From: morgan@ms.uky.edu (Wes Morgan)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Kentucky over Indiana
Keywords: 29 -- remember that number
Date: 4 Jan 93 14:08:00 GMT
Organization: University of Kentucky Engineering Computing Center

Before the UK-IU game in Louisville on January 3rd, the televidiots
came out with the line, "Two of the best coaches in the country, two
of the best teams in the country, and two of the best players in the
country -- we should see a wonderful game".  They were, for the most
part, correct; unfortunately, that was the last coherent comment from
their mouths that day.  <more on that later>

The "game restart" <where did they get *that* term> was simple; the
number 29 and free throws.  Four players (two for each team) scored
29.  For IU, Chaney and Nover <a career high -- he was *everywhere*>
pumped in 29, while Mashburn and Ford chipped in 29 each for the Cats.
Ford's play was phenomenal; when Mashburn had a spot of trouble in 
the first half, Travis started pumping them in from everywhere.  He
also had a few steals and assists, but those were just to remind the
crowd that he's the point guard.  8)

Free throws won/lost the game for UK/IU.  The Cats' reputation as a
"foul-prone" team is going to cost them dearly this season.  I believe
that the stripes were trying to "overcontrol" the game.  Much ado had
been made about UK's superior depth; the quick whistles eliminated that
advantage.  It didn't really matter, because IU couldn't buy a charity 
shot for most of the game.  I counted 12 misses of bonus (1+1) free 
throws alone.  Lots of "ticky-tacky" fouls were called; thanks to Kentucky's 
pressure defense, most of these went against the men in Blue.  IU missed more
free throws than Kentucky shot; something was amiss, but I'm told that
this is par on the Big Ten roundball course.

The commentators were really getting on my nerves.  With the exception
of free throw shooting, IU could do no wrong in their eyes.  At the end
of the game, they burned several minutes of air time sympathizing with
the IU over the last-second shot <by Bailey, I think> that "almost brought
IU the win".  Not a word about the UK defense, the blocked shots, or ball
control.  Yeesh.  They talked more about Knight's upcoming-but-not-today
600th win than they did about the game itself.  

Play of the game: Mashburn's going-out-of-bounds, hand-switch, make-people-
wonder-how-you-got-the-angle basket in the second half.  Runnerup: Travis
Ford driving the lane to flip a shot in over Nover.

Repeated Play of the game:  UK player <Riddick or Rhodes for most of the game> 
gets ball near 3-point line.  Dribble over, hand ball to Ford/Mashburn, stop 
in tracks (neatly picking IU defender from Ford/Mashburn), and watch Ford/Mash
drill a 3-pointer.  Repeat about a dozen times; this particular play worked
all day........

Scariest quality of UK this season: You never know who's going to hurt you.
I'll be the first to admit that I was looking for Rhodes to step up a bit
after his Holiday Festival MVP performance; Ford's game took my breath away.
If/when Dale Brown's shooting touch returns, it will be downright frightening.

Best coaching move: For a crucial two-minute span late in the game, Pitino
pulled his marquee freshman, Rhodes, in favor of Martinez.  The announcers
finally picked up on the fact that Pitino had placed his most experienced,
if less talented, lineup on the floor for "crunch time".  The experience
showed in both defense and ball control.

My mother's comment on the game:  "I don't care if they lose every game from
here on out -- they beat Louisville and Indiana!"


--Wes

ps> Quick family brag:  Look for Mark Morgan on CNN.  He was just hired
    by CNN Sports to cover the New York/Northeast area; he's my brother.


-- 
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