UK vs. Duke game thread

[KevinHall]

Here's the box score from last night.

I will point out that Ulis played 40 minutes and ZERO turnovers.

Murray 38 minutes and only three turnovers.

Briscoe 31 minutes and only one turnover.

That's pretty darn good for a third game of the season against a quality opponent. The team only had 9 total turnovers for the game.

Also after a poor start rebounding UK and Duke ended up tied with 39 rebounds each.

https://kty-platform-secure-prod.silverchalice.co/v3/files/564bf0d9e4b0e3068ac677e5

[KevinHall]

^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.

Yea it was nice to see the guards give 100% all night and not whine and cry when things didn't go their way.

[Joneslab]

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

I'd love to see somebody try to slap the floor against Ulis.

[Joneslab]

^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.

These guys are a different breed.

The thing about Isaiah Briscoe is that he cares nothing about you when he's out there. He wants to eat hearts. Reason he chews on that mouthpiece? IMO it's because he's trying to contain himself from tearing into guys verbally after every play.

That's the attitude that was always missing from the Harrisons. They got beat on way too much by UK fans, but they also were not the relentless sort of attackers these players are. These three are vicious dogs.

The only downside is that we're going to have to put up with a lot of insanity from Jamal Murray. Guy has a penchant for going nuts sometimes. But I'm willing to be okay with that because he's going all-out all the time.

[UKBlue22]

Great win by the Cats last night:
My take aways:

1. Guard play is amazing.
2. The big men, while not interchangeable, and displayed the ability to fill the lane in their own way and change the game.
3. The Earthquake and That Mouth-guard are going to be a "Thing".
4. If the season is called the way last night was officiated, this is going to be a very fun season to watch. The players seemed to have grasped the new rules and the officials were very consistent.

[RxRusty]

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

That's exactly my plan for tonight. This team is fun to watch. Love the uptempo style of play with 3 point guards.

[Joneslab]

Watching highlights. Lee might have been a little unsung last night. He's all over the reel. Kind of amazing the improvement he's made. I've always liked his passing, but now he's stronger and tougher and can play through contact. Good to see. I'm actually a little more comfortable with him having the ball down low than I was Willie.

Briscoe with the mouthpiece at the end of the first half, lol. Has there ever been a more playground move in UK history? Guy caught it, turned, flipped it high off the backboard and in...with his mouthpiece swinging off his bottom lip. That guy has 'tude and I bet opponents dream of murdering him after the game.

Humphries did some good things. Plays hard and that's all you can ask from a 17-year-old. Wasn't afraid. I like him a lot.

I think Cal and the staff knew that was coming last night. Duke's guards are just not tough. Our guards are...well, maniacs. You could kind of tell from Cal's face during the press conference that he felt we were going to go out there and just slice them up off the dribble. Duke is weird because they always have tremendously good offensive players, but they'll let you score. They don't contain off the dribble well, and that's a yearly thing. If you can't contain this Kentucky team off the dribble we'll eat your lungs. This is the one thing that has jumped out as a difference from the last two seasons: we will go right after teams off the bounce.

I like my team.

[JFCats22]

we'll eat your lungs

Just spit my coffee out when reading this line...and I'm not even drinking coffee! Hilarious

[GOCAT15]

Loved Briscoes flip at the end of the half, and when he pushed Plumlee after he got fouled, he is just a bulldog and is not intimidated by anyone.

I just hope he can stay healthy, don't like seeing all these little ailments this early in the season.

[TrueblueCATfan]

I just watched the game for the 3rd time.....

[KevinHall]

I just watched the game for the 3rd time.....

Since you have nothing else to do why not go for a 4th time.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Since you have nothing else to do why not go for a 4th time.

can't already deleted off my DVR...unless the SEC network shows it again

[teamchemistry15]

Something this team seems to have that Cal hasn't really had here is a killer instinct. It seemed like Duke was set to make a comeback at any minute last night but they just weren't having it. I think if it were any of his other teams Duke would have made it a game and cut the lead down to five or six.

[lilproUK98]

I hate to make a comparison in a negative way to the Twins, because I loved them 90% of the time, but I will go ahead and do it lol.

We thought, and were told by some, we were getting "stone-cold killers/assassins" in the Twins and that wasn't entirely the case. They just didn't have the elite "guard skills" to make that happen consistently. Sure, Aaron had one of the most epic NCAA Tournaments in UK history, but in the Championship game he was nonexistent. Andrew had a solid last two months of his career but not overwhelming and he also failed to execute and make the proper play when the season was on the line. And neither of them could guard good guards, that cost us a Championship...

They just weren't quite what we have now. We have GUARDS now. Absolute bulldogs with a killer instinct and no regard for the opponents life lol. The big difference is, Ulis, Briscoe, and Murray have the skill, quickness, and sheer determination to execute their plan. They are an absolute killer backcourt, already maybe the best I've seen at UK as a collection. Yes, only 3 games in....

[Joneslab]

I hate to make a comparison in a negative way to the Twins, because I loved them 90% of the time, but I will go ahead and do it lol.

We thought, and were told by some, we were getting "stone-cold killers/assassins" in the Twins and that wasn't entirely the case. They just didn't have the elite "guard skills" to make that happen consistently. Sure, Aaron had one of the most epic NCAA Tournaments in UK history, but in the Championship game he was nonexistent. Andrew had a solid last two months of his career but not overwhelming and he also failed to execute and make the proper play when the season was on the line. And neither of them could guard good guards, that cost us a Championship...

They just weren't quite what we have now. We have GUARDS now. Absolute bulldogs with a killer instinct and no regard for the opponents life lol. The big difference is, Ulis, Briscoe, and Murray have the skill, quickness, and sheer determination to execute their plan. They are an absolute killer backcourt, already maybe the best I've seen at UK as a collection. Yes, only 3 games in....

I liked Aaron a lot his freshman year. I thought Andrew did some really good things last year. But they remained complimentary players rather than the stars that you can see Ulis and Murray kind of becoming. (Although Murray is going to catch the ire of a lot of fans this year when he does something silly that matters in a close game.)

I always thought it was the "style" of the twins more than their actual games that irked fans. They had the facial expressions, the rumor of a controlling dad, the idea that they were "throwing the ball to each other" kind of hung over them. All of that stuff went to create this idea of them that I'm not sure fully existed on the court.

They weren't alone. A lot of players get that treatment; Marquis Teague certainly got it. Rod Rhodes got it. But the way you get away from that is you become a very good basketball player, and they couldn't really do that. They were good but not great.

Ulis is great. I think Jamal Murray can be great. They also play very hard. The twins weren't really known for their all-out energy. Fans used that against them, and some fans hang onto stuff for some strange reason. It becomes this ideological battle between the fan and the player.