On Monday night, the 2008-09 Kentucky Wildcat basketball team debuted in grand fashion by completely dominating an over matched Missouri-St. Louis 111-53. However, the story of this first exhibition game for the 2008-09 season has very little to do with the opponent that wore red and everything to do with the opponents [ghosts] of recent disappointing seasons posted by the Cats. To paraphrase a well known commercial tag line that Buick used, "These Are Not The Tubster's Cats."

First, the Cats came out of the blocks prepared to run, to defend, to crash the boards at both ends of the floor, and to play their game, regardless of the quality of the opponent. How refreshing was it for Cat fans around the world to witness that "Take No Prisoners" approach on the court again after a decade of playing down to oppositions, and only giving the effort that they thought might be necessary to get a win, a calculation that champions don't ever adopt, and an attitude that the former UK Coach fostered.

Prior to the first exhibition game, I “predicted” a UK win over Misouri-St. Louis by a score of 104 – 52, with each team have 90 possessions. The final result: 111-53, and UK had 100 possessions and UMSL had 85 possessions, an average of 92.5 possessions for the game.

On Friday, these Cats get to strut their stuff again for the Rupp faithful and the Big Blue Nation. Again, the name on the other team's jersey is not the relevant question. The relevant questions are:

• Will the Cats replicate their "take no prisoners" approach?
• Will the Cats continue to protect their possessions by minimizing turnovers again?
• Will the Cats continue their excellent defensive effectiveness, limiting another opponent to substantially less than 0.70 points per possession?
• Will the Cats continue to show offensive fire power from players not named Patterson and Meeks?

If they answer the call on these questions, then this team will demonstrate that it is ready to accomplish much more during and after the regular season than UK fans have been permitted to enjoy for many years.

In my opinion, this team could be a top 10 team and could compete for a trip to the 2009 Final Four. Prior to last night's game, I suggested that to be capable in that area, I want to see an average pace of at least 100 possessions per game, an average Offensive Efficiency of 1.050 points per possession or more, and an average Defensive Efficiency of 0.75 ppp or less for the two exhibition games. To meet these goals, the Cats need 100 possessions, 0.990 ppp offensive efficiency or higher, and another strong defensive effort in this second game.

Based in part upon the performance against UMSL in Exhibition #1, and largely upon my wish to see a Kentucky team demonstrate in Exhibition #2 the same determination to play the game they are capable of playing, regardless of the strength of the opposition, I "predict" a score of 105-57 for this game.

Let the games continue!

First Half Summary:

Coach Gillispie started Patterson, Stevenson, Meeks, Harris, and Porter four juniors and one sophomore for the second game in a row. In the first Exhibition, about 16 players saw playing time, and Stewart did not play due to disciplinary issues. Tonight, Stewart should also enter the mix.

The Cats start fast for the second straight game, hitting 5 of their first 8 shots, 3 of 4 free throws, and getting 4 second chance points on 2 offensive rebounds. At the under 16 TV timeout, the Cats led OBU by 8 points, 14-6. Out of the timeout, OBU hits a three pointer on a pull up on the break, prompting Coach Gillispie to call a quick timeout, leading 14-9 with just over 15 minutes to play. Galloway and Miller entered the game for Porter and Meeks.

Over the remainder of this second game segment, the Cats continued their fine shooting, but 6 turnovers in during the 4 minute segment fosters memories of last year's propensity for giving the ball to the other team for no good reason. At the under 12 TV timeout, the Cats lead continued at 8 points, 20-12. The Cats have hit 8-12 including 1-2 from long range. The Cats hold a rebounding advantage, 12-5 in the early going.

In the third segment, the Cats shooting began to fall back into “human” range, as the Cats are 9-16 and 2-4 from long range. However, the Cats squandered multiple scoring opportunities in the segment by missing 5 of 6 free throw attempts, including 2 front ends, eliminating two additional attempts and 3 more turnovers Meanwhile, OBU hit 2 of 3 long range shots and cut the lead to 3 points, 24-21, at the under 8 TV timeout. Out of the timeout, OBU makes another three point play, this time the old fashioned way, to tie the score at 24.

In the fourth segment, the Cats' shooting stabilized from the floor, and the defense only allowed 3 more points while the Cats scored 13 points, to extend their lead up to 10 points, 37-27, at the under 4 TV timeout with about 3 minutes to play in the first half. The pace of this game is about 100 possessions for both teams. The Cats' offense has been a little below the target for this game, and the defense is a little off as well. The teams finished out the half with the Cats taking a 43-35, 8 point lead into the locker rooms.

The pace of the first half was 102 possessions for the Cats and 104 possessions for OBU. In first half, UK had 51 possessions while OBU had 52. The Cats lost the battle of the offensive boards 6-8, and lost the second chance points 6-7. However, the Cats controlled the boards for total rebounds, 27-17. The Cats grabbed 40% of its misses as offensive rebounds while OBU grabbed only 27.6% of their misses.

OBU had an offensive efficiency of 0.636 ppp on its 44 first chance possessions and 0.875 ppp for its 8 second chance possessions. UK had 0.822 ppp on its 45 first chance possessions and 1.000 ppp on its 6 second chance possessions.

The free throw shooting in the first half was poor for the Cats, 58.3% [14-24], and OBU was equally poor from the line, making 10-17 [58.8%]. Field goal shooting for UK was 13-22 overall [59.1%] and 3-6 [50.0%] from long range. For OBU, their field goal shooting from inside the arc was a dismal 5-25 [20.0%], but OBU lit it up from long range, hitting 5-11 from long range [45.5%].

Halftime Magic Number Check-Up:

MAGIC NUMBER Tonight: First team to score its 83 rd point will win tonight. To reach that score, Ky needs 40 points, while OBU needs 48 points. Kentucky scored its 83 rd point on a three pointer by Porter with about 4:10 minutes to play in the game. The Cats finished the game to secure a victory, 94-72.

Second Half Summary:

The second half opens slowly, with the Cats outscoring OBU 4-1 in the first 3 ½ minutes, but Patrick Patterson picked up his 3 rd and 4 th fouls. The Cats have a fight on their hands for the final 15:39 and Patterson on the bench with 4 fouls leading by 10 points, 49-39 at the under 16 TV timeout. In the second segment of the second half, the Cats shooting continued to be poor, hitting 1-7, but 3 offensive rebounds produced 4 second chance points, and a 13 point lead, 58-45 at the under 12 TV timeout. The Pace continues in the 100 range for the Cats and about 97 range for OBU. In the third segment, the Cats, playing without Patrick Patterson, extend the lead to 21 points, 69-48.

In the 4 th segment of the second half, the Cats continued to extend their lead, to 28 points, 85-57 at the under 4 TV timeout. Some hot three point shooting by OBU in the last segment allowed the visitors to cut the final margin to only 22 points, 94-72.

UK scored its 94 points in a total of 98 possessions for the game for an offensive efficiency of 0.969 ppp. OBU scored its 72 points on a total of 99 possessions for a defensive efficiency of 0.727 ppp.

Kentucky dominated the boards for the game, 38-20, but lost the battle of the offensive glass, 16-17. The Cats used their 16 offensive boards to produce 20 second chance points while OBU only could produce 13 second chance points with its 17 offensive boards. OBU had an offensive efficiency of 0.720 ppp on its 82 first chance possessions and 0.765 ppp for its 17 second chance possessions. UK had 0.902 ppp on its 82 first chance possessions and 1.250 ppp on its 16 second chance possessions. With respect to the offensive rebounding, UK grabbed a strong 45.7% of its misses as offensive rebounds while OBU was able to convert 32.1% of its misses into bonus possessions with offensive rebounds.

UK hit poorly from the free throw line in this game, making 28-42 [66.7%]. OBU made 13-30 [43.3%] for the game. Field goal shooting for UK was 30-56 overall [53.6%] and 6-12 from long range [50.0%]. For OBU, their field goal shooting from inside the arc was a poor 10-42 [23.8%] but OBU shot the ball very well from long range hitting 13-28 [43.3%].

Post Game Analysis:

As noted prior to this game, UK's performance in these two exhibition games can provide an important glimpse into what may be in store for this team this season. The criteria I presented were:

• At least 1.100 ppp offensive efficiency for the two games combined. Tonight, the offensive efficiency was 0.959 ppp, and the average for the two exhibition games was 1.041 ppp. The difference between the target and the actual is more than accounted for by the high number turnovers committed in Exhibition game #2 against OBU

• No more than 0.600 ppp defensive efficiency for the two games combined, and tonight the defensive efficiency was 0.624 ppp The average for both games was 0.676 ppp which while decent, could have been much better had the team finished the last 5 minutes of each of these games instead of allowing so many late points. In game #1, the Cats gave up 14 of the 53 points in the last 7 minutes, increasing the defensive efficiency from 0.582 ppp to 0.624 ppp. In game #2, the Cats gave up 24 of the 72 points in the last 8 minutes, increasing the defensive efficiency from 0.623 ppp to 0.727 ppp.

• A Net Game Efficiency of at least 0.500 ppp for both games combined, and tonight the NGE was 0.498 ppp. The NGE through both games has been 0.365 ppp.

Next Game On Schedule:

Friday night, November 14, 2008, the Cats will open Regular Season play against Virginia Military Institute [VMI] at Rupp Arena.

Submitted by Richard Cheeks