#2 Cats win the feline battle against a pesky Tiger squad 68-53 to improve to 16-1, 2-0 in the SEC . Cats were favored by 16. That makes 11 straight games that UK hasn’t covered the spread.
UK struggled shooting throughout, eventually improving at the end to stretch the lead out. Cats ended up 23-57 (40.4%) from the field, 7-20 (35%) from three. Cats did shoot well from the line, shooting 15-18 (83.3%).
Auburn shot a little better from the field by percentage but took 6 less shots and made 2 less than UK, going 21-51 (41.2%). We can also be thankful for their dismal three point shooting as they went 1-12 (8.3%). Now that is bad. They shot the exact percentage from the line but shot fewer shots 10-12 (83.3%).
For those in Lexington, I’m hearing your signal went out for awhile there…sorry about that. Of all places who is missing the game, didn’t think it would be Lex Vegas.
All I can say is thank God, we will not be playing one NCAA tournament game on the road. The road is brutal. Sometimes you just got to gut it out and that is what our Cats did tonight. Auburn’s home court win streak ends at 10 and that is 13 straight UK wins over the Tigers.
UK’s loses the rebounding battle for the 2nd straight game. USC grabbed 32 to our 27, Auburn came down with 35 to our 32. They started off out rebounding us 6 to 1, then it was 30-15. UK at this point got it together and out rebounded them 17-5. Not much of difference of only 3 boards but this is an area UK has dominated in the past. With our size and athleticism we should be dominating in this area. Auburn was able to have four extra possessions thanks to their rebounding.
On the road at Vandy, Florida, Miss. St., etc. this is a battle that we need if we plan on pulling out a W. This has been one frustrating area for Cal when he knows many of the rebounds is 50/50 balls that UK isn’t coming up with. Many times this is an effort issue. If there is one thing there isn’t an excuse for, it is not putting forth as much effort as your opponent. Talent alone does not win ball games.
Thankfully for us we were able to counter the rebound issues with Auburn’s turnovers. Auburn turned the ball over 15 times to our 8. Combine Auburn’s 3 extra possessions from rebounds and having 7 more turnovers than UK, the Tigers find their possessions in the red by 4.
Add this red 4 with their poor three point shooting and UK’s five more made free throws and the Cats have the W.
Davis and Lamb led UK with 14 points. Davis with 4 blocks is now 1 block away from tying the season record.
Other UK scorers: Jones-12 (who the announcers kept calling Clarence throughout the game…), Teague-12, Miller-9, Kidd-Gilchrist-7. Wiltjer struggled tonight going 0-3 with no rebounds, steals or assist.
Teague after the game:
Coach Cal said to pressure to try to get turnovers and we did a pretty good job with that.
Miller knocked down a few big shots for us tonight, we are glad to have him on our team. That was a real big shot late. We told him to not think about it, he did it and knocked it down.
(On the zone backing off of him) I try to not think about it. If I have an open shot, I take the open shot. I know I can make that shot, so it doesn’t bother me. My teammates support me and tell me to shoot it and if I miss it then shoot it again. They see me in practice and know I can hit it.
I’ve been working on the runner. Coach Cal has tried to get me to shoot more to avoid the charge. You are going to see a lot more of that in the future.
Cal after the game:
They beat us to almost every ball, every 50/50 ball. I like how they executed and finished baskets. You can’t go on the road and be out rebounded like we are. You just don’t win, you lose games. We are fortunate tonight.
(On Teague) The one intentional play was stupid and I sat him. He is growing up, he is making strides. It is only January 11th, let’s get into February and see how he is playing.
(On Davis) He was getting pushed; shoved, bit and still fought like crazy and got those tip ins.
I told the staff, is every game going to be like this? And they are like yeah. That is the best Auburn can play. Each game we get the team’s best shot.
(On 17-4 run) We made baskets, defended. Jones getting rebounds. That is how you create a gap.
Cats now play at Tennessee on Saturday at 12 eastern. UT is 8-7, 1-0 in the SEC after upsetting Florida at UT. They have a tough game at #20 MSU tomorrow.
UK Hoops (our lady Cats) have a tough game tomorrow against the Lady Vols in Memorial.
Go Cats (both men and women) beat the Vols!
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