
UCLA tried to zone Kentucky last night and had to keep pulling out of it. Every time they went zone Kentucky would throw it to Bam or attempt to and the UCLA bigs got in major foul trouble trying to get position on him. Bam is a big dude who is very athletic for his size, but his strength is his best attribute. He is 6'-10" 260 and its all muscle. What Bam does best for Kentucky is he gets the other teams bigs into foul trouble. Every game, he does it bu simply posting up and standing still. UCLA had 3 bigs they kept rotating on Bam and all 3 got into major foul trouble, one of them fouled out with 7 minutes to go.
UCLA tried to zone Kentucky last night and had to keep pulling out of it. Every time they went zone Kentucky would throw it to Bam or attempt to and the UCLA bigs got in major foul trouble trying to get position on him. Bam is a big dude who is very athletic for his size, but his strength is his best attribute. He is 6'-10" 260 and its all muscle. What Bam does best for Kentucky is he gets the other teams bigs into foul trouble. Every game, he does it bu simply posting up and standing still. UCLA had 3 bigs they kept rotating on Bam and all 3 got into major foul trouble, one of them fouled out with 7 minutes to go.
You guys are forgetting our new secret weapon,if Luke continues to bring what he had last night vs UK I like our chances more.
I would like to see Coach Williams mix up the defenses a little, especially early to keep Berry and Hicks out of foul trouble. Berry has a tough night ahead of him with him being about 75% on that ankle and having to guard Fox some of the game. and he is giving up a lot of length in that match up. If refs let them be physical it would help Berry as he is stronger than Fox. I do not really see anyone on KY that Britt can guard for extended minutes. Pinson's defense will be a big key.
You don't know Luke . . ? Shirley, you can't be serious . .
Fox is not impossible to guard at all if you keep them out of transition. In half court dare him to shoot a 3, back off and beat him to the spot when he inevitably drives. He hurts teams most by getting to the rack and/or line. Not usually gonna beat you by making a few 17 ft. pull-ups... and when those miss we can go the other way at a high rate of speed.
Agree on Zone. Was talking about that at lunch today. An overmatched UGA gave them fits with it (when Fox would actually do it). They are not at all disciplined to run a sound Zone-O. Trouble is the first time Monk hits a 3 Roy will go back to where he's comfortable.
Post-game bravado aside, I am also worried about the ankle after the pounding it took last night. We shall see how it responds...
While I agree that we need to play better to beat UK, I don't think he quite appreciates just how good Butler has been this year. They beat Xavier twice, Villanova twice, Arizona, Indiana, Marquette, Cincinatti, and Utah. IOW, they are a very good team. If we make 80% of our FT's, we win by 25.
They beat nova twice, Xavier twice, Arizona,Cincinnati. Reality disagrees w you.
Edit-never mind I see I was beaten to it.
Defend their guards well. Joel and Theo need to step up. That's pretty much the extent of their offense other than Bam putbacks.
On O, we need JJ to shoot well, limit some of the silly turnovers we've been making, and just keep doing what we're doing.
On O, we need JJ to shoot well, limit some of the silly turnovers we've been making, and just keep doing what we're doing.
I'll openly admit that I don't think Butler is anywhere ear as good as Kentucky. And, those teams that they beat above are also not on the same level as Kentucky!!! Villanova got bounced last week. Arizona got bounced by Xavier that lost 6 in a row in February! I don't think the other side of the bracket has anywhere near the talent that our side has in it. UCLA, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas... they are legacies that are loaded for bear! I expect the championship game to be a blowout.
I think UNC can beat UK- without a doubt. But, they are going to have to play a helluva lot better than they played Butler because Kentucky is much better team than Butler.
I have faith. I know they can win if they play to their potential. They struggle with doing that, however.
I know UK is due for a loss at our hands. So is Kansas,
We don't beat Ky if we do not find that killer instinct, put a team away when you have them down. make Monk a 2 pt jump shooter rather than a 3pt shooter. Theo has to step up, been a bit of a quiet stretch for him over last few games, didn't look comfortable to me last night, step up by defending monk and shutting hi down.
Kentucky has three wins over Elite 8 teams.
How many did Butler have?
Umm I believe they beat Xavier twice, pretty sure they are in elite 8
True, and we need to really force him to his right hand more than we did in the first matchup.
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