2019-2020 Kentucky vs Lamar (Game 6)

another great crowd on a sunday evening as the kentucky wildcats hope to improve to five and one as they will battle the cardinals of lamar of the southland conference it's been a season of highs and lows as far for kentucky once number one and now it's trying to find their way keeping the dribble alive pulls up for the jumper [Applause] are you serious and there's your exclamation point richard j o'reilly out of the bronx new york with a big three-pointer and williams gets a lucky bounce and knows what to do with it what a win by evansville executed perfectly made the plays that were there to be made and pulled off a program-changing upset that had a lot of people talking including coach cal as he said via twitter as i get ready for practice with my team with some players who can go and some who cannot we're trying to figure out some things how to be a threat offensively how to make more threes how do we guard five space players and how do we get more consistent in playing winning basketball and that is certainly what they're used to around here as we say hello and welcome mike morgan alongside the shooter pat bradley that they certainly there's always a learning curve with kentucky this time of year and you always expect the young guys to have some rust a little bit and a little bit of kinks but overall this is a team that still has a ton of potential no question as as one uh kentucky staffer put it it's like groundhog day right we keep seeing this over and over but coach cal is the best in the business in building the this these players into what he wants him to be it's the building blocks he cannot skip a step when he's teaching these kids and he is a teacher believe me one of the best in the country he had some improvement last ball game just 48 hours ago against mount st mary's they shot the ball well at 55 21 assists on 30 made field goals and ashton hagen's put on a clinic we do know this much lamar is a team that comes in 4-1 if they don't have a great effort tonight this could be a dangerous game experience team they get a guy that can knock down about 10 threes a game on you so they have got to be crisp with their defensive rotations they could identify the ball one of the key things that they struggle with is ball screen defense talking about kentucky i'd be very surprised if we didn't see lamar try to get them in that early on in this game it is the same starting five that we saw 48 hours ago for kentucky who is it healthy again there's a young man who's going to fire a bunch of shots that's davion buster who averages 10 three-point attempts a game the kentucky starting five zero one two three and four numerically speaking as whitney misses the jumper nick richards is healthy ashton higgins is healthy emanuel quickly you'll see off the bench he is healthy so finally coach cal knows he's got a full array of players to see that first possession ball screen with nick richards busker came off that screen higgins coming off a great performance over mount st mary's has it left wing draws a double looking for help finds richards at the last moment now sistina lines up a three and cena buries the triple kentucky has struggled from downtown this year pat but we know they're a better three-point shooting team there's no doubt but it starts with that the correct guy shooting the three but also as a shooter you've got to be ready to catch and shoot immediately and an air ball on the other end by buster that's a great trap first of all by lamar only giving up the the only spot that you could which was a skip pass but sistina does a good job of making himself available that's another thing that's key these guys are still figuring out where does my guy like the ball where is he best at shooting and and for any shooter you've got to create a passing lane for yourself if you do want to [Applause] kentucky did not shoot the ball well obviously in the loss to evans and only one for 13 in the game after that the victory over utah valley but it is a team that if you watch these guys shoot i mean the guy at the free throw line maxie quickly you just saw sistina hitting a three you and i were commenting during practice today the form looks good right and they hit them in practice they just got to translate to the game and and that's that's part of it whether it's an adjustment with uh an environment situation again some players like to have when you pass and this about getting to know your teammates they like it a certain spot on the floor or when you do pass it to them so there's a familiarity that these guys are still getting to know each other and where they like the ball [Applause] for the wildcats out of the southland conference center bump foul on richards who says hey he ran into me it'd be interesting to see the kind of success that lamar is going to have trying to post up nick richards there's tick price in his sixth year as the head coach of lamar was a complete rebuild job when he took over he's done a good job back-to-back 19 with the seasons former virginia tech hokie is a player baseline cut off kentucky tight man-to-man custom the scene shot clock down to five weight clock situation richards alters that shot sestina top work for the rebound here comes hagans on the attack pagans had it stripped away quick hands by buster and all the way down the forum rejected what a block by whitney holy smokes jumper off the mark by sullivan how high did khalil whitney yet he got as high as he needs to okay there is no limit he's got the best vertical leap on the team but that was just ridiculous some guys jump as high as they can he just jumps as high as he has to maxie probes the baseline kicks out to sistina into the hands of whitney wheeling dealing and gets the bucket 7-0 in kentucky that was great patience they looked to see where the advantage was normally whitney is going to have it with his size and athleticism rick fired up that time by wood atwood comes in as their leading scorer at 18 tonight maxie feeds cestino you ready to shoot move higgins finds up a three and knocks it down it's all going well for kentucky early on but that's part of it you get your big guy in the post who's a good passer you move around the perimeter to create that open spot the open passing lane and then guess what when you catch you better be ready to shoot it catch it in rhythm timeout lamar wildcats already two for two from downtown a 10-0 start and much was made about kentucky shooting three-point shot like you said these guys can shoot sometimes it's just about you great passes lead to made shots sistina understands that turns skip pass over the defense but he also had two guys maxie was there whitney was there so they're spreading the floor they're being patient and catch shoot and be ready when it comes to you now hagans was the guy really who had to work on that jump shot he actually tweaked his form a little bit it was a major project for him in the off-season he has refined it the jumper looks smooth the confidence is there the defense is always there that travels with ashton higgins and now he is a guy that is much more lethal offensively and i'm glad you brought that defense up lamar's sitting on zero right now a goose egg okay and that we saw the spectacular dunk by whitney but a lot of it is positioning kentucky they can be an elite defensive team they've got the length to do it obviously the athleticism it's just understanding angles and that's what coach cal is talking about when he's built the building blocks of a great basketball player and a great team you cannot skip any steps atwood throws up a prayer and it's answer tough shot by the leading scorer t.j equida junior out of beaumont texas and that's the number one thing for kentucky in any team do not allow dribble penetration because it just causes so much breakdown for your basketball team and you saw it there we saw it when they lost evansville now that is a perfect example sistina can knock that down didn't he just make a three yes he did okay you're ready okay you know my man hagans can break down any defense he's gonna get into the blue paint area catch a shoe right that's what catch chill my man he just fed it to you on a on a silver platter he passed up an open three for a dribble drive and he had the happy feet something we've seen called a lot in the early going this season you're not gonna get away with that like maybe you used to certainly not the way you do in the nba were they allergic to calling traveling violations that's bad for business mike exactly that is bad for business a pass out of bounds for lamar kentucky ball when we come back how about the defense and how about the block by whitney uh this is what he gives that athleticism a rundown is that like a lebron run down keep going up that's about as high as i need to go play a little volleyball off the backboard that is how you protect the paint [Music] on friday we've got a men's hoops double header for you right here on the scc network number nine kentucky playing host to uab at rep arena that'll be at seven eastern time and then we'll take it to gainesville for marshall and the florida gators the gators tonight taking on xavier in the championship game florida with a convincing win over miami before that been hot and speaking of hot and cold coach white's team has been hot and cold they start off top 10 pre-season then they lose at home to florida state at uconn and they blow out miami by 20 and now will take on xavier tonight that would be a big win for the gators and for that matter of the southeastern conference this is that time of year pat where it really is one for all and all for one you want every sec team to win at a conference game yeah there's no question obviously the depth in the league we've seen it get better and better over the last few years and although there were some for instance missouri plays xavier to overtime okay they could have won that game so uh there is i don't think there's any team in the sec that cannot compete with any team across the country that is the third three already for kentucky keon brooks we saw keon brooks firing up a bunch of threes today what was that mike that was a catch and shoot that was i'm ready i'm stepping into it no hesitation starts with confidence blocked by richards and hagins brings down the loose ball numbers for kentucky alliance brooks oh my goodness layup on the other end beating everybody down the floor that time was holmes all right here's something coach cal can replay i know he didn't get that block but brooks dunks it on one end alley-oop and he almost catches it on the glass on the other end that's the that's the kind of hustle that's the kind of energy that coach cal is dependent on when his bench comes in special kind of athlete out of fort wayne indiana hagin's thought about it and montgomery lost it jefferson no numbers he just has to reel in the dribble there's a point in time i realize these guys want to be unselfish they want to move the ball uh but right there it looked like the shot was going to go up higgins was going to shoot who wasn't ready ej montgomery so now he catches it uh in a bad situation there's a three knocked down from the corner and it probably won't be the last for davion buster who comes in averaging over 15 and a half points a game they list them at 510 a buck 50. that is generous brooks be ready to shoot that quickly on a deep two [Applause] buster high off the iron and down through the net talk about a shooter's bounce he's living right he must have went to church this morning mike before shooting those are the kind of bounces bounces you get when you're faithful you and i ran into coach tony barbara who kind of acts as their defensive coordinator in a way so what's the scout said we got to watch out for number 13. he likes to shoot a bunch of threes and we got to guard that three-point line there's no doubt and they realize that lamar understands for them to have a chance they're going to have to make some they're going to have to make some three you just have to that's how you're going to be able to spread kentucky's defense out but much like you know i know a lot of kentucky fans probably don't want to bring it up but i didn't think evansville was afraid to come in here and whether it was because they're head coach they know who played here one national championship here but they had that edge to them to come in here and compete with kentucky can't be scared to shoot that shot lamar is on an 8-0 run over the last couple of minutes nice reverse layup great take by vijay holmes you see lamar through the 2-2-1 at kentucky with the zone defense let's slow them down and we're playing against the zone it's about getting in the gaps dribble penetration and kentucky has that right now and four guys on the floor three guys the ability to penetrate [Applause] they also took down utah valley and they blew out mount st mary's off the turnover kentucky quickly in the front door strong take and offensive foul giving up the body quickly called for the charge 11 59 to go it's kentucky up by three and this is something in transition lamar feels like they can get they cannot hesitate gonna be confident shooting the three you're gonna have to make a bunch of matter of fact buster shoots about ten threes per game got the lucky bounce there gonna be the harder he works the luckier he gets lucky showing that they can in fact shoot the three great catch and shot right here by action pagans no hesitation and you see right here brooks again no hesitation as lamar went to that zone defense you're going to have to make some shots but here's khalil whitney getting up keeping the ball in play great recovery by sistina and the cats and they can be an elite defensive team and not as bad of a three-point shooting team as we're looking at the numbers here i mean that's the percentage of points that come from and again if that's a coach cal staple he does not like relying on the three i think he's okay with the low number as long as the percentage is higher they come in shooting 25 on the year and already in this ball game three or five for behind there take that all day long and and i should rephrase that it to yes you're right those weren't indicative of uh how well they shoot or will shoot behind the three-point line just the fuse and the reality is like they shoot more free throws than anybody so they're that's what they want to do they get the personnel for that but they also can shoot the three because the more you drive and attack you're gonna suck that defense in you can kick it out for a couple of threes whitney on a pull-up offensive rebound and a stick back is good for nick richards by far and away having his best offensive season thus far he is and he's just so much more comfortable when he catches the ball there's no hesitation sometimes about court awareness when you catch it in there especially big guys what in the world was that buster don't have to tell him twice holy smokes [Music] well we were told he had a green light that is a green light and then some sure in you know from kentucky's standpoint if those are the shots that lamar is going to have to hit in this game that's going to be tough all night it's at least 26 feet away i love the aggressiveness nick richards hitting the offensive glass systina and we saw whitney there sometimes the coach didn't have to call your number call a play for you go up and get it baby on buster look at all that we could track all those steps that he took probably i don't know half a mile he ran from one side to another that's not easy he's quick guys on his offense they're looking for him so as soon as he's open they're going to get it to him and he's got a quick release quickly that's perfect right flashes fires up little teardrop you can see that's the aggressiveness i'm talking about that gap is wide now what happens is you're gonna suck the defense in now you can kick out for an open three foul on the floor caught on quickly of kentucky second foul the talented sophomore out of the state of maryland john carroll high school son of a minister last year kind of an uneven performance overall this year playing with a lot more confidence played in all 37 games last year he started seven of them saw him open it up in the three-point line in kentucky's last game in the second half which blew that game wide open the ability to make a couple of threes richard's altering that shot and somehow it goes in sullivan will get credit for the basket it's a two-point game on the trigger [Applause] buster's lined up on the right wing guarded by maxie those quick hands by hagins and that was deflected so no over and back can't leave that man open buster finally misses one yeah kentucky's defense got away with one there two they had three guys on the ball two guys went to trap pagans on a stop and pop and coach barbie who's coaching the defense this morning says there's one guy we're not gonna leave and that's number 13 fellas when they left give and good on the leader tough shot by holmes first tie of the game 19-0 [Applause] and we welcome those of you who have been watching volleyball it's kentucky here on the hardwood maxi burying a three that's the fourth trade for kentucky mike morgan alongside the shooter pat bradley the wildcats trying to improve to five and one taking on lamar of the southland conference who also comes in at four and one on the year there's a steal scooped up by hagins all on showtime that was the perfect trap on the post trying to play out of it great rotation by pagans understanding now how to work together previously got confused on where to trap who to trap some of the guys on the ball lester inventing shots now like a super mario brothers toss as this kentucky defense gets more familiar with him and and how he likes to shoot he's gonna have to pull something out of his bag of tricks that he may not have shot before and this this really lamar's zone defense slowed kentucky down a little bit this is a young man who can shoot he has not shown it yet but suzanne has got great form he gets hammered there but johnny zhuzang will be a factor for kentucky from behind the arc this year five point lead for the wildcats [Music] 7 17 to go in the first half it's kentucky up by five 24-19 as we welcome you back inside mike morgan alongside the shooter pat bradley and pat we've talked at the top it's been a season of kind of highs and lows for kentucky thus far this game has been full of high slows great start let lamar back in but the high that i want to focus on is a three-point shooting already kentucky proving they can shoot the three well no they can there's no doubt about it and it's about moving the ball it's about understanding where your teammates want the ball as well but you got to be ready to shoot and you saw that against the lamar zone defense which slowed kentucky down a little bit and you combine that also with five kentucky turnovers and lamar's made three three-point shots themselves and they're hanging around but for kentucky and any player the confidence begins with being ready to catch and shoot with hands ready feet ready body ready it's already four for nine from behind the arc a big part of their offense in this first half stays in the game for the wildcats shot blocked down to seven as hagins directs traffic into the hands of maxi with four to shoot back to hagans hesitated now maxie's got to launch a desperation shot and that's one where maxie's saying to ashton hagins you got to shoot that sure when you consider the clock in the situation you don't have enough time that was the best look that that you could get i understand ashley hagan is is trying to get it back to his guy who he feels has had a mismatch or maybe the ability to penetrate but at that time that was the best look we saw buster on the bench with those two fouls it's been their leading offense thus far for lamar let's see how they do without him on the floor no dice on that trip higgins maxi d3 legs kick out and maxi gets it to drop and what was he like he was ready to shoot now we know he's got he can shoot it from there he can shoot it from deep defenses might not be aware of that michigan states is though he hit a deep one against them to seal the deal [Music] a lot of contact no whistle there short jumpers off the mark give the hands of keon brooks that was a nice switch communication defensively right there hagins oh what a pass to richards what a dime dropped by ashton higgins you can see that lane opened up like a sea of blue took advantage of it kentucky on a 10-0 run inside turn around hook shot no richards corrals another board this is how the game began too kentucky's defense was on point and they were up 10-0 before lamar was able to get a bucket uh and created some easy scoring opportunity for kentucky six rebounds for richards and now the threes are starting to drop in a flurry and that's a great swing pass pagans gets it to his guy tyrese maxey [Music] we saw maxie ignite in new york in the win over michigan state that propelled the wildcats to the number one ranking it didn't last long of course kentucky trying to get back to the top alley you pass richards oh my goodness from the feed of tyrese maxi when he's not hitting threes he's throwing alyus off the back to back threes by maxie now though the entire defense what are they doing they're watching is he gonna pull up oh no forgot about nick richards actually that guy didn't forget about nick richards he just couldn't get as high as nick richards beautiful pass and seeing he looked away too he was looking to the corner like he was going to swing a swing pass for three and threw it to richard b.j holmes knew it was coming but he goes 6-4 nick richards goes 6-11 advantage kentucky yeah couldn't have done anything even if he wanted to steps happy feet for tj atwood lamar is starting to come apart at the seams here and again their best weapon on the bench with the two fouls in the form and really again what ignited it is when you see that lamar defense that zone defense maxi comes in knocks down a couple of threes and opens the whole thing up actually feeling it maxie hits it 18-0 run sparked in large part by the [Applause] freshman [Applause] [Music] lamar out of sorts and a lot of contact down though that will go against zhuzhang of kentucky but what a stanza for the freshman from garland texas tyrese maxey four out of five from a three-point line emanuel quickly knows exactly where to go with it tyrese maxie ready to shoot lock and load time now for the mayhem moment brought to you by allstate a flurry of threes for big blue there's no doubt it's it's got getting it two guys where they're most comfortable nick richards controlling the paint playing above the rim great penetration and pitch out to an open shooter hagen's ready to shoot and basically lamar's defense right now is spinning they don't know which way but that's what's so dangerous about this kentucky team the athleticism to take it to the hole and dominate in the paint and also now they're shooting the ball from outside the three-point line they didn't shoot the three well against evansville they didn't shoot it against utah utah valley particularly well but you see the last two games marked improvement mount st mary's 40 and tonight already seven threes including four by the freshman maxie maxie's got 12 of kentucky's 18 points during this 18-nothing run you saw one come on transition you saw one where he had to shoot it actually be so far behind where lamar's defense was that that zone half court defense blocked by maxey and a shot block violation what more can tyrese maxi do in the last five minutes [Applause] now now you can see why coach cal was so excited about the defensive bill because they're versatile they have multiple guys that can guard multiple positions athletic enough strong enough and check by holmes it's only the fourth on lamar in this first half and that's something that we've been accustomed to kentucky is getting to the free-throw line and it hadn't been anything that they aren't willing to do it's just they've had open threes and they've made them kentucky's only shot two free throws and they lead the league in free throw percentage at 80 percent that's top ten of the nations high percentage open dunks whitney hadn't rejected montgomery follow no tacked around scooped up by lamar two point blank shots right there i'll be thinking about that for a while but again i like the aggressiveness from an offensive rebounding standpoint ej montgomery richards whitney all these guys can get themselves extra shots just by hitting the glass [Music] pass to jefferson shot clock under 10. jefferson on the mobile short every time lamar goes to the goal they can hear footsteps for some of kentucky's bigs montgomery that's the kind of shot he needs to get going e.j montgomery in that stretch four mold and a young man who is trying to get his way back in terms of healthy and confident that's why these games are so important you saw how he just caught it in rhythm and that's what he does in practice you play more of these games and you're going to take what you practice into these games from a defensive standpoint you want to talk about how alert they are how weird they are you had two guys going up for a block three guys right there to get the rebound and run and that this kentucky team has as we've seen they can also run they're gonna be able to get up and down the floor this this year because of what they do from the defensive standpoint tomorrow at a special time at 9 00 eastern time we'll bring you thinking out loud presented by regions bank with greg mcilroy and marcus spears they'll break down the weekend on the gridiron and talk about the hottest topics for the coming week that's right here on the sec network alongside pat brown mike rogan great to be with you here another great crowd at rupp arena kentucky trying to improve to five and one on the season not taking anything for granted there's one good thing coach cal talked about that evansville gamers you know that reminded everybody we're not number one i said i've coached number one teams we are not a number one team we still have to work we still have a lot to work on and improve and since then i think kentucky's answered the bell pretty well kentucky's offense a little out of sorts there and sometimes a bad offensive possession will lead to a bad defensive possession and you saw gerbil penetration right there leads to a layup sohail with a nice drive they cut to 18 under 90 seconds remaining first half around the screen kick out to duzain up and under move gets it to go johnny zuzang the freshman out of los angeles one thing you see a lot from young players and i'm talking freshmen that come from high school to college it's they think a lot they think too much sometimes and you can see the hesitation should i shoot this should i put it on the floor you saw that with jiu zhang there fortunately enough creativity to get it done maxie's not thinking he just fired that one right up in rhythm and nearly got it to drop but you can't you have to take advantage of when you do have a nice catch and shoot opportunity zoozhang is obviously that kind of a player and they're gonna need him to do that coming off the bench in and out shot clock off kentucky will play for the final shot take the use it or lose it timeout with 16 seconds remaining been a very good first half for the wildcats shooting 50 percent from the field and 47 from downtown and up by 20. marty and magee wednesday at 7 eastern time 6 central right here on the sec network and espn app nobody talks about southern culture and football better than these guys nobody's more exciting to watch perhaps in kentucky when they've got it all going and so far in this first half pat they have yeah and they've shown us a variety of things glimpses of what we know this team could be first of all from a defensive standpoint a lot was talked about defending the pick and roll coach cal told us that he's just teaching the basics of how to defend this pick and roll you saw early on in the game kentucky did a fantastic job of flattening out not allowing dribble penetration what does that lead to leads the quick shots hurried shots rush shots now kentucky gets on the defensive glass and boom they're off to the races we've seen dunks we've seen uh trail threes so you've seen a lot of what we know kentucky could be this year cal was great today at shoot around one day i love what he said he said you know guys i forgot how much i don't like this time of year and how difficult it is because i remember the end of every season where all my guys the light turns on and it's a lot easier for me to do what i want to do but this time of year there's always growing pains for kentucky and coach cal there's no doubt i mean even lamar throwing a 2-2-1 press in his own defense you have to do a lot of teaching to understand montgomery wanted that one badly it was out of bounds with point one the smoke went off and it might have hurt a horn but there's still point one on the clock and that's all that matters premature in that smoke that's never something you want to have that's exactly right montgomery there with a good look not enough time for a catch and shoot half comes to an end kentucky with a good half a 20 point lead hitting seven threes wildcats on a 22-2 run to end it as we welcome you to the halftime festivities [Music] little sunday evening basketball here in the commonwealth kentucky leading lamar 41-21 they welcome you back mike morgan alongside pat bradley pat the offense outstanding in half number one but very often it's the defense that sets up the offense and kentucky's defense was suffocating in those first 20 minutes they can be elite defensively they're very versatile they get multiple guys that can defend multiple positions and then get up above the rim to protect the paint beautiful job there ej montgomery and sistina comes over for the help and nick richards is there to clean anything up if there is penetration to the hole and then you see kentucky off to the races keon brooks six blocks three steals and not nearly as many breakdowns for kentucky on defense defended screens well defended one-on-one well overall kentucky's defense rising to the challenge yeah mike i can really think of maybe one or two times where they went and trapped three guys on the ball and then it was a it was a slow rotation uh lamar wasn't able to take advantage of it uh and and that now we're getting into a situation where second half you're up 20. it looks like things are clicking but these games are extremely important for brooks for zhuzhang to get in their rhythm even ej montgomery and some of the other guys that are coming back from injury to get back to where they were richards sends that one return to sender the luxury i was thinking about this today at shoot around as you see nick richards great timing great extension the only thing he could have done other than with that block i guess is keep it in play and then off to the races again but the luxury coach cal of having nick richards for a couple of years i mean the anchor of that defense and being really to bring him along like he has that's coach cal doesn't have that very often a guy in the program for a couple years especially his key her defense is nick richardson and then you've got three valuable sophomores when you talk about hagens and quickly and montgomery they have some guys who have been there before just playing expanded roles like this guy ashton higgins he's shooting it with so much calm did you see that just very calm catch and shoot wasn't in a hurry but was ready to shoot it on the catch 10 points for hagins eight threes in the game for kentucky a jump ball the arrow will favor lamar what do we always say mike sharing is caring great attack and you see you have to help when tyreese maxey comes in there defender goes to try to close the lane ashton hagen's right there feet ready hands ready has got a big target that's part of it too man everybody likes to receive the ball maybe a little bit different spot right you've got to let your teammate know where you want the ball to be ready to catch and shoot all these little things lead up to a made jump shot but it starts with a pass that's on time on target kind of like tom brady always have a way of working in tom brady on a broadcast mid-range jumper is good for avery sullivan trying to stop the bleeding a run that carried over from the end of the first half into the second kentucky's been in control of this game for much of the way that's a big reason why maxie pass whitney probing the baseline and had it knocked away quick hands by atwood good job stopping the ball there by ashton hagins but you'd expect he'd know it to do that out of bounds to lamar you talked about the creativity that we will have to start seeing from lamar's players to try to get try to get any shot up over nick richards well again there's no reason why this kentucky team can't be elite defensively not just good we haven't seen a whole lot of that so far a lot of guys still learning where they're supposed to be as cow was telling us today they still are forced to think and i'm still forced to teach eventually a lot of this will come second nature blocks come second nature to richards and maxie he's second nature when he's driving to the hole full speed kick out pass on the other end three off the mark rebound hagins one of the other things too is when there is a defensive breakdown by kentucky bad communication full rotation you get nick richards that can clean anything up and catch it on the other end maxi on an alley you pass another assisted basket for kentucky they've got a remarkable streak going on going back to the last game seems like every bucket they have is coming off an assist how about our guy tyreese maxie finding the open lane feeding his big fella who just got done on the other end starting a fast break bradley with you here at rupp arena this was from coach cal just a few days ago talking about what he is trying to figure out what this team needs to figure out how to be a threat offensively well so far pat so good they've been a very big threat they've made more threes there you go unofficially we've got them down for ten threes five space players spacing has been good tonight and how do they get more consistent in playing winning basketball i i'd say those are four check marks there's no question the four check marks are there to be a threat offensively though one thing a lot of players do and you still see it when they catch they don't even look at the rim to be a threat you have to be ready every time immediately i can dribble this i can shoot this i can pass this you're going to be in that attack mode the triple threat right we used to call that the triple threat i don't hear that very often right did we take that out of the vocab basketball oh god i still love that term okay so you've got to you've got to catch it in threat buster just did that yeah that's it see he's ready every time this kid touches the ball he is ready to attack you now that's part of being a threat offensively and then everything else the pressure that kentucky can put on the defense because of the talent that they have is really second to none buster with 12 now by the way kentucky officially eight of 17 from three whitney rejecting that one beautiful pass maxie saves it over to hagins into richards how about that okay i know it wasn't on target but it was on time yeah and what you want to encourage is your guards your whole entire team to make that pass too many guys are afraid to even make that pass whitney fouled on the giddy up that that's the encouragement that you want coach cal guarantee he loves that pass see doesn't he look happy kentucky up 48-26 and for all you youngsters out there check out daveon buster if you want to know why this young man is able to get off ten threes per game he never stops moving the marathon man he's coming off multiple screens you see him catch it there get it back to his teammates and they use him all over the floor now he's on the completely other side he keeps moving it's not easy for a defense a defender or anyone to stay with the guy that is committed to continually move around the floor you know when i think of guys that did that better than anybody i think one name comes to mind that's reggie miller richard never stop perpetual motion and if you were going to guard him on any given night you're going to have to run your butt off and chances are at some point he was going to find an open spot hey you found a few open spots that's the floor back in the day 26 points that's right that's right it took him to open it out there that nobody else will that was that 98 national championship team with wayne turner the berna nazi muhammad yeah that's team coach shepard tubby smith that's right that's right but it's about continuous movement nobody and this is it just makes perfect sense first of all if you're a defender the last guy you want to defend is somebody who is constantly moving coming off of the screen i mean it's easy to defend somebody that doesn't move it's like it it won almost an one good job by hagen so if you notice the the right side there was a driving lane and a lot of that was what coach barbie told his guys today when he was talking about the scout don't leave 13th can't leave 13. even if you feel tempted even if somebody's driving right by you you want to help your guy you just cannot leave them ashland hagans was able to show right there um what what coach barbie are talking this morning on friday we've got a men's hoops double header for you kentucky uab here at rough at seven and then the gators taking on marshall that'll be in gainesville the gators of the big one tonight against xavier it's a big one for florida big one for the sec and an empty trip at the free-throw line 23-point cushion for kentucky [Applause] we saw early on in the second half and certainly this possession kentucky looking to post up nick richards try to get him some touches hot potato finally reeling in by lamar nobody wanted the pumpkin that's the most important thing come on it definitely is a factor marge is struggling to find good looks now it's not buster nobody else really seems to get in open hooks and that time hagan saw the pass going to buster he read it all the way great individual defense by kentucky there and great rotation but that's it when you're connected like they look connected defensively you trust one another you trust that guess what i know he's going to be able to contain the ball handling so i don't have to get out of position because if i do my man's going to be open for a shot i love that word connected you hear seth greenberg use that a lot i think the times when kentucky was not playing well earlier this year it looked like a lot of great individual players who weren't necessarily connected that comes with time it's not a selfish group cal loves the attitude of his young men on this team that's not an issue well part of it mike too is everybody we talk so much about chemistry on offense there is a chemistry on defense because you have got to understand how the other four guys their strengths and weaknesses defensively so so like for instance when i was playing everybody knew if i had to guard a guy one-on-one with the ball you better be ready to help and that's fine but they also knew that i was great rotation so there's a there is an understanding of your guys how to help and where to help and when to help pretty good health defense there a little bailout whistle otherwise good defense by three kentucky defenders including nick richards and part of that too is there are some guys who their tendency is to leave their man if they don't have the ball to try to get in a passing lane for a steal or if you saw i believe it was quickly coming on the back side there so there are certain things you just don't know until you play with a guy over and over again john calipari in his 11th year with kentucky four final fours national championship in 2012 you think of all the draft picks he's had seven point guards drafted in the first round while at kentucky and ashton hagins will likely be number eight at the end of this year i'll give you another example nick richards you know he's going to block a bunch of shots okay but he does have a tendency to come over leave his hand and man two blocks and shots so what's going to happen now is if you're on the weak side you understand that you have to get over and say okay i know my big fella is gonna go up and get this i gotta make sure to step in get his man block his man out or be ready to bring in that blocked shot 49-28 our score rejection by montgomery who says come on that's too easy cannot hesitate nickerson just hoping that that one somehow would get out of the reach of montgomery but no chance yeah well the second he didn't go directly up with that i knew there was going to be problems offensive rebound a nice one by sullivan sets up an open three knocked down by sohail offensive rebound second chance opportunities kentucky coming into this game third in the sec and rebound margin and about plus 10 a game it's a good number don't you love those guards hagans quickly maxie they're so strong what i committed when i think of kentucky in march as compared to now and i think of those three guards this is a tough team to guard now but when those guys are truly connected everything is flowing it's scary how good they'll be and we know march is about guard play everybody wants bigs but you've got three guards that can play the way they can that's why i think there's still a lot to worry about kentucky is maxie lots of love about his game my goodness maxey the freshman with 16. right on cue and you talk about those three guys part of there's the slinger right there number 13. daveyon buster going back to maxie quickly hagins what you love about them is they're strong they can get in the paint they get to the free throw line mike maxie and hagins going into this game both had 25 free-throw attempts on the [Applause] love to see him get going suzanne get going great penetration again so many good things happen when you penetrate now ej montgomery ready to receive the ball doesn't hesitate very comfortable in there use that off hand too [Music] last year as a freshman only average four points four rebounds a game his best game came against south carolina double double with 11 and 13. they need him to have a few double doubles in conference play this year can't be all the guards no and he's somebody that's versatile he can shoot the three we've seen that i know statistically not where he would like it but he's a threat from uncle good looking shot by avery sullivan lamar from the southland conference remember that long ago that stephen f austin was dominating that league of course brad underwood left and last year was sam houston state who represented the league in the ncaa tournament [Music] i'm telling you he's got great form he's a good-looking shooter it's just not going down in the games yet this place is going to erupt when he when he does not him down it's great great pass though by e.j montgomery nice shot with a little contact by sohail harris making the most of his opportunity when you've got maxie coming downhill at you that puts a lot of pressure on the defense and then he hands it off to his teammate hagins that comes straight down again right at the defense [Applause] timeout on the floor kentucky up by 16. [Music] now nick richards flirting with another double double he's been very active defensively a block here he's had a couple of those he's had four field goals all of them slam dunks but it's gonna be more than slam dunks for nick richards if he has his way he's actually been working on his game pat bradley trying to show a little bit of a sky hook little feathery touch down low that's it improve his game nice some touch catch go straight up with it no hesitation got to go to the left a little everything we do with that right we do with our left learn that one early on all right basketball crib catch he's working on his footwork there as well kind of a lost start at times the hook shot but big guys that can do it and do it well it's easy buckets if you can perfect that shot nick richards already eight rebounds excuse me eight points nine rebounds four blocks in this game and you could see early on in the second half and a few times here in their sets that they are making a concerted effort to get him a touch on the block and i think that's a great idea you're going to have to have that as an option and the more you can feed him the more he's comfortable with it the more you can play through him and that just gives you another option gives cal another option to draw something up coming out of a timeout when you need a crucial bucket and with a guy like nick richards he's a big that's shooting his free throw as well so you don't care any time of the game but you get it to the big fella because he gets fouled we trust he's going to get up there and knock him down shot a free throw in this game but overall this year shooting 84 from the free throw that's a good number for a big come on it's a good number for anybody quickly finds brooks on a three richards flying in for the rebound shot clock resets to 20 the new rule in college basketball no longer 30. 20 on an offensive rebound immediately gets that offensive rebound keeps his head up the ball up looks to see who's open brooks one [Applause] [Music] kentucky up by 16. talk about signature shots that was a little fade away from the corner that's an unstoppable shot if you can get it to go down maxie called for the reach talk about signature shots in the game of basketball nobody stopped the sky hook pat bradley no well kareem did he shot it from like 17 feet oh yeah dirk with the fade away good luck trying to stop that style points for george gervin and the finger roll the iceman and of course rick berry still trying to tell people hey the underhanded free throw is never going to go out of style remember we had canyon berry that's right canyon berry his son in the sec a few years ago playing for florida and he brought back the underhanded hand free throw i think that's the last college player i've seen shoot it through much laughter of his teammates he's committed well how about kentucky fans remember their signature move good hands here jamal mashburn with the monster mash one heck of a player the one of the biggest reasons why this program was resurrected under rick pitino when he landed [Applause] [Music] turns and fires and draws the valve amanda will quickly go to the free throw line for a pair another good free throw shooter is quickly lester just picked up his third foul and you look at kentucky's free throws numbers and the reason why they're shooting the ball so well from the free throw line a lot of it is the the right guys are getting to the free-throw line and we'll go back to the strength that coach cal has in his three guards they all shoot the ball really well from the three-point lines i mean excuse me from the free-throw line and you talked about march when you're playing big games tough games the ball is going to be in their hands at the end of the game free throws layups dunks high percentage shots are going to win those games very underrated facet and kentucky is poised to be a good free-throw shooting team all year long i know some stats some numbers this time of year so early sure you take them with a grain of salt there's no reason to believe kentucky is not going to be a very good free-throw shooting team throughout this season offensive foul called on hagins and john calipari rated that goal from anthony jordan he's going to pop a button take it easy coach i guess this is worth another look [Music] that's a tough one because yes his arm was up but i didn't see an extension on right so i would say it's just sort of him protecting his space we do have you know this in college basketball now you can actually get a technical foul for flopping that's right yes you can i was talking to uh i put anthony jordan a couple of games ago one of the officials and they actually whistled a player on that a couple weeks ago [Applause] trying to get rid of that just as the nba is trying to get rid of it college games trying to get rid of it one thing to sell a call it's another thing that flat out fake a call [Music] [Applause] it's always risky to flop anyway my estimation because if it doesn't work you're putting your defense at a one-man disadvantage and you're taking yourself out of the play so that was always the hesitation from me even thinking about doing something like that you're not that good of an actor no i'm not i mean you can see right through me i mean you're too transparent i just i can't see you pulling that off no offense but al pacino you're not well and i would have had to try to take a charge i didn't want to get involved again help help pat bradley on d rotate all taken care of yeah let me help you out listen i'm not i'm not afraid to ask for any help nothing wrong with that whatsoever as montgomery drains the free throw tomorrow at a special time of nine eastern it's thinking out loud presented by regions bank greg mcelroy marcus spears will break down the weekend on the gridiron right here [Applause] [Applause] [Music] suffocating defense and there's maxine a steal 18 points for the freshman tyrese maxi i think we could all see that one coming the deny on the wings it was just a matter of time the wrong guy had the ball for the lamar up top it was just a matter of time it was going to be a slow bounce pass for steal hagins stolen away trying to hit quickly diagonally and then lamar with a bucket on the other end it's sullivan that was just a great read defensively [Applause] by buster took a chance and it paid off longer [Applause] quickly off the screen lines up a three and knocks it down perfectly executed play by kentucky and quickly with nothing but nylon what was impressive there was the patience this quickly had come off that screen one time went all the way through underneath and came back off of it off a nick richards screen form perfect catch and shoot [Music] [Applause] iq emanuel quickly comes off that nice nick richard screen pass on time on solid performance all around for kentucky tonight 63-43 our score with 6 52 to go a season high 9-3 so far for the wildcats scc team shooting at 33 or better this far last year you had 10 of the 14 this year again it's early but you've got five and of course we haven't talked about the fact that you got a new three-point line that's about 15 inches deeper than the old ones you'd expect the overall national numbers to drop a bit so far they've dropped about two and a half percent but this kentucky team you have to think that they could shoot them at a higher percentage with the guys they have yeah there's no doubt they can and a lot of it's personnel clearly but what you can do with kentucky's you have multiple guys that can get in the lane dribble penetration there was one right there so now you're gonna be able to suck the defense in kick it out for a three and open three and a lot of these guys with their confidence catch shoot be ready feet ready get a big target up so your teammate knows where to pass it actually just fouled a three-point shooter which is a no-no that's big that's his third cardinal right there i'm gonna say cal doesn't think that was a proper call [Music] might have hit the hand on the fall through i think so yeah clearly you got the ball obviously but then the falls drew get the fingertip as a shooter you got to get that call right i never got that call you never got that but no are you kidding me they no play on i was back in the day man back in the day play on one for two thus far is buster he'll get a third one right here sophomore out of austin texas averaging over 15 points a game a lot of fun to watch trump player 16 points tonight although i did foul uh one and only time i followed somebody shooting at three my freshman year against auburn he made it i came meet you out of the game you think i ever did that again no montgomery just threw it up there and got it to go there's some contact on a screen all the way in the back court and that's ellis jefferson he took the worst of it he ran into a brick wall and i don't know if he ever saw it coming he's going to go gingerly over to the bench the top of your screen here it was just a flat screen set by montgomery and yeah jefferson never saw it coming that's one of those where you're like hey man where's my teammate calling that screen out what are you doing way up up the floor you're gonna let me know that's coming 20-point game seven minutes to go here at repair have controlled it from the opening tip [Applause] another offensive rebound and another miss and another get and another shot and another miss [Applause] i see a pattern developing here pat bradley and all that i think nick richards actually got a piece of the first shot [Applause] and after all that they're gonna say kentucky basketball you know defensive possession isn't over until you get the ball five blocks officially now for nick richards richards is two points away from a double double to go along with five blocks not a bad night at the office baseline drive maxi a little i don't know if john calipari is going to be in love with that decision and he's letting his freshman know about it it's going to be a short conversation yeah or really one where maxie understands there's really not much i could say ah you got my arm coach i had to make it around the back bounce pass in the lane he hit my arm knowing coach cal i think he's gonna have a little bit of fun with that at practice trying to get his point across make the easy pass [Applause] [Music] [Applause] brooks not bashful knocks it down mid-range game for keon brooks that also becomes an option for this kentucky team and bucket underneath avery sullivan good looking player i imagine he'll have a great amount of success this year in the southland conference wide body at 6-8 220. good around the basket timeout call by quickly you're saying you got to come and help me man i'm stuck out here so you know when you're up most of the game by double digits sometimes you want to have a little bit of too much fun here's maxie behind the back on the baseline at the knees of richards yeah that's that's not gonna pass the smell test with your head coach again you know it might have that pass could have worked if nick richards caught with his knees right that's one thing second thing is uh that pass was about a hundred mile an hour fastball behind his back very athletic mike give him credit to have the athleticism to even attempt that you and i you'd be at the chiropractors for about a week after you try to perform something like that i'm gonna go there just just after looking at it i know that much it's one of the few things maxie has not done well tonight 18 points on seven of ten shooting five rebounds three assists the defense is strong a guy who's wired to score and a guy that you can only imagine what the ceiling is i mean we got a sneak peek of it early in the opener against michigan state he put on the show at the garden i can't wait to see him in 18 conference games in the scc he is going to be one of the most exciting players to [Music] watch how about the numbers on pops back in 99 during his senior year at wright state 20 points a game five and a half rebounds four steals excuse me four assists and two steals a game that's what dad did in the senior year yeah he's getting it done keon was a part of lumiere high school they were 30-1 at one point last season ranked number one in the nation so he knows a thing or two about winning basketball he's getting some good minutes in this game seeing coach cal have him come off some screens catch it in that mid-range area which we know he can shoot it from the three we know he can put it on the floor nine points for keon brooks the freshman sustina back in the game for kentucky and he's an interesting brooks is because at his side he's got versatility so cal can play him multiple ways when you talk about on the wing uh [Music] [Applause] mexi 20 points and looking for 21 here attack attack attack what i love about it we talked about being a threat offensively catches it direct attack no hesitation straight to the rim straight to the paint puts the pressure on buster right there make a decision you can see me give a little showed the ball a little bit little ball fake that he's going to kick it out to hagin's just to create easiest scoring opportunity open up that lane a little bit for him son of a basketball coach in the state of texas father tyrone he played some college ball as well at washington state knew his coach was there kelvin sampson how about that calvin interference count the bucket that's that pick and roll defense that we've talked a lot about today going back to the last few games coach cal has worked on that in practice to get his guys to understand because as he puts it he's teaching a lot of these guys defensively how to defend a pick and roll what he for the first time and so he's got to take it from square one and build on that and if he says if he skips any steps guess what right come march come april that could be a crucial mistake that'll cost his team to go where they want to and that's a national championship sometimes you have to take some lumps in the short term for the better gain long term so he's not going to take the short cuts maybe that means playing a game closer against the mid major than the fans would want maybe it means losing a game that you wouldn't ordinarily lose but for the long term it's what you have to do to get better as a team prepared for march listen coach cal brought it up to us he said fans may not like to see games against mid majors at home but they are so crucial for the development of this team you can't play a top 25 opponents can't every game and expect young players to learn how to get better and gain confidence now from a players standpoint yeah you want to play top five teams every single night but you can't start listening to the players trust me final media timeout with 3 23 to go kentucky 74. lamar 53. [Music] tyrese maxey leading all scorers with 21 points along with five rebounds and three assists some of his passes have been memorable we had one bad one here this is one that will not be making the rounds anytime soon again if it's up to coach cowan company but then when you clean it up make the shirt pass to the big man that's a deuce that's a dime and that makes everybody happy including coach cal get a little little medium five there right we went low too low make him happy sometimes you make a head coach happy then that's a good thing uh i tell you what look he's having a blast the thing that he's most happy about he's watching this team now looking a lot more connected on offense and shooting the ball much better again nine of 20 from three tonight several players have gotten in on the fun from outside of course you already know these guys can take you off the dribble when you talk about those three time with the guards shot clock down to three pagans gonna launch why not there's three-pointer number 10 on the night for kentucky and hagins has 15. but you're right about that at end of clock situations all five guys have to understand what are we trying to get done here nick richards great timing came out exactly when hagers need them the spacing was there result open shot [Applause] [Music] [Applause] richards i wonder if he knows he needs two points for a double-double these guys now they know their stats more than ever i got him right up there in the scoreboard that's true maxie right there did a great job of pointing exactly where he wanted nick richards to get on the block before he even got past half court richards draws the double sets up sistine on a three richards with a rebound there no it rims out that would have been the double-double a round and not down for nick richards oh my goodness brooks just took air out of the basketball and then a foul on the shot by sullivan this looked like that was blocked twice they are so long quick twitch but going back to the other end the the of now having nick richards get on the post be a threat there passing out of the post because he had tyrese maxi in the corner when that double triple team really essentially christina's guys left maxie's guy left uh but richards did a good job maintained his pose it is getting it either way decided to get nate sistina a shot here good night for avery sullivan 11 points 12 rebounds when you put up a double-double at rough arena and you play for a mid-major richardson there is the double double easiest two he's gonna get on year but that was great execution we talked about how well they ran their offense tonight great pass great screen open dump quickly fouled on the three and right there great ball movement nick's uh nate sustina knows exactly where to go with it and you saw the back screen by quickly to get nick richards open right underneath the hoop everybody was doing their job that's what you'd love to see everybody doing their job to get an open door manual quickly among as many talents to play the saxophone and the drums whoa what do you play trying to play a mean triangle right here no that that you know i tried tried my hand at the bongos harmonica i mean i tried it all tried it all harmonica you i did take piano on college you took a piano class at argentina piano class uh at arkansas five years working together the things i learned i i never knew this guy actually tried to play the piano wow i would love to get a tape of that oh and to hear the most massacred piano playing that's ever been performed was my goal at one point coming up on a minute left buster throws it high off the bank and in 19 points for that young man he is disappointed tonight because it was [Applause] richards show he's got some mid-range game [Applause] buster never bashful and a foul against lamar so the final 40 seconds will tick off here soon enough and kentucky's going to improve to 5-1 we'll have a few days off before taking on uab on friday night don't forget marty and mcgee wednesday's at 7 eastern right here on the sec network richardson richards back to the free throw line a little bit tired on that and the stroke are coming in for kentucky coach calipari been able to get nine guys really good minutes on a night like tonight that's what you want good work defensively good work offensively a lot of great things come from this game that right there that's ben jordan and ben jordan is a pitcher on the baseball team very highly touted prospect [Applause] and decided to walk on with the basketball team so ben jordan hoping to add a little bit of depth he's every bit of 6'9 out of olive oil kentucky imagine he said he's a pitcher yeah on the mound 6-9 coming down after the heat he must throw look he's not going to get in unless we get a whistle though fans want to see him come in the game shoot it they also want to see welch fire up at three and i think lamar is just content to let kentucky dribble it out and that's how this game is going to come to an end very solid performance by big blues [Music] 10 of 22 from three they shot 46 from downtown 51 from the field rebounded it well shot it well cleaned up some things defensively pat bradley not a lot to complain about if you're john calipari well they started it from the defensive end that created some easy scoring opportunities up and down the floor then you saw guys when lamar did go to their half court zone you saw guys shoot the ball with confidence i'm talking about the passes were on time on target guys were ready to shoot catch and shoot feet were ready hands were ready that resulted in a lot of made three-point shots of kentucky which we knew they were going to be able to do at some point this season we'll put a bow on this one when we come back again 81-56 the final score kentucky a winner over lamar convincing victory for the wildcats tonight 81-56 your final score here from rupp arena kentucky is now five and one on the season mike morgan pat bradley and the guy in the middle is a freshman who continues to make a name for himself tyrese maxey with a game high 21 points tyrese you were aggressive early on with your shot continue to feel confident do you feel like your confidence is improving game by game it is i feel like i'm getting a lot more comfortable uh getting adjusted to the college speed and coach kyle is doing a really good job but just helping me stay humble and just get better every day is the game slowing down for you at all where now cal always talks about the freshman have to think too much are you thinking less and less than just playing the game uh yes sir he just been telling me just like you should have slowed down and i feel like the game just really coming to me like i feel like i'm doing a really good job getting my teammates involved and just letting it come to me you had an interesting exchange with coach when you tried the very creative behind the back bounce pass to nick richards about two feet away so what was that teaching moment like coach cal what do you have to say he said uh yeah that looks good that looks really good it's a turnover though but uh yeah that was that was a bad play here we go what are you thinking here baseline around the back right there you're like oh i'm in trouble yeah yeah that was bad nick had hands on on his knees then it would have been a great pass perfect the perfect pass uh tyrese what what about these these last couple of games you know you guys had a little bit of a rut even in wins you weren't shooting the ball particularly well but the last two games much better performance overall as a team like you said we're young we have what four or five freshmen and uh it's just hard you gotta get adjusted to it and uh coach kyle and staff are doing a really good job just helping us settle in and play our game tyrese coach cal talks about how there's so much being thrown at you guys that the young guys and i just you look around and the people are still here they're taking they want to be a part of this what was that for you to transition from high school to all this attention as as a young basketball player uh coach cowberry tells us you gotta block out the noise and stay focused uh stay in tune to the team even the good noise when the pat on the backs come too right great noise you gotta stay focused stay locked in and stay uh with the team well you made a lot of noise tonight in a good way tyrese congratulations on a great performance tyrese maxi remember the name you're going to see a lot of them this year for the kentucky wildcats kentucky wins it inconvincing fashion final score 81-56 coming up next it's women's college basketball rutgers and lsu for pat bradley and our entire crew this is mike morgan saying so long from lexington kentucky [Music] you

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Id: R88QGDtX56Q

Length: 83min 53sec (5033 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 04 2020