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Coming off two straight wins to start SEC play, the Cats will play in one of the toughest remaining games they have left tonight down in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bud Walton Arena is one of the toughest places to play in the nation, and since Mike Anderson's arrival, they have a 43-5 record at home. The Cats will be facing a team that likes to play fast and it took Florida overtime to get of there with a win. With that, let's get to the things to watch for:
*Pressure Cooker
No matter where the game is played, when you play against a Mike Anderson coached team, you must be able to handle the "40 minutes of hell." They will press from the tip and it will be a constant, attacking pressure that will aim at getting the Harrison's out of control and keep them uncomfortable. Point guard play is always crucial to beating Arkansas because if Andrew gets flustered against Arkansas, they will turn into sharks with blood in the water. The other difficult aspect of playing Arkansas is that the game is away. Arkansas feeds off their crowd and the crowd seems to ramp up the intensity with every steal or deflection the Razorbacks get. Kentucky has to play with poise, confidence and as a team in order to withstand the waves of pressure that will come from every angle tonight.
*Texas sized-cramps
I don't really remember a player that has been plagued by cramps more than Julius Randle. It is very odd that a player who appears to be in as good of shape as him would get almost paralyzing cramps during the course of a game. However, that is his reality. Calipari has said he will limit his consecutive minutes to try to save his legs and allow him to continue to play hard in the short spurts he is in the game. I am hoping to see Randle get through the entire game tonight without cramping issues and if he doesn't, then we may be seeing a problem that could last all season.
*Free for a reason
Free throws continue to plague this team and kept them from burying Vanderbilt on Saturday, but they will not be able to do that again and expect to win tonight. There should be plenty of fouls tonight with the way Arkansas plays and free throw shooting could play an even larger role than normal. The Cats should get to the line early and often tonight and starting out the game strong from the line could go a long way to helping this team get the confidence to make them later in the game. Here's hoping the Cats can manage 70% or better in the first half and hit enough down the stretch to put them away.
*Pass the rock
Calipari's teams have never been known for their high assist totals as his teams main focus is to take each man off the dribble. However, against the press, especially the kind Arkansas runs, if they pass the ball well and do not hold onto it they should be able to get a few fast break opportunities. The fast break points have been limited for this team for reasons unknown except for they want to play slow. If the team looks for guards up the court instead of telling everyone to go on and have Andrew beat the press on his own, then this could be a game where the offense opens up and shows its full strength. One cure for a stagnant offense is to move the ball and push the tempo; tonight is a perfect opportunity for that approach.
This team is improving, it has been slow, but the progress has been constant. That is a good thing to see with a young team. Go Big Blue
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