- December 15th, 2007, 6:43 pm
#138040
vader or whatever the name is of the UAB guy got hotter in the 2nd half than just about anyone i've ever seen. That guy was just unstoppable once he got in rhythm. another key to the game was the way kentucky played in the second half once they went up by 14: they started playing hesitantly, looked like they were afraid they were going to make a mistake and just generally weren't playing to win the game. at that point is when UK starting making a bunch of turnovers that helped fuel UAB's comeback, when you commit 18 and force just 9 it's hard to win. they also made too many bad fouls, twice in the second half a wildcat fouled vader on a three. also, UAB couldn't guard patrick patterson at all and I felt like UK didn't get him the ball enough. He should have gotten the ball down low on every possession once they realized UAB had no answer for him. he only attempted 9 shots, that is unacceptable considering UAB had no answer for him.
vader's performance gives even more credence to how important derrick jasper and jodie meeks are to this team. they would have provided valuable perimeter offense and could have made a big impact on the defensive end. either one of those two could have been defending vader, both are better perimeter defender and match up better athletically and size wise than porter does. i feel that if one of those two had been guarding vader that vader wouldn't have had nearly as good of a game as he did.
my conclusion: UK played well, especially considering UAB was picked to finish second behind Memphis in Conference USA, but sloppy play on offense and defense in the last 10-11 minutes along with some foul trouble doomed UK. UK should break their 3-game losing streak, going on the road to Houston on Tuesday and could very well start a 4-game winning streak with tennessee tech, san diego, and florida international rounding out the rest of december.
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