Wow. I know this is late, but I just was able to watch the taped game... As predicted, a very close game. Probably closer than need be, given the defense the Tigers played and the rebounding advantage, but some of our play certainly helped UK keep it close. I was on pins and needles the whole time, screaming at the TV... :geauxtige I'll say that a win is a win... and I'm going to enjoy this, but I'm worried about the next few weeks. The Tigers are banged up and this game definitely showed off a lot of weaknesses. First off the good grades... A+ - Glen Davis. LSU's amazing big man... scoring, rebounding, getting steals, playing with foul trouble, hitting big free throws, hitting a three. Do you think there were some scouts in the audience? A - LSU's free throwing. It's good to be at home, and it's not even a close game if we shoot our average%. Clutch free throw shooting from T.Mitch, G.Davis, Tyrus, D.Mitch and D.Lazare seal the deal. A- - LSU defense and rebounding. Davis and Tyrus came up big and despite Tyrus being hurt, he was a factor when he was in there. Davis played like a man possessed, and showed a big mobile 6'9" guy "who can't jump" can play among the trees. G.Temple played his heart out guarding Sparks, and for the most part, the LSU defense was sound. Now, the scary grades... C- - LSU passing. I just don't get how some times this team does NOT seem to know how to make simple passes. I would guess that of LSU's turnovers, close to half were not "forced." Lazy passing from D.Mitch and Temple (and others), especially, trouble me. Lazy passes across the court, on inbounds plays, led to easy UK transition baskets and this is seemingly a very easily correctable aspect of the game. (I can't wait to see what Mason and Martin can do here...:wink: ) C - LSU perimeter offense. Clearly Tasmin was not on his game due to his back (although I'd grade him at a B, b/c of his hustle and attacking the boards), but man, we could not throw it in the ocean from outside. Not only bad shooting despite some good open looks, but struggling at times to get into the front court and get the offense going. I'm preaching to the choir here, but I hope any of the PG recruits in the audience realized how good this team could be with a true PG who can dribble the ball and pass. No offense, Ben, but this was a pretty poor game for you too. Ben got burned on defense and turned the ball over when he had it. C+ - D.Mitch. I hate to say it, but after watching this game, I was pretty disappointed with how D.Mitch came up in this game. It's probably a harsh grade for our do it all senior, but he was either clearly affected by the ankle, or he just wasn't into the game. True enough, he had a taller defender on him that threw him off, but he struggled offensively AND he struggled defensively. I was more disappointed in his defense tracking his men, who got free pretty often. His quiet attitude at times almost hurts him a little--Temple brought the ball up most of the time, and he would penetrate and throw up some pretty tough lay ups. He needs to heal, and he needs to be more aggressive on offense at times. B- - Darnell. Good effort, but not his best game. Redeemed his game with 2 clutch free throws, a fast break lay up and good d on the final play. I was disappointed with his defense until the end and didn't seem to get as many rebounds as he should have, he's going to have to play like a junior in the late season... Rolle is getting better and Darnell seems to be getting ?. We need him in the stretch run. B - Coaching. Not Brady's best, but not the worst. He won the game, but I thought Tubby did a good job to keep his team in the game. Brady did rotate players well, esp. using Rolle when he did I thought, and kept his starters in the second half without fouling out. He had to use Darnell out of necessity. Going zone briefly was somewhat of a non factor, although the man defense was pretty sound. On offense, the team actually got decent looks from 3 point land, just couldn't hit, and went to Davis and fed the hot hand. Not sure it would have been a win on a neutral court in a tournament setting. All in all, I'm happy with the win--and, I'll enjoy it now. Just after watching every play very closely, I thought I'd vent. This team is a talented team, not that deep, with weaknesses that it can work on. I thought this kind of UK team posed a very tough match up for the tigers. Deep, athletic and balanced with size with an aggressive perimeter defense that gave our guards fits. We were just lucky to be good enough today. In the tournament, this kind of team will be trouble.
