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2010-11 Season Analytical Writings

05
Cat Complete The 2010-11 Exhibition Schedule Against Dillard

On Monday night, the Cats dispatched a good NAIA Pikeville College team 97-66 in an effort that met expectations on many levels even though one of the star freshmen, Terrence Jones played a very weak game, getting into early foul trouble and only scoring 9 points in 22 minutes of limited action. Tonight, the Cats finish their exhibition season against former Cat Dale Brown's Dillard team.

As noted prior to the Pikeville exhibition, it is difficult to predict how exhibition games will be played. However, as the experience of prior years and the experience of the Pikeville game this year indicates, we should expect another high scoring, up tempo event. For example, in the last 6 seasons, the average pace of the two exhibition games has been about 10% faster than the regular season pace for the same 6 seasons, and on Monday night, the pace was about 15% faster than last season's regular season pace of play. Similarly, scoring and scoring defense have been more efficient in the exhibitions than the seasons. Both are expected, and should be the case again this year for the exhibitions relative to the regular season performance levels.

For these reason, I expect this exhibition game will again average about 80 to 85 possessions, and scoring will be correspondingly higher than what we will see against D1 opposition over the course of the season. I predict that UK will defeat Dillar College 105-58 at a pace of about 84 possessions for the game.

Game Summary:

Calipari starts Freshmen Knight, Jones and Lamb with Juniors Miller and Liggins. Prior to the game, Coach Calipari said that Knight was now feeling well and may not be able to go tonight. However, when the players came out to warm up, Knight was among them. Tonight's exhibition is the last trial run for the 2010-11 Kentucky team, and one week from tonight, this team begins its long journey as Coach Calipari's second UK team.

The Cats score the first 4 points of the game, but thereafter, it was all Dillard in the opening segment that saw UK trail 9-7 at the under 16 TV timeout. In the opening segment, the pace was about 90 possessions, and the Cats committed 3 turnovers. For the second straight night, the Cats have opened with sloppy floor play. The difference is that unlike Monday night when the Cats masked their sloppiness with outstanding shooting, tonight, the Cats have opened with cool shooting, 2-6, in the opening segment. Dillard has made 3 of its first 5 shots.

Out of the timeout, the Cats start with their 4 th turnover, but thereafter, the Cats kicked their game into a new gear, running off 9 straight points to take a 7 point lead, 16-9, prompting a Dillard timeout. After the timeout, the Cats continued their run, with it standing at 13 points, 20-9, at the under 12 TV timeout. Through the first 8 minutes, the pace has slowed to the 80s range. In the third segment, the Cats extended their lead to 16 points, 30-14 at the under 8 TV timeout. During the 4 th game segment, the Cats outscored Dillard 14-3 to extend their lead to 27 points, 44-17 at the under 4 TV timeout.

Doron Lamb picked up his third foul of the game during the 4 th segment, and at least 2 other Cats have 2 fouls each, exposing the team's short bench with early foul trouble. Hood has played and contributed on the offensive end with a pair of 3 pointers, and Harrellson has contributed with rebounding on both ends of the floor. The Cats continue the dominance to a 57-22, 35 point halftime lead.

UK scored its 57 points in a total of 41 possessions for the half, and DILLARD scored its 22 points on a total of 40 possessions. Kentucky dominated the boards, with a rebounding edge 25-13, and won the battle of the offensive glass 9-5. The Cats used their second chance possessions to score 13 second chance point while DILLARD used its 5 second chances to score 0second chance points. DILLARD had an offensive efficiency of 0.550 ppp on its 40 first chance possessions and 0.000 ppp for its 5 second chance possessions. UK had 1.073 ppp on its 41 first chance possessions and 1.444 ppp on its 13 second chance possessions. With respect to the offensive rebounding, UK grabbed a powerful 52.9% of its misses as offensive rebounds while DILLARD was able to convert only 23.8% of its misses into bonus possessions with offensive rebounds.

UK hit poorly from the free throw line in this half, making 5-10 [50.0%]. DILLARD made 2-5 [40.0%] for the half. Field goal shooting for UK was 23-37 overall [62.2%] and 6-12 from long range [50.0%]. For DILLARD, their field goal shooting from inside the arc was a poor 4-19 [21.1%] and from long range, CU hit 4-9 [44.4%].

Turnovers were in great supply in this first half. The Cats committed 8 turnovers, one for every 5.1 possessions. The Cats forced only 14 DILLARD turnovers, one for every 2.9 possessions.

Second Half:

The Cats open the second half with red hot shooting, making their first 7 shots, including 2 three pointers to extend their lead to 44 points, 74-30, prompting a Dillard timeout with 16:35 to play in the game. The Cats added another basket to their lead prior to the under 16 TV timeout. In the second segment, the Cats displayed a complete dominance over Dillard, outscoring them 15-6 to extend the lead to 55 points, 91-36 at the under 12 TV timeout. In the third segment, the Cats slowed down the assault, and only extended their lead by 3 points, to 58 points, 102-44 at the under 8 TV timeout. In the 4 th segment, the Cats added 5 more points to their lead, now at 63 points, 111-48 at the under 4 TV timeout with 3:38 to play in the game. The final score, 122-54.

Analysis:

UK scored its 122 points in a total of 82 possessions for the game, and DILLARD scored its 54 points on a total of 82 possessions.

Kentucky dominated the boards, with a rebounding edge 46-19, and the Cats won the battle of the offensive glass 11-7. Kentucky won the second chance points battle 15-0. DILLARD had an offensive efficiency of 0.659 ppp on its 82 first chance possessions and 0.000 ppp for its 7 second chance possessions. UK had 1.305 ppp on its 82 first chance possessions and 1.364 ppp on its 11 second chance possessions. With respect to the offensive rebounding, UK grabbed a strong 47.8% of its misses as offensive rebounds while DILLARD was able to convert only 16.7% of its misses into bonus possessions with offensive rebounds.

UK hit slightly below average from the free throw line in this game, making 15-22 [68.2%]. DILLARD made 5-10 [50.0%] for the game. Field goal shooting for UK was 48-69 overall [69.6%] and 11-19 from long range [57.9%]. For DILLARD, their field goal shooting from inside the arc was a poor 8-33 [24.2%] and from long range, DILLARD hit 11-27 [40.7%].

Turnovers were in great supply in this game. The Cats committed 14 turnovers, one for every 5.9 possessions. The Cats forced 23 DILLARD turnovers, one for every 3.6 possessions.

Next Game On Schedule: Friday night, again at Rupp Arena, the Cats will open the 2010-11 season against ETSU, the team they met last March in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Submitted by Richard Cheeks

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