Kentucky's Muscle Flexes Bradley's Hustle

Auburn 57 Kentucky 84

(Bradley's near triple double should have ‘ experts ’ scratching their heads.)

Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama all must of had the night off last night with the exception of the Auburn Tigers of course because I was treated when the SUN network aired Kentucky's conference home opener. The odds are always against my favor of seeing a Kentucky game on TV unless its aired nationally or on ESPN, but it was a great night, and a great night for Kentucky.

Undersized and shooting poorly, Auburn didn't have a chance and Kentucky took advantage for a dominant, convincing 27 point win against the Tigers. Auburn shot under 30%, in part by embarrassing missed put backs and easy buckets, mostly in the 1st half where the Wildcats came out with a focal point of putting this game away early with a 17 point half-time lead. The second half was just as dominant but at a more rugged slower pace it seemed, and for the first time Kentucky showed they can dominate two complete half's in routing an SEC opponent who was clearly over-matched on both sides of the ball. Hopes are beginning to rise for this Wildcat bunch yet. Since the last time I saw them play, which was Indiana or L'ville, I have to say they looked pleasing. Their defense is very impressive - and improving, they look quicker, better conditioned, and they just look like a vastly improved ball handling team than they were in November. Honestly, they looked better than some teams in the Top 25, but this is not a knock at why they're not in the top 25 though. If they play like they did last night (aside from the result), I honestly think Kentucky has a legitimate shot at the SEC title, and if they reach that far, I don't care if they are ranked or not, rank is just a number for bragging rights and entertainment which is why they play the game. Let Kentucky be underdogs for awhile, they'll make people crap their pants quicker than a Rosie O'Donnell feud.

The game was tied just once before Bobby Perry's three point shot broke it for good at 5-2, and Auburn never broke even. Perry's hard work at the gym paid off, he finished with 12 pts, 4-7 shooting, and 3 assists. Joe Crawford lit it up for most of the game before Ramel Bradley took over for his first double double and game-high 7 assists. Kentucky came out shooting 56%, +16 in the paint, and absolutely dominated the defensive boards. I guess coach's call for Perry and Crawford needing to play better has them both practicing xtra in the gym together, I'm just going to need to see more solid performances from Perry before I take him off the struggling list.

“ I came in and hit some shots. I’ve been in the gym getting extra shots in trying to break out of it. I knew that I needed to get out of the slump to help out the team. Joe’s (Crawford) been working really hard too. I thought the team played really unselfishly tonight and we moved the ball well. ” -- Bobby Perry

Joe Crawford finished with the game-high 21 pts, on 7-12 shooting (3-3) and 5 rebounds before handing it over to Bradley who maybe didn't shoot well (4-11, 1-7) but he created opportunities for the better part of the second half. He was everywhere. He finished with 18 pts and 12 rebounds, 9-11 FTL, and a game-high 7 assists and adding 2 steals in a game-high 36 minutes. He was nothing short of spectacular last night pushing the ball up, calling the plays, and creating opportunities for Kentucky's offense.

Because of Bradley and Crawford's elevated play last night, Jasper was quieted for the most part as it was Bradley controlling the ball. Just another example when Bradley plays point he shoots worse (4-11), but playing shooting guard he lights it up. With them both combining for 39 of Kentucky's 84, the offense was well in hand, and because Auburn was just plain awful shooting the ball, with both Bradley and Crawford playing so well, Jasper was quieted to just 6 pts, 18 minutes. Bradley played so well he was flirting with a triple double, something I didn't realize until I read the post-game quotes. Bradley makes light of it …

“ I didn’t know I was that close. One of our managers kept telling me during timeouts to ‘pass the ball, pass the ball.’ I thought he was trying to tell me I was shooting too much, but I just had no idea he was trying to help me get those three assists. ” -- Ramel Bradley

Bradley is a force, and Tubby knows it. He was a major factor last night in morale.

Randolph Morris played a great first half but then faded from the offense in the second half due to early foul trouble. He picked up his 3rd foul early in the second half and that was when Bradley took over the game on his way to his near triple double. Morris finished with 5-6, 2-5 FTL, 12 pts, 6 rebounds and a game-high 4 blocks. Morris' shot is so dead-on it should be given an award itself. He has one of the best strokes, if not the best, in college basketball this year, and he's benefiting from it. Auburn double teamed him, sometimes triple teamed, but not before he claimed his 12 pts.

The stat that says it all quite simply: Auburn 27% FG, Kentucky 56%. Auburn just couldn't sink a basket and Kentucky did. Kentucky had 19 TOs but 19 assists, but Auburn's ratio didn't help their shooting woes at all, 10 assists to 16 TO's.

The only scare the Wildcats faced last night was in the second half when Auburn's Kelvin Lewis lit the three ball on three straight possessions to cut a 20+ Kentucky lead to 13 with about 7:30 to play. In fact, it was Auburn's three ball at the 8:49, 8:19, 7:50, Tolbert's at 7:18, and at 5:06 marks that might have helped them find a rhythm for just a moment if anything late in the game. Tubby took note,

“ I thought we did a good job up until the second half and then they were able to get some threes on us there, especially after they got [Kelvin] Lewis in the game and he lit us up with his four threes. ” -- Tubby Smith

Maybe if anyone hasn't realized just how good Kentucky's D has improved since November (and if you didn't catch the game last night), Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo confirms it from his experience,

“ Kentucky is good defensively. If you look at their percentages, they hold people to a very low percentage – in the 30s from the field. I think they are holding people to around 28 percent from the three point line, so they do a good job defensively. A lot of the missed shots are because of their defense and because they are so physical. ” -- Jeff Lebo

Let's re-read that, “ A lot of the missed shots are because of their defense and because they are so physical.”.

Perhaps their first dominant win of the season, yeah, against an undersized opponent, but Kentucky handed out a blow-out victory with two complete half's, the first this season. Consistency starts somewhere, and what better way maybe to start it with your conference home opener to send the message.

Highlight Notes

1st Half: (1) Bradley pushed the ball up on a fast break, missed the shot, then a trailing Joe Crawford stuffed the put back and one. Crawford owned the 1st half. (2) A Jodie Meeks feed to Randolph Morris just before the half was impressive. As soon as Morris touched the ball, he turned and layed it up for the score. Fast. Sweet. And One. That's Morris.

The funny thing about the second half that shows Kentucky's focus and dominance was when Tubby benched his starters at about the 1:30 mark shortly after two-straight monster jams and UK's bench still went on a 9-3 rampage to close the game [Jasper, Porter, Jasper, Harris].

(Jasper's late second-half reverse layup. It's a matter of time before Vitale starts screamin' about this kid.)

2nd Half: (1) Freshman to Freshman: Jodie Meeks drives the baseline then dishes to Perry Stevenson for the monster jam in the paint. Sweet. Preview of the future? (2) Two Straight Monster Jams: Bradley found an open Crawford in the paint for jam, then it was Crawford himself the next time around who found an open Morris in almost the same spot for another easy jam. It's like Big Blue Madness man! (3) Freshman Three: Michael Porter found an open three to get Kentucky at 80 with 40 secs left. That was just Beautiful to witness. (4) Again, the Freshman dish that is the freshman highlight of the night: Ramon Harris found Derrick Jasper at the baseline for an absolute exclaiming reverse layup on Auburn. Jasper is going to be special.

It's games like these that makes naming a game blog nominee so hard but so fun to do.

Trio Watch: Bradley, Crawford, Jasper

Combined for 14-26, 45 pts, 9 assists, 5 steals, 10 TOs

· Starting Trio now 9-0 and the 14 made shots among them tie their second best [EKU]
· Auburn marks the highest half-time lead [17] and winning margin [27] for Kentucky since starting the trio
· The 10 turnovers among the trio are their most since having 10 among them vs UMass