SB Nation - Austin Steed

Kentucky Wildcats @ South Carolina: Gameday Breakdown

Ken Howlett — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:56:37 -0000

Sole possession of first place in the SEC East is all that's at stake tonight in Columbia, South Carolina. With LSU defeating the Florida Gators 81-75 in a terrific game in Baton Rouge last night, UK and South Carolina (19-6, 8-4) find themselves tied at 8-4 in SEC play. And with only three conference regular season games remaining for each squad after tonight's 7:00 EST tilt, the winner will find themselves squarely in the catbird's seat.

78-77 Recap

It's only been a little over three weeks since UK lost 78-77 to Darrin Horn's team on a fade-away 12-foot jumper by electrifying Gamecock guard Devan Downey. In my post-game thoughts,"It's a 40 Minute Game," I thoroughly dissected what I saw as a six minute lapse of focus by UK. Other than those fateful few minutes of sub-par play, Kentucky (19-8, 8-4) played very well. Of course that game was in Rupp Arena; tonight, one can be sure Colonial Life Arena will not be nearly as friendly as the 'Cats legendary lair.

Here's a quick look at the unseemly statistics from the earlier UK vs. South Carolina game, played on January 31 (For a complete boxscore go here).

FG FG% FT 3-pt Reb. Off. Reb. Ast. Stl. TO Blk.

UK -- 25-48 52.1 24-29 3-8 40 9 16 5 21 8

S.C. -- 32-76 42.1 7-15 7-20 35 18 7 9 10 2

* -- South Carolina beat UK in points off turnovers 14-8, and in second chance points 11-5. That's minus 12 points in those two critical categories for Big Blue. Actually, the discrepancy in points could have been much, much worse, but the Gamecocks were not very efficient in converting their offensive rebounds, or UK's turnovers, into points.

South Carolina Personnel

Devan Downey: 5'9" 175 lb junior point guard -- On the year Downey averages 20.0 points (3rd in the SEC), 4.3 assists (4th in the SEC) and 3.6 turnovers (13th in A/TO Ratio in the SEC - 1.21). He averages 3.0 steals (1st in the SEC), and 2.8 rebounds per game. He makes 45.4% of his field goal attempts (11th in the SEC), 37.6% of his three-point tries (44-117), and 73.1% of his free throws (10th in the SEC).

In conference play Downey averages 19.5 points, 4.2 assists (4.1 turnovers), 2.9 steals, and 2.8 rebounds per game. He's making 39.8% of his shots, 35.9% of his three-point attempts (28-78), and 66.7% of his free throws -- In the first contest Downey scored 23 points on 10-21 shooting (3-5 threes), dished out four assists, had four steals and three turnovers. He played 35 minutes.

Zam Fredrick: 6'0" 203 lb senior guard -- For the year Fredrick averages 15.3 points (10th in the SEC), 2.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game (2.6 turnovers per game). He makes 39.5% of his shots, 36.2% of his trey attempts (46-127), and 66.1% of his free throws.

In SEC play Fredrick averages 15.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game (2.7 turnovers per game). He's shooting 39.0% from the field, 37.5% from behind the arc (24-64), and 62.1% from the charity stripe -- In the earlier contest Fredrick led the Gamecocks with 24 points on 9-20 shooting (4-8 threes). He also had one assist and two turnovers. He played 36 minutes.

Dominique Archie: 6'7" 200 lb junior forward -- Archie on the year averages 11.5 points, 6.7 rebounds (2.7 off. rebounds - 9th in the SEC), 1.4 steals (2.0 turnovers), and 1.0 block per game. He shoots 52.7% from the field, 34.6% from the three-point line (18-52), and 62.0% from the free throw line.

In league play Archie averages 12.3 points, 6.8 rebounds (3.1 off. rebounds), and 2.4 turnovers per game (his conference steals and blocks are negligible). He shoots 52.5% from the field, 36.7% from the three-point line (11-30), and 61.2% from the free throw line -- In the earlier game, Archie scored seven points on 3-9 shooting (0-3 threes), grabbed three rebounds, had one steal, and four turnovers. He played 24 minutes.

Mike Holmes: 6'7" 220 sophomore F/C -- Overall, Holmes averages 11.2 points, and 7.8 rebounds per game (6th in the SEC). He also averages 3.0 offensive rebounds (6th in the SEC), and 1.2 blocks per game (10th in the SEC). He's shooting 48.1% from the field, and 46.2% from the free throw line.

In SEC play he averages 9.7 points, 6.8 rebounds (2.0 off. rebounds), and 1.6 steals per game. Holmes shoots 47.4% from the field, and 44.4% from the free throw line (24-54) -- In the first game he made 6-8 shots for 15 points, and 8 rebounds (3 off. rebounds). He played 32 minutes.

Evaldas Baniulis: 6'7" 210 lb junior forward -- On the year Baniulis averages 7.0 points, and 2.8 rebounds per game. The Lithuanian shoots 50.4% from the field, 50.6% from beyond the arc (42-83), and 65.2% from the charity stripe.

In league play he averages 5.4 points, and 2.4 rebounds per game. Baniulis shoots 40.8% from the field, 44.7% from the three-point line (17-38), and 66.7% from the free throw line -- In the earlier game Baniulis did not score (0-1 field goals), and had one rebound. He played only eight minutes.

Brandis Raley-Ross: 6'2" 193 lb junior guard -- For the season Raley-Ross averages 6.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game (1.5 turnovers). He makes 41.1% of his shots, 27.1% of his threes, and 70.6% of his free throws.

In conference play he averages 5.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game (1.6 turnovers). He's shooting 39.1% from the field, 23.5% from beyond the arc (8-34), and 68.4% from the charity stripe -- In the first game Raley-Ross scored one point on 0-6 shooting (0-3 threes), nabbed one rebound, dished out two assists and had two steals. He played 26 minutes.

Sam Muldrow: 6'9" 216 lb sophomore forward -- On the year Muldrow is averaging 6.3 points, 5.3 rebounds (2.7 off. rebounds), and 1.4 blocks per game. He's shooting 60.4% from the field, and 50.0% from the free throw line (18-36).

Muldrow's above numbers are his season, and SEC stats (he did not play in any pre-conference games) -- In the earlier contest against UK, Muldrow went 3-9 from the field for six points, grabbed 12 big boards (8 off. rebounds), and blocked one shot. He played 26 minutes.

Austin Steed: 6'8" 215 lb sophomore forward -- For the year Steed is averaging 4.1 points, and 3.9 rebounds per game (1.7 off. rebounds). He shoots 46.8% from the floor, and 68.2% from the free throw line.

In SEC play Steed averages 3.0 points, and 3.8 rebounds per game (1.8 off. rebounds). He's making 44.4% of his shot attempts, and 80.0% of his free throws -- In the first tilt Steed scored two points on 1-2 shooting, grabbed three rebounds (two off. rebounds), had one steal and one block. He played 13 minutes.

South Carolina Team Statistics - Season (SEC rank in parenthesis)

South Carolina Opponents

Points per game -- 79.8 (1) 70.6 (10)

Field Goal% -- 45.8 (4) 43.3 (9)

3-Point% -- 38.1 (1) 32.0 (3)

Free Throw% -- 63.2 (10) 72.5 (12)

Rebound Margin -- -1.0 pg (12)

Off. Reb. Per Game -- 13.5 (4) 12.9 (9)

Off. Rebound% -- 35.5 (5) 36.0 (12)

Def. Reb. Per Game -- 22.9 (12) 24.6 (10)

Def. Rebound% -- 64.0 (12) 64.5 (5)

Assists Per Game -- 11.3 (11) 12.6 (6)

Turnovers Per Game -- 14.1 (7) 19.7 (1)

Blocks Per Game -- 4.4 (5) 4.4 (10)

On the season South Carolina averages 75.1 possessions per game (6th in the SEC).

South Carolina Team Statistics - Conference Play (SEC rank in parenthesis)

South Carolina Opponents

Points Per Game -- 77.5 (3) 75.6 (10)

Field Goal% -- 43.7 (7) 46.2 (12)

3-Point% -- 36.1 (4) 31.8 (6)

Free Throw% -- 59.1 (11) 72.1 (12)

Rebound Margin -- -5.3 pg (12)

Off. Reb. Per Game -- 13.3 (3) 13.0 (9)

Off. Rebound% -- 32.8 (9) 37.5 (12)

Def. Reb. Per Game -- 21.7 (11) 27.3 (11)

Def. Rebound% -- 62.5 (12) 67.2 (9)

Assists Per Game -- 9.7 (12) 13.8 (8)

Turnovers Per Game -- 14.4 (6) 19.5 (1)

Blocks Per Game -- 4.2 (5) 4.8 (9)

In league play South Carolina averages 76.2 possessions per game (1st in the SEC).

CliffsNotes Analysis

Defensively, controlling South Carolina point guard Devan Downey will be the key to success for the 'Cats. DeAndre Liggins and Ramon Harris did a credible job of diminishing Downey's impact in the first half of the earlier contest, so it would not be surprising to see a similar defensive rotation tonight.

UK simply has to do a better job of keeping the Gamecocks off of their offensive glass. UK's big men will need to put their collective be-hinds into the mid-sections of the South Carolina board crashers, and not give up position by trying to block every shot within the paint. The Gamecocks took 28 more shots than UK in the January contest, in part due to SC's 18 offensive rebounds (a 40.9% offensive rebound conversion rate for a team that averages 32.8% in SEC play).

Offensively, UK needs to make hay in the paint. In the earlier game Patrick Patterson was 10-16 from the field and scored 28 points (his best game with the bandaged finger). Perry Stevenson was 4-5 and scored eight points. That's a combined 14-21 and 36 points for UK's primary big men.

Duplicating that effort on the road, though, may be tough. Holmes, Archie, and Steed had a difficult time controlling UK's big men so I look for ball-denial into the paint, and double and triple teams for Patterson. Making SC pay for helping-off on Patterson means that the big fella should be able to find open teammates, either on the perimeter, or with ball reversal.

Jodie Meeks will face the same dilemma he's encountered since his 54 point outburst earlier in the year -- A chaser who knows what he had for lunch. To counter that strategy, I really don't look for Billy Gillispie to do anything different than what he's done over the last several games: Run Meeks all over the floor in search of an open look, and hope when he gets the ball, he'll either be open for the split second that he needs, or find an uncovered teammate.

As always, it is so much easier to get Meeks open looks off the fast-break. But first Kentucky must get stops and steals. If UK can smother the Gamecocks with their defense (which they are capable of), it will be a long night for Hootie and his Blowfish.

Versus Tennessee Saturday, UK's "role players" performed exceptionally well. They played unafraid, and made shots at an exceedingly high rate (24-33 = 72.7%). That effort needs to become a trend, and not a one-night stand, if Kentucky expects to win tonight.

Thanks for reading, and Go 'Cats!

UK Basketball: It's a 40 Minute Game

Ken Howlett — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:21:23 -0000

After a lava-hot 5-0 start to their SEC schedule, the University of Kentucky basketball team finds themselves coming back-to-the-pack, courtesy of shaky decision-making, and stretches of incompetent play, in two straight games now; the latest, UK's 78-77 loss to South Carolina. Maddening to most fans is the fact that we are in early February, a time when mental mistakes should be limited, player's roles should be more readily apparent, and games that UK should win, should be won.

Not so with this group, though. Once again, a mental and physical lapse lasting just under six minutes in the second half, and a player freelancing at a critical juncture, cost UK a much needed home-court victory. Couple those mistakes with UK's 21 turnovers, and a second consecutive loss to a less talented team is the result.

On to the wreckage ...

14:39 to 8:46 of the Second Half

UK was up 54-44. The boys in blue had momentum, the home crowd, and two of the best three players on the court. But all of those advantages weren't enough to overcome the total lack of cohesiveness, toughness, and smarts displayed by the home team:

14:39 -- After a Michael Porter turnover, UK's loss began to unfold with yet another offensive rebound for USC (one of 18 on the day). This one a Mike Holmes rebound off a Brandis Raley-Ross missed 3-point attempt. Five seconds later Zam Fredrick nailed a trifecta, with barely an effort to defend by Kentucky. Fredrick's 3-pointer made the score 54-47, UK.
13:32 -- After a Patrick Patterson dunk, Fredrick, again a lonely man standing beyond the arc, swished another 3-pointer, making the score 56-50, UK.
12:39 -- After two Patterson free throws made the score 58-50, South Carolina decided to perform an offensive rebounding drill in the middle of the game. How dare they! Five consecutive offensive rebounds ensued, culminating in a Sam Muldrow tip-in at the 12:28 mark. That basket brought the Gamecocks within 58-52.
12:15 -- A Patterson turnover led to a made Devan Downey 3-pointer. Score it: UK 58, SC 55.
11:52 -- Jodie Meeks missed a 3-point attempt, Carolina snagged the rebound, leading to a Fredrick missed shot in the lane, but Austin Steed gets the offensive rebound, leading to a Downey made jumper. UK's lead is now one, 58-57.
10:38 -- A Meeks turnover led to a Downey layup. SC now has the lead, 59-58.
10:17 -- A turnover (an offensive foul) on DeAndre Liggins led to a made Fredrick layup, growing the Gamecocks lead to 61-58.
9:50 -- A Patterson turnover miraculously led to zero points for Carolina. On the Carolina miss, Liggins grabbed the defensive rebound ...
9:06 -- ... only to turn it back over to SC six seconds later. The result; a made Downey jumper at the 8:46 mark, and a 63-58 Carolina lead.

Recapping the Carnage

From 14:39 to the 8:46 mark of the second half (5:53), UK's production both offensively and defensively, were lacking to an extraordinary degree. The numbers tell the sad tale:

Points scored -- UK 4, USC 19

Shots taken -- UK 2, USC 16 (SC made 8 of 16 shots from the field; 3 of 6 from beyond the arc)

Rebounds -- UK 1, USC 8

Offensive Rebounds -- UK 0, USC 7 (SC grabbed 87.5% of their offensive rebound opportunities)

Turnovers -- UK 6, USC 0 (SC committed only 3 turnovers in the final 15 minutes of the game)

Points off TO's -- UK 0, USC 9

Second-chance points -- UK 0, USC 7

UK goes from up 10 points, to down five points in less than six minutes. Now that takes talent.

Effort and Focus for Forty

For 34 minutes and seven seconds of Saturday's game, UK played well enough to win, outscoring SC by 14 points. A look at the other relevant stats, minus the offending 5:53, and one cringes with regret:

Points scored -- UK 73 , USC 59

Shots taken -- UK 46, USC 60

Rebounds -- UK 39, USC 27

Offensive rebounds -- UK 9, USC 11

Turnovers -- UK 15, USC 10

Points off TO's -- UK 15, USC 17

Second chance points -- UK 7, USC 14

FG% -- UK 54.3, USC 40.0

But the game isn't 34 minutes and seven seconds long. It's 40 minutes long, and has been for as long as I can remember.

Perry Stevenson Makes a Decision

With 3.2 seconds left on the clock Saturday, Billy Gillispie called the same inbounds play that he called against Georgia in last years SEC Tournament: Basically, he wanted to cause a Carolina defender to charge into Jodie Meeks (who was standing along the baseline) prior to the ball being thrown into play, resulting in a foul on the Gamecocks, and free throws for UK. If the Carolina player didn't charge into Meeks, Stevenson was to call another time-out.

Instead, when the set-play failed to produce the desired result, Stevenson threw the ball in to Meeks anyway. Meeks managed a decent 40 foot attempt, but in 3.2 seconds, a much better play can be designed.

Stevenson explained that he thought Meeks "could get the ball to half-court." He didn't elaborate further, but I assume Perry thought Meeks would call a timeout once he reached mid-court.

We'll never know what would have happened if Stevenson had called the timeout as instructed ... but it would have been nice to see a designed play.

Gillispie's Folly

Billy Gillispie's now infamous decision to use Jodie Meeks to guard USC mighty-mite Devan Downey is puzzling to me also. The combo of Liggins, Kevin Galloway, and Ramon Harris did a great job on the ever-elusive guard in the first half (2 of 8 shooting), but Gillispie thought mixing up the coverage would be beneficial. Well, in hind-sight that gamble didn't pay-off for the Texan (8 of 13 second half shooting).

I don't have anything inspired or earth-shattering to write here: just stick with what works. Besides, in my opinion, unless absolutely necessary, UK doesn't need their only three-point threat (and leading scorer) chasing the 5'9" Downey all over the floor. That only wears out his legs, which could result in poor shooting late in the game.

Addendum: Gillispie thought Meeks gave Downey too much room to operate in the final seconds of the game. I thought Meeks defended Downey well, the kid just made a great shot.

Stats to Ponder

How can UK lose a game at home when they shoot 52.1%? They shot a Villanova-like 66.7% in the second half ... and lost the game.

Well, allowing one's opponent to score 26 points off turnovers is a great way to negate an excellent shooting percentage ... allowing one's opponent to score 21 second chance points is a proven method of balancing-out an excellent shooting percentage ... allowing one's opponent to put up 28 more shots is a sure way to offset an excellent shooting percentage ... allowing one's opponent to grab offensive rebounds at a 41.0% clip (18 off. reb's on 44 missed shots) is an exceptional way to minimize an excellent shooting percentage.

Shoot 52.1% at home and lose ...

Final Analysis

This is a young team I realize, but we're in February now, and it's time for the team to grow up and play like collegians. Whether their basketball IQ is lacking, or they lose focus because of their tender age ... I don't know why, nor do I care why, but someone has to step up and take charge. And by "take charge" I mean, kick some tail; Gillispie, Cyprien, Webster, Patterson, Meeks, somebody has to take control of this team, and rein in the immature and uneven performances that we've been witnessing.

If they're being handled with kid gloves, then take the gloves off, and convince this team that playing carelessly, and/or lackadaisically will not be tolerated. Conversely, if Gillispie and his staff are being overly hard on this group, then maybe they need to ease up a bit. I don't know, but I do know what they're doing at the present is not working.

Because, when all the fat is boiled away, that's what Gillispie is left with; a team still committing the same silly, thoughtless errors that they were committing in November.

Thanks for reading and Go 'Cats!

South Carolina vs. USC-Upstate: A Quick Recap

Gamecock Man — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:37:21 -0000

The Gamecocks defeated the USC-Upstate Spartans by a score of 75-53. The game was a pretty thorough rout in which we led by a wide margin by halftime, although sloppy play in the second half kept the Gamecocks from producing an even greater margin of victory. Zam Fredrick led the way with 23 points and Devan Downey added 16 for good measure.

Offensively, we continue to live and die by hot and cold streaks. We built the large first half lead on 54% shooting but cooled off considerably in the second half, shooting a paltry 30%. That led to an overall 42% for the night, not exactly a percentage to envy but apparently enough to get it done against the Spartans.

We continue to make up for cold shooting spells by hitting the offensive boards hard. Mike Holmes pulled down another seven offensive rebounds, while the other big men each had a few of their own. We're doing very well in this area, but I'm concerned that we won't be quite as successful against bigger teams. Hope I'm wrong, of course.

Another positive was the continued development of Austin Steed. Steed provided another serviceable outing off the bench, adding seven points on 3-4 shooting and giving us a solid defensive presence down low. As a team that lacks a lot of size in the starting line-up, we need to continue to see solid play out of Steed.

Overall, this was another fairly promising but hardly perfect performance. We're playing as well or maybe a bit better than most of us expected but continue to show signs of not being a whole lot different than last year's team. It's also hard to make too much out of a game against Upstate. No offense to the Spartans, but they're still only a few years removed from Division II and aren't quite ready for playing teams like us yet. In addition to losing to us, they were also blown out by Notre Dame and a struggling UGA team. We'll have to wait a bit longer before we get a look at how the Gamecocks can do against more legitimate threats.

Share your thoughts on the Gamecocks' play thus far in the comments thread.