Report Card: Kentucky v. Kansas State, NCAA Tournament

Him him

General Impressions Not sure I have ever seen an opponent have so many easy baskets and us have to work so hard for any and everything. UK had better talent everywhere but on the bench. Classic example of why recruiting is overrated. Better to have good talent, good coaching and good depth than having great talent, mediocre coaching and no bench. Our experienced players played like crap, with the exception of Oscar. Wallace and Livingston had solid games, but the "old guys" didn't. IMO Toppin, Reeves and CJ need to apoligize to those three for that game. To KSU's credit, they couldn't hit crap early but did late, we didn't.

Jacob Toppin D At times this year Jacob carried us, but not today. The "D" is for "disappointing" because that is what his play was today. In 27 minutes he managed 7 shots, and hit 1. Never made it to the FT line so that is 2 whopping points. Added 4 rebounds and 3 assists. But really not a game you want at this time from one of your upperclassmen.

Cason Wallace A- Most impressive is the 9 rebounds and 21 points, the least is the 5 turnovers. Did have 4 assists but still had 5 turnovers. Did hit his only trey, and was 9-11 overall. Some will lobby for an A grade but you can't have 5 turnovers in a game in the 60's.

Oscar Tshiebwe A- His rebounding continues to be an amazing thing. I was nearly as amazing as Nowell passing the ball behind his back on free throws. 25 points, 18 rebounds and 9-11 from the line (although 1 miss was a front end so was really 9-12). Tied Wallace with 2 steals, and tied Wallace with 5 turnovers. Of course the defense is what it was and what it is..and it was never going to change.

Sahvir Wheeler

Antonio Reeves D Gave us nothing other than opportunities for Oscar to gather offensive rebounds. How you can go from what he did Friday to that is astounding in a bad way. Every one of his 5 points were of no value. Was 1 of 15 overall and 1-10 from beyond the arc, plus 2-2 from the free throw line. His 30 minutes were perhaps the most unsuccessful 30 minutes ever for a UK player. Did manage 3 rebounds though to go with a turnover.

Chris Livingston B Love the energy he brings. Played to the level he has been playing of late, actually better then that level. In 37 minutes he managed 11 points on 5-13, hitting 1 of his 4 treys. Had a couple assists, and a couple steals. He was the only player with a blocked shot, which illustrates one of the big issues all year, which if the defensive rim protection...but that is for another discussion. I loved how he crashed the glass today, and the energy he brought.

CJ Fredrick D+ 20 minute and 3 points on one made triple. All his shots were treys, all three of them. No turn overs, no assists, no steals but did get a rebound.

Lance Ware C- Managed as many points as Toppin, and 2 points more meaningful than anything Antonio gave us. In 9 minutes he needed to do more than go 1-1. He had no rebounds, no assists, no turn overs. Hence a C- is generous.

Adou Thiero

Ugonna Onyenso

Daimion Collins C- 2 minutes of nothing. Comes in unprepared looking like a lost puppy. Do I blame him? NOT ONE BIT.

Coaching D Hey, you got us one game farther than last year! Wonder if anything new was considered for a game plan?

Officials D They didn't over blow the whistle but they missed some obvious crap. When a guy travels so bad he loses his shoe and you don't see it, you are either blind or an idiot. None of them had canes so I guess the blind isn't likely.

Commentators C Had worse, had better.

Other They got hot when it mattered. We didn't. They sliced our defense like warm knife thru butter. Both teams hit 26 baskets, we just took 9 more shots (63 to 54) thus our 41% to their 48%. We made a measly 4 treys of 20 (20%) while they hit 5 of 21, all in the second half. No shock we grabbed 44 of the 69 rebounds. However the determining factors were the turnovers, of which we had 16 to their 8 and late game shooting. We turned it over, they didn't. We hit nothing from the perimeter late except as worthless trey but Reeves after the outcome was sealed. They also had 4 blocks to our one. Their bigs were not overly skilled offensively or defensively, but they were used timely and properly.