Maui's Finished; Memphis Rebounds, UCLA Crowned

Well the Maui Invite is over, and UCLA goes home champions. Kentucky meanwhile goes 1-2 for the 3 day event beating DePaul then losing to eventual Maui Champs UCLA and finally losing Memphis in the third place game. The trend is not good; the past two games (albeit on consecutive days but everyone else was playing on limited rest also) Kentucky has dropped only sixty-somethin' on their opponent and lost. It's the second straight game Kentucky attempted exactly 15 fewer shots than their opponent.

Some good things happened though even though Kentucky might quite not be a Top 15 team. Kentucky's fairly young, and if this core group of freshmen stick around for 2-3 years, Tubby's going to have a special team of his own. Anyways, aside from GT looking impressive, and obviously Memphis and UCLA look to be worthy bracket winners, and aside from thinking Jay Bilas has been vacationing in Maui before the tourny started or either he's squeezed in some surfing time between commercials, here are some observations on Kentucky in the Maui Invitational …

DePaul

Kentucky beat DePaul 87-81 but after jumping out to a 10-0 lead, it was as if the Wildcats let up on them and allowed them back in the game. The freshmen's abilities to come into the game and contribute right away is a huge plus for Tubby. They were quick to the ball and rebounded very well against DePaul. Both these teams shot 50%. Morris' game high 20 pts, 9 grabs, 2 shares, and 9 FTA is what they need from him every game, and getting to the line is important too because that means you're not letting anybody push you around down there.

UCLA

UCLA should have ran away with this one, but they didn't, and I give credit to Tubby for coaching this one. Maybe if Bobby Perry puts some points up along with Derrick Jasper's performance, maybe Kentucky beats UCLA. The freshmen came up big in this one, scoring 31 of Kentucky's 68 points against UCLA. Both teams shot 44%, and the difference was either UCLA's 5 more FT made in the game or the fact that Kentucky attempted 15 fewer shots in the game compared to the Bruins (50 vs 65). Of course turnovers, 17 by UK, became a nemesis for Kentucky's chances to pull this win out. Credit UCLA's D, and if Lorenzo Mata isn't already NBA ready, he soon will be. Derrick Jasper's 12 pts, 9 rebounds, and 12 FTA was a surprise for Bradley and Crawford who combined only got to the line three times vs UCLA. One of Jasper's best plays in the game was a dish to Porter on the baseline three after penetrating the paint and drawing coverage. That three by Porter cut UCLA's lead to 8.

Memphis

I'm not sure how to describe this one. Kentucky shot poorly and Memphis didn't. Memphis has some solid three-point shooters [Jeremy Hunt, Willie Kemp], and as a team they sank 9 against UK. Despite the 17 point loss, Randolph Morris led the game with 18 pts, 8 grabs. Crawford added 15, Perry with 10, but the team committed another game-high 18 turnovers in this game while Kentucky's freshmen were held in check. And again, Kentucky shot 15 fewer attempts than Memphis (48-63). While Memphis shot 50% for the game, the Wildcats only shot 43%. Those 15 more attempts equate to about 14 pts for Memphis; Kentucky lost by 17. The Memphis D held UK to 23 second half points after only leading Kentucky by 3 at the half.

It seems to me that when Kentucky gets away from trying to get Morris open for easy baskets, this team struggles offensively, and when Morris isn't rebounding well, they're giving up second chance opportunities to their opponent. I think Morris is the key to opening up Kentucky's offense - just feed it to Morris - and it'd be nice to see him take'n it to the basket more often, i.e. drawing fouls and being a presence. Overall, I can't be displeased with them considering three straight days of hoops and not much rest, but obviously Kentucky has things to improve on and I think playing in this tourny and playing UCLA and Memphis opened some eyes up to what they need to fix and improve upon. Twenty-five turnovers in two straight games is a start. It was good for ‘em.