Kentucky’s Season Ends Against Notre Dame in the 2009 NIT Quarterfinals

The Kentucky Wildcat players came out active in the first ten minutes of the basketball game, but soon fell off due to probable fatigue from playing earlier in the week against Creighton on Monday.  Jodie Meeks was unable to get going in the first half and Notre Dame led at the half by 8 points (34-26).

Kentucky came out sluggish in the second half and the Notre Dame lead swelled to 17 points.  The Wildcats made a late rally behind Jodie Meeks who scored 18 points in the second half, but was unable to get the deficit below 5 points.  Good Notre Dame free throw shooters sealed the fate of the Kentucky Wildcats’ season and the game ended at 77-67 in favor of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 2009 NIT Quarterfinals.

Top Performers for the Kentucky Wildcats
Jodie Meeks - 21 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal
Patrick Patterson - 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks
Perry Stevenson - 8 points and 6 rebounds
Kevin Galloway - 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, but also had 5 turnovers

The Kentucky Wildcats did a lot of things right.  They shot 50% for the game in field goal percentage and only had 10 turnovers for the entire game.  Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson were able to get their shots and points for the game.  The deciding factor, in my opinion, was the fatigue factor.  Kentucky allowed Notre Dame to get off 25 three pointers and make 12 of them for a 3-point field goal percentage of 48%.  Kentucky shot 50% from 3-point range, hitting 7 of 14, but Notre Dame hit 5 more than Kentucky, which contributed to the difference in the game.

Look for a lot of questions to be answered within the next week on whether or not Coach Billie Gillispie will return as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats next season.  Either way could prove to be bad for Kentucky next year and I will post more on this topic soon.

Kentucky vs Notre Dame in 2009 NIT Quarterfinals

The Kentucky Wildcats’ next game is versus the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame on Wednesday (25 March 2009) at 7:00 p.m. (EDT) in the NIT Quarterfinals.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 20-14 overall and were 8-10 in the Big East Conference.  ND has one of the best players in the country, which is Luke Harangody averaging 23 points and almost 12 rebounds per game.  Notre Dame also has many other players that can score at any given time in the basketball game.

The Kentucky Wildcats will need a much better game from Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson to win this game.  Jodie Meeks is only averaging 17.5 points per game in the NIT, down from 24 points per game for the season.  Patterson’s numbers are also down as he is only averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds per game in the NIT, down from 18 points and 9.4 rebounds per game on the season.  The Wildcats need a lot of balanced scoring and will need more players to step up in this game.  Perry Stevenson, Ramon Harris, and Darius Miller are the likely candidates that have the ability to come up with a big game.

In my opinion, this is going to be the hardest team to beat that the Wildcats have played in the 2009 NIT so far.  If Kentucky can get scoring from more than just Meeks and Patterson, then it should go our way, but Notre Dame will come to play and it should be a great basketball game.

Kentucky Literally Squeaks Past Creighton in 2009 NIT Second Round

The Kentucky Wildcats came out scrapping in the basketball game against the Creighton Blue Jays, but so did the Creighton Blue Jays.  The game was back and forth most of the first half with the Jays leading with a half-time score of 33-31.  Kentucky was able to score 31 points in the first half even though Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks only combined for 7 points at the half.  Patterson got into foul trouble early and Meeks was heavily guarded.  The Wildcats had very good balanced scoring in the half.

The second half was no different in the scrappiness category.  The game was close throughout with Creighton’s largest lead being 5 points and Kentucky’s largest was 1 point until the end.  Even though Creighton was smaller, they were able to win the rebounding category, but were mediocre at best in free throws, shooting only 58 percent from the free throw stripe for the whole game.

The basketball game came down to the wire.  The Wildcats had the ball, down by 1 point with 17.5 seconds left.  Jodie Meeks was handling the ball when Patrick Patterson came out to set a screen for Meeks, but Meeks went the other way and drove the ball to the lane.  A Creighton defender stepped in for the charge, but Meeks slid by him and shot the ball in the paint.  The ball went through the hoop and the refs called a foul on a Creighton player.  Jodie Meeks sunk the free throw to give Kentucky a 2 point lead with only 7.5 seconds left in the game.  Creighton drove the ball down the court and called a timeout.  After the timeout, Creighton threw the ball in and set a screen for a 3 point shooter.  The Creighton player had a good look at the shot, but it clanked off the side of the rim.  Jodie Meeks grabbed the rebound and time expired.  The final score of the game was 65-63 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky:
Jodie Meeks - 16 points and 2 rebounds
Perry Stevenson - 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks
Patrick Patterson - 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 block
Ramon Harris - 9 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds
Michael Porter added 7 points and Darius Miller had 5 points

A great balance of scoring from the Kentucky Wildcats.  The Cats will play Notre Dame next in the third round of the NIT.

Kentucky vs Creighton, 2009 NIT Second Round

The Kentucky Wildcats play the Creighton Bluejays on Monday, 23 March 2009 at 7:00 p.m. (EDT) in the 2009 NIT second round.

The Creighton Bluejays sit at 27-7 and were co-champions of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season at 14-4 in conference play.  Many people believed that Creighton should have been an NCAA Tournament team and maybe they should have, but a few unexpected wins by teams such as Mississippi St in their respective Conference Tournaments probably put the Bluejays out of the NCAA Tournament.

The Jays will get a chance to prove themselves as they face Kentucky next.  Creighton does have a good team, but if the Kentucky Wildcats bring their agame, then we should be moving on to the third round of the NIT.  This should be a good basketball game!

Kentucky Takes Care of UNLV in 2009 NIT First Round

The Kentucky Wildcats did their usual to start off in the first half of the basketball game.  By the usual, I mean turn the ball over 5 times in the first 5 minutes and allow the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels to take an early 7 point lead.  The Cats did get it together and went on a strong run to finish the half while UNLV couldn’t seem to hit the broad side of a barn as they finished the half with 33.3% field goal shooting.  UK shot 48.3% field goal shooting in the half.  The score at half-time was 36-24 in favor of the Wildcats.  Kentucky had 9 different players score in the first half.

The Wildcats started the second half of the game the same way they finished the first half and grabbed a 20 point lead early in the half.  UNLV was able to make a run to get within 3 points, but Kentucky was able to hang on against the Runnin’ Rebels.  The Kentucky Wildcats defeated the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels by a final score of 70-60.

Top Performers for the Wildcats:
Jodie Meeks - 19 points and 3 assists
Patrick Patterson - 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 block
Perry Stevenson - 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks
Darius Miller - 9 points and 5 rebounds
Ramon Harris - 6 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists

The Kentucky Wildcats will play either Creighton or Bowling Green next.  Creighton/Bowling Green play each other tomorrow (18 March 2009) at 8:00 p.m. to determine which team will play Kentucky in the second round of the NIT.

Kentucky vs UNLV, 2009 NIT First Round

The Kentucky Wildcats play the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels tonight (17 March 2009) on ESPN at 9:30 p.m. (EST) in the first round of the NIT Tournament.

The Wildcats find themselves in unfamiliar territory as they have been a participant in the NCAA Tournament since 1991 (17 year streak) until this year.  Some fans and maybe even a few players are not too happy with the decision of playing in the NIT, but it may prove to be a good idea if the Cats can make a run through the tournament and win it.  On the other end, if UK finds itself with an early exit from the tourney, then that would really crush the fan base and cause some conversations about wanting Billy Gillispie’s head in “Big Blue Nation”.

Personally, I believe it to be a controversial move that can prove to be great or a bust, but isn’t that the way it always goes.  For example, if someone puts up a crazy shot in the final few seconds of a basketball game to win it, they either hit or miss.  If the player hits the shot, he/she is a hero, but if they miss the shot, then they are talked about and the question comes up of why they took the shot, if it was a bad shot, etc.

Being a “True Blue” fan, whether I agree with the decision or not, I will be watching the basketball game just like the rest of the fans.  I encourage all to watch the game and root for the Cats even if you aren’t in total agreement with the decision to play in the NIT, especially at such a low seed (#4) that was given to UK by the Committee.  All that we can do is cheer and hope that the team does well.  We can worry about all the other discussions and rumors, such as the Coach’s status, players transferring, and players going to the NBA later when all is said and done with the season.

Kentucky Accepts NIT Bid, Plays UNLV in First Round

After the Kentucky Wildcats found themselves outside of the NCAA Tournament, as expected, the NIT came calling.  The seeding placement that the Cats received for the National Invitational Tournament is questionable at best.  After expecting to be one of the top seeds of the tournament, the Wildcats could only pull out a number 4 seed in the NIT.

UK’s opponent in the first round of the NIT is the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.  They come in at an overall record of 21-10 while the Wildcats sit at 20-13 overall.  UK will play UNLV at Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday, 17 March 2009 at 9:30 p.m (televised on ESPN).   Like Kentucky, UNLV has two all-conference (Mountain West) players on their team by the names of Wink Adams and Rene Rougeau.  Ironically, UNLV is the team that Derrick Jasper transferred from UK to, but he is red-shirting this year due to the transfer.

Look for this to be a very interesting matchup and the Cats should not go into this basketball game thinking that it will be an easy win.  They will have to play hard, much better than they have been playing lately, if they want to make a run for the NIT Championship.  Even though it is a down season and we would much rather be playing for the National Championship, the players will be able to hang their head high if they can make a good impression in the NIT.

If the Wildcats can get by the Runnin Rebels, then their next opponent would either be Creighton (#1 seed) or Bowling Green (#8 seed).  Click here to view all of the seeding for the NIT (Adobe Reader required).