UK vs. Duke game thread

[Dwight Schrute]

Outside the Kansas shellacking, that game right there was as pleasing as anything UK did last year.

I'm beyond pumped. My sports hate for those SOBs runs hot.

This is only the second time - in my lifetime - that Kentucky has beaten Duke. I don't care if it's November, it feels darn good.

Our frontcourt needs to improve, but my gosh, the potential is there. You can smell it.

[Wonderstruck]

Isaac Humphries was a wee 2 month old when the Cats beat Duke in 1998. That's cool.

[DA#23]

This is only the second time - in my lifetime - that Kentucky has beaten Duke. I don't care if it's November, it feels darn good.

Our frontcourt needs to improve, but my gosh, the potential is there. You can smell it.

Same here, same here!

Honest question: have we ever had a collection of guards that you enjoyed more than these guys?

Epps, Delk, and Anderson were hellacious. Turner and Shep. Hawkins, Fitch, and Azubuike were fun. Obviously Wall and Bledsoe.

But these guys are looking like they can become on the court continuity with poetic license. At the core of that is Ulis, Tyler Ulis. The guy that should have Derek Anderson and MKG scared that they might lose their ranking on Mattco's Favorite Cats List. Seriously.

[85 Fly]

Whoop Whoop! Good game. I was nervous the first five minutes but once we settled in, we got better. We have work to do especially the front court...gotta tighten up the rebounding. Skal looks like a boy amongst men when he faces a team that has a big in size/tall center. We will get better the more games we get under our belt. Our back court is exciting! Outside of fouling out Lee made Norcal proud!
I know its only November but a reclass that is working is Murray, one that is not is Thorton (Duke).

[JFCats22]

Cats win, Duke loses....not sure there are 4 better words to hear!!!

[Pobilly]

Don't remember any Duke floor slaps or Duke attitude during the game tonight. They were whipped puppies.lol

[Pobilly]

Cats win, Duke loses....not sure there are 4 better words to hear!!!

Same day "BAM going to KENTUCKY"

[Spiritof96]

Good game. Fun team. I will complain about being weak and stupid fouls later.

[Pobilly]

Coach K quotes after the game.

"God was good to him," Krzyzewski said of Ulis, per Tucker. "They didn’t give him height, but they gave him probably a heart that’s five times bigger than most people."
However, Coach K couldn't gush about his own team the way he did with Kentucky's star guard, per the News & Observer's Laura Keeley:
"We just have to figure out our team," Krzyzewski said, according toKeeley. "That's what we're trying to do. We have a lot of improvement ahead of that, we just have to accept that."

[BBNalldayeveryday]

Ullis was phenomenal. Murray and Briscoe did a good job pushing it, Alex played like the Alex we need him to be this year, and Marcus was big too. What a great win

[Roper92391]

I was honestly surprised by what I saw out there tonight. Did not expect UK to win this game, especially by double digits. Really excited about what they can do from here on out now.

[Blue Heaven]

Couldn't watch the whole game, but from what I saw, Alex played well. I really don't get the bashing he took earlier in this thread. I guess some people don't understand basketball. It's not all about points and who is good enough to make it in the NBA. He missed some gimmes early, but a lot of guys did. We should've won by 20+.

[TrueblueCATfan]

What a game....enjoyed it so much I have already watched it again

[KevinHall]

That was a nice win and good time watching it. After the first ten minutes, when no one wanted rebound, it was about as good a effort and play you could expect this time of the season. When Lee took it upon himself to "go to war on the boards" the game turned around. Humphries also came in and gave them a spark. He looks better than I thought he would be. He will play a lot this year.
There can't be a better point guard than Ulis. He was just great. I'm not sure he was out of the game any at all either. He made a couple of huge baskets when Duke was trying get back in it. That was was some great praise Coach K gave him too.
The three guard tandem is going to give everyone fits. They all bring something different to the table and make it hard to guard all of them.
Poythress was tentative in the first half but got much better as the game went along. He ended up with 9 and 7. You really can't complain much about that. UK will need him to be a beast on the boards all season as Skal is just too thin to bang much inside and Lee just has propensity to foul a lot.
Skal just isn't strong enough or experienced enough to handle big people like Plumlee. He may not be all season and Cal may have to adjust where he plays when they go against big strong guys like last night. He will be fine though and have some big scoring nights this season.
UK just wore out Duke all night. Duke's guards just weren't ready for this yet. Allen is not a point guard and I suspect we won't see him playing there anymore. They need to just put Thornton there and let him sink or swim.
I will give the officials credit too. All night Allen did that little flippy thing like he was being fouled every time he tried to drive. The refs never bought that and that seemed to kill anything Allen tried to do.
This is going to be a very fun team to watch. They are going to push the ball every chance they get. They should have some high scoring nights and if they get into a plodding game the guards should be able to control the tempo just fine too.

[Lighthouse]

^Well said Kevin. What a pleasure it was watching our guards last night. Maybe it's not fair, but I couldn't help comparing this group to last years. IMO, it's not even close. We can be really good depending on how Skal improves and Improved rebounding.