By: Tyler Adkins
After a week off from action, UK is back on the floor tonight to take on a Cleveland State team that has the ability to cause some problems if Kentucky takes the night off. During Cal's tenure, we usually see drastic improvement during the off-weeks and especially during the break for Christmas so I am expecting to see a better team take the floor tonight that we have previously watched. With that, let's get to the things to watch for:
*Elite Point Guard
Andrew Harrison was billed as the #1 point guard recruit in America last year and was looked at to bring back the eilte level point guard play of UK. He has been good, but not brilliant in his first few games this season. He seems to be a step slow on defense and doesn't always give the effort that other guards have in the past. However, it is early, and I was saying the same things about Marquis Teague a few years ago in the beginning of the year. The fact is it takes point guards a little time to adjust to all of the responsibility Calipari places on them and some pick it up quicker than others. I am looking to see Harrison make quicker decisions tonight on where to pass the ball and start breaking opponents down more off the dribble and getting to the basket.
*Free throw shooting
I am going to put this up every game because having watched a lot of basketball throughout this season, it is apparent that you must shoot free throws well to win games. This has always been the case, but with teams going to the line 30-40 times per game, it is taking possessions away from teams and instead of getting shots up, they are now walking to the line. Kentucky needs to be able to hit 70% consistently to reach their potential this season I feel like, and if they do that, then it will go a long way to winning that 9th national title.
*Consistency
It seems as though one player has been spectacular each game for UK, whether it is Young, Harrison, or Randle, someone has went off. However, it hasn't been the case yet that multiple wing players have played well in the same night. When Aaron Harrison is on, Young has been off and vice versa. There will be a game soon where Young and both Harrisons are shooting it well and when it happens that game will be a bloodbath. After it happens once I feel like they will feed off of that energy and start to be more consistent. Hopefully it starts tonight.
That's all for tonight.
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