Report card vs FL

By: RONALD "DOC" BALL

General Impressions Just watched the replay after being in The O'Connell Center, and have to say UK looked far worse in person. I was actually impressed following the telecast. FL hit some "unexpected and improbable" treys in the first half but I knew they could not keep it up. Huge credit to UK for not folding when they could have. But the performance does not surprise me. I have often complained about out lack of preparation for tough road games in our preseason schedule. Is tough to have your first road game be vs a quality SEC opponent. And I don't want to hear UL was a road game. Playing 70 miles from Lexington in front of 15K fans where 10K are yours is not a road game. UK needs to have one preseason road game that is a real one to get the teams head into the process. That said, our defense was terrible, and that needs correcting.

Tre Mitchell B+ 35 minutes of play, had the double double with 12/10 and was the reason we survived the first half. Without his play, we are down 12-15 points minimally. His leadership showed. He was constantly guarding taller players but showed how to use the body to his benefit. Only one TO but got the benefit of some calls that negated a couple.

Justin Edwards C Currently suffering from CLS (Chris Livingston Syndrome). He just needs to get comfortable with his game. Unfortunately he is yet another UK recruit with unrealistic expectation heaped on by the hype machine. Justin is a very very good player but he never deserved the "best player in the class" label.... and the expectations that fans put on that. I can live with a freshman giving us 6 pts on 3-6 shooting, 2 rebounds and a steal in 18 plus minutes. He also had the second highest +/- with 11. That illustrates the team flowed better with him on the floor because in his 18 minutes is when UK made their runs. Yes, he needs to shore up his defense and he needs to finish at the rim but that will come, just like it did with Livingston.

DJ Wagner B+ DJ controlled the game to a much greater degree that he is credited with. It was what we needed from him. The drives down the lane were huge. He stepped up because Rob's game was so bad. Led the team with over 36 minutes played. He led the team with a 3:1 assist to TO ratio. Went 6-10 for 14 points and played in control.

Adou Thiero C Normally players who don't play get no grade but I'm not liking DNP - General Soreness.

Aaron Bradshaw B- I keep hearing "great athlete" associated with Aaron, and am trying to understand this description. Great athletes? I see Malik Monk, and MKG, and Tyrese Maxey, or even a Tyler Ulis. Today, he was soft at the rim, and was moved around by skinny dudes. Not to say his 10 pts and 7 rebounds in 26 minutes were not huge, they were. His first half was close to an F grade as a starter can get. 1 rebound, no pts and a blocked shot (except it was his shot that was blocked). Fortunately he woke up at halftime and finished with 10 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot. Needs to shore up the FT as he was 3-6 and he needs to become an athlete by getting stronger.

Antonio Reeves B+ Led the team in scoring (19) and +/- (17) as well as shots taken and treys taken. But to his credit, they were GOOD shots. Often he is tempted to shoot himself out of a good game, not today. I felt he played controlled. Seemed to make the right choice on when to drive, when to shoot and when to pass. Like everybody else, he got torched a time or two on defense.

Robert Dillingham D A morbid -21 +/-. Hard to imagine a 2 point win where we are outscored by that much in the 17 minutes plus that Rob was on the floor. 1 assist to 4 turnovers does not cut it, nor does 0-4 from long range. His defense was worse on the team due to the chasing. Fortunately its one game, and the stat sheet says 0's across at tip off on Tues.

Reed Sheppard B Waffled on this one. Could do B+ just with his final 2 minutes, but the final 2 seconds won't let me go any higher. 14 points with 9 coming from the line. Most impressive was the dribbling out the clock late. I was 100% happy to see the ball in his hands.

Jordan Burks C

Ugonna Onyenso B Loved the toughness under the rim. Nobody is pushing his around. You can see his confidence growing each and every game. 6 points, 5 rebounds in 15 minutes. Has to shoot better then 2-6 when you spend all your time in the low block.

Joey Hart

Coaching B+ Good use of TOs. Made solid player moves and seemed to have the right guys in at the right time. Didn't fold in the last 4 minutes

Officials B Odd game, missed and inconsistent calls were done both ways. They didn't show boat. All I ask.

Commentators B No ice cream Jay?

Other Despite the poor play, a fun game, exciting.... and a win we can learn from. Some oddities: UK shot 10% from long range in the first half, UF shot 40%. In the second half FL shot 9% and we shot 40%. Overall we hit 45% to their 42%. Three point shooting overall was 25-29%. They won the battle of the boards 43 to 40 but that is acceptable as UF is perhaps the best rebounding team we will face. Only 3 UK players had negative +/- (Burks, Dillingham and Bradshaw). 6 assists and 9 turnovers is embarrassing for this team. However I think UK learned a lot in this game, perhaps the most in any game so far. You see who will step up. Love that you have a kid like Sheppard say give me the ball at the end. Love that you have a Mitchell who will suck it up thru the pain and play. I love that you have a DJ who stays in control. I love you have a Reeves who can and will hit the big shot. I love that you have a kid with Dillinghams energy. I love kids like Edwards and Adou who see their role. And I love the twin tower combo of Aaron and Ugonna. Most teams have a player I don't trust, or don't have an affection for. Not this one.