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  • Boston U. impressed with this year's Cats

    By: LARRY VAUGHT



    For the second straight season Boston University coach Joe Jones managed to have his team stay in the game at halftime against No. 1 Kentucky. Then for the second straight year, the Cats pulled away in the seond half.

    “It was about a year ago that I sat here with a very similar score against the No. 1 team in the country again. So hats off to Coach Calipari and his staff for being able to reload so quickly. And really, like I said, last year what I’m most impressed with what Coach Cal has done was how the players move, they play as a unit, they play as a team, and it gives them a chance to get better. You don’t see guys out there trying to play individual basketball,” Jones said.

    “You see young guys trying to make plays for each other and really try to execute the things that Kentucky tries to do. And I think that’s very hard to do in this day and time, to have such talented guys and have them play as connected as a group so quickly. I thought Kentucky kind of forced us to make some mental mistakes that we don’t normally see. Their quickness, their length, at times bothered us. For us to have 17 turnovers, that’s a lot for us. But I thought that was the difference in the game is we turned it over too many times.

    “And then they ended up getting 18 offensive rebounds, way too many. We were down six or eight in the second half and the kid, (Charles) Matthews, comes off the bench and gets three offensive rebounds. I thought that really hurt us as well. So, all in all, I was pleased with how hard we fought, but we can’t make those type of mistakes against a team like that and put yourself in position to win the game.”

    Kentucky jumped in front 10-0 before Boston settled into a pace it could handle and kept the game close — and even took a brief lead.

    “We were obviously rattled by the way, from the tip, and they got off to a clean start. But our guys are fighters. They’re not gonna back down,” Jones said.

    He said the second half Boston could not sustain its offense or defense as Kentucky’s length and talent took both a mental and physical toll on his team.

    “In the first half we were able to kind of pack in it a little bit. We wanted to force them to make contested jump shots. We wanted to keep them out of the lane whether it was zone or man. We kind of wanted to keep them out of the lane. And in the first half we did a decent job of that,” Jones said. “And I thought also in the first half, we were able to get our shooters open for some threes that made it close.

    “Then in the second half, I thought they did a better job clamping down on our 3-point shooters. And then I thought they continually applied pressure getting the ball inside, using their size to score. And over time, they just kind of wore us down.”

    So how does this No. 1 Kentucky team compare with the No. 1 Cats he played a year ago?

    “Well they’re both remarkable teams. They’re both really talented teams. Obviously last year probably had more depth than this year’s team. I thought the girth and size of last year’s team was unbelievable,” Jones said. “This year’s team, the guards might be a little more skilled. (Isaiah) Briscoe, (Tyler) Ulis, and (Jamal) Murray might be a little more skilled than the guys that were playing the bulk of the minutes last year.

    “But both teams are very talented, both teams are very long. Both teams execute at a pretty nice level. Both teams played as a group. I just thought last year’s team had a little more depth up to this point in the season. But to be No. 1 again, it’s unbelievable. To be able to do that again is unbelievable after losing all those guys.”
    Comments 7 Comments
    1. Darryl's Avatar
      Darryl -
      A lot of UK fans disagree

      Darryl
    1. UKRxman93's Avatar
      UKRxman93 -
      I agree UK's guards are more skilled this year, but just not showing skill beyond the 3 point arc or Free Throw line YET.
    1. Darryl's Avatar
      Darryl -
      Quote Originally Posted by UKRxman93 View Post
      I agree UK's guards are more skilled this year, but just not showing skill beyond the 3 point arc or Free Throw line YET.
      Ulis and Murray are close to 90% from the FT line and are going to defend better IMO

      Darryl
    1. UKRxman93's Avatar
      UKRxman93 -
      FT's Ulis and Murray excepted. 3's not yet. Briscoe TBD on both. I do believe Ulis and Murray will end up being more than adequate from 3 eventually, not sure about Briscoe, he just needs to hit FT's better and I'll be thrilled with him.
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      Quote Originally Posted by Darryl View Post
      A lot of UK fans disagree

      Darryl
      If they think that about the guard play then I pity them for their game knowledge. Play in the paint area is not up to the standards of last year's team, but has the chance to improve and while I do not think they will match the play of last year's players, they should be good enough to help win a lot of games.
    1. KeithKSR's Avatar
      KeithKSR -
      Quote Originally Posted by Darryl View Post
      A lot of UK fans disagree

      Darryl
      I'm not so sure that a lot of posts about the differences in the teams isn't all that different from the Jones evaluation.

      “Well they’re both remarkable teams. They’re both really talented teams. Obviously last year probably had more depth than this year’s team. I thought the girth and size of last year’s team was unbelievable,” Jones said. “This year’s team, the guards might be a little more skilled. (Isaiah) Briscoe, (Tyler) Ulis, and (Jamal) Murray might be a little more skilled than the guys that were playing the bulk of the minutes last year.
    1. CitizenBBN's Avatar
      CitizenBBN -
      Quote Originally Posted by UKRxman93 View Post
      I agree UK's guards are more skilled this year, but just not showing skill beyond the 3 point arc or Free Throw line YET.
      Happens a lot with Cal's teams early. Right now they have no comfort shooting 3s bc Cal is yelling at them to drive.

      Once they get settled on when to drive, when to shoot, it'll improve. Right now they have doubt when they shoot, the worst thing for shooters. That should settle out.
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