Can't Make Me Stop When I'm Droppin' That Rock

(::singing::C-a-a-n't stop the w-a-a-y that I'm dr-r-r-oppin' the J! ::end singing:: Perry 'Swat' Stevenson ended up becoming Perry 'Rock' Stevenson after shooting a perfect 7-7 on the court which helped lead Kentucky to a much needed 77-61 bounceback win before taking on the Tar Heels this weekend.)

Kentucky started out slugglishly last night against College of Charleston; the only thing that mighta saved them before halftime was despite their ugly 37 percent shooting, Charleston shot 23%, and if it weren't for Kentucky's unacceptable game-high 20 turnovers (again!), the Wildcats shoulda blown out the Cougars like Florida blew off Southern by 56 last night, but instead only beat C of C 77-61. Tubby started Sheray Thomas in place of the early season usual Perry Stevenson, and oh did we fans get tricked. Tubby pulled a “ David Blaine ” on us; Mr. Head Coach pulled a “ gotcha! ’ on UK fans; hey Tubby Smith pulled a Cat out of a bag when we weren't lookin' last night cuz Mr. Swat emerged as Mr. Rock coming off the bench and dropping the J like there is no way cuz Mr. Stevenson dropped it seven-straight!

Hey you drop it 7 straight in 16 minutes for 14 pts, 4 offensive grabs, a stuff and a steal when the guy who started in your position (Thomas) was only good for 2 pts and 4 grabs, ast, stuff, and a steal in 26 minutes (that's 10 more minutes of action), when you're that automatic and spark a shooting game that led to 55% second half shooting and 50 second half points (almost twice what Kentucky put up in the 1st half), you get an automatic Game Blog Nominee. And keep in mind this was College of Charleston, not North Carolina or UCLA or Memphis or Florida, that Kentucky should have whooped up on to begin with.

The Wildcats should have outplayed, outshot, outpassed, outran, and outproduced far better than what's shown in the score. I mean again, Kentucky is outshot by their opponent: College of Charleston was 23 of 72 shots while Kentucky was 30 of 63. That worries me, and what's part of that reason? Kentucky once again committed a game-high 20 turnovers. If this was against Memphis or UCLA, we'd be talking about 3-3 Kentucky and why can't they hold on to the ball rather than Stevenson's perfect jumper. They do this kind of poor 1st half shooting against the Tar Heels and North Carolina will feast for 50 by halftime; and Thanksgiving was last week. Turnovers are hurting these guys from straight out letting loose and from forcing their opponents into timeouts by high-fly momentum shifters that are critical to putting your opponent on the edge of defeat.

But don't get me all wrong here, there are some good things to point out, like, how Randolph Morris seems to be capable of producing double-doubles every game if Kentucky would only feed him the rock more consistently. Morris had the game-high 17 pts and 8 grabs with 25 minutes. Aside from Ramel Bradley's team high 4 turnovers, he did have the team's game-high 3 steals and got to the line and shot 4-4. Freshman guard Derrick Jasper might be playing his way into the starting point guard position by conference play if he continues to out-produce Bradley on the court. I mean, just like in Stevenson's production in his limited time off the bench (16 min), Jasper, in 14 minutes, had 5 defensive grabs, 2 pts, 2 assists, (and 2 turnovers). For a freshman coming off the bench, Stevenson and Jasper might be starting freshmen together by mid-January. Joe Crawford is doing what he should by consistently playing good D and always seems to be right up there with the team's high scorers; he had 15 pts, 5 grabs, 2 assists, and 2 steals (1 turnover). Oh yeah, and how bout Mark Coury? He was automatic too for the two minutes he played - 4 points and 1 offensive grab, and I can't fail to mention Jared Carter's contribution in 8 minutes of play. He went 0-2, but got to the line - made one, with 4 grabs (2 turnovers).

So we see Kentucky capable of putting up 50 in a half, and if it weren't for turnovers and poor 1st half shooting, this team coulda dropped 100 on College of Charleston last night. Shoot, the way I see it, Kentucky has enough talent to hang with anyone and are capable of being one of the top scoring teams this year if they'd only not make so many mistakes and start feeding the ball to Morris more frequently. Again, turnovers is a good start, cuz these kids have North Carolina this weekend, and I think it's about time Kentucky goes in there and takes one away from the Tar Heels.

Game Blog Nominee



Perry Stevenson, 6-9, 178 Fr Forward from Lafayette, LA: 7-7, 14 pts, 4 grabs, stuff, steal, (3 turnovers) in a 77-61 win vs College of Charleston