LSU Moves On in SEC Tournament 2009, Kentucky NIT Bound?

The Kentucky Wildcats came out with a lot of intensity in the first half, but turnovers seemed to plague the Cats again as they finished the half with 9 turnovers.  The only thing keeping the Wildcats in the game was the fact that the LSU Tigers couldn’t make their shots.  Louisiana St finished the half on 30.6% field goal shooting.  Michael Porter hit two 3-pointers in the half, but Jodie Meeks was pretty much non-existent as he only had 4 points on 2 of 5 shooting.  Patrick Patterson kept going where he left off yesterday, finishing the half with 7 points and 8 rebounds.  The score at halftime was 28-23 in favor of the LSU Tigers.

In the second half, it was close until the middle of the second half when the Kentucky Wildcats’ defense just broke down as LSU players were getting open left and right.  I don’t know what happened at half-time, but it didn’t work or maybe LSU is just that much better than Kentucky and maybe it is time to come to that realization.

Where was Jodie Meeks?  There was a very questionable move by Coach Gillespie in the second half where Jodie Meeks was sitting on the bench for about 4-5 minutes of the second half when he needed to be in the basketball game.  I know that he was struggling from the field, but you need your best player in the game when you are down!  It was the first game of the season that Jodie Meeks didn’t get double figures in points as he finished with only 8 points.

Kentucky Performers:
Patrick Patterson - 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks
Ramon Harris - 11 points and 4 rebounds
Michael Porter - 9 points and 2 rebounds
Jodie Meeks - 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers
Darius Miller - 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals
Perry Stevenson - 5 points, 2 blocks, and 4 turnovers

Great balanced scoring, just not enough of it!!

Kentucky just couldn’t get over the hump and was behind the entire game after scoring the first two points of the game.  The final score was 67-58 in favor of LSU.  As of now, it looks as though we are going to be “NIT” bound.  Hopefully, we will have better luck next year!

Kentucky vs LSU, SEC Tournament Quarterfinals, 13 March 2009

The Kentucky Wildcats have made it through the first day of the SEC Tournament of 2009.  Now comes the hard part.  Kentucky will play the LSU Tigers tomorrow (13 March 2009) at 1:00 p.m. (EST).

If you can remember, it wasn’t too long ago literally, Louisiana St came into Rupp Arena and pulled out a 73-70 win on a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the game.  That basketball game was played on Saturday, February 28th, 2009.  The Wildcats were up by 10 points in the second half and blew the lead with carelessness to allow the LSU Tigers to come back and get the win.

The Cats hope this game will play out different.  Louisiana State is considered the powerhouse of a down-season SEC.  LSU is the Southeastern Conference, regular season champions.  If the Kentucky Wildcats can match the intensity that they had today, then it could be a very fun basketball game to watch.  Tune in tomorrow and root for the Cats as they play the role of “David against Goliath”.

Kentucky Defeats Mississippi in Opening Game of SEC Tournament, 2009

The first half was a game of runs by both teams.  Ole Miss was on top early in the half, then the Kentucky Wildcats made a run to go up by six.  Then the Rebels came back with their own run and went up by three.  One more run by both teams evened out the score and at halftime, the score was 38-36 in favor of Mississippi.  Kentucky won the battle of the boards in the first half, but Ole Miss had a better shooting half.  The story for Kentucky in the first half was their balanced player scoring.  Meeks had 10 points at halftime and both Patterson/Stevenson had 8 each.

Kentucky came out strong in the second half and forced a couple of turnovers early to take the lead and they never looked back.  The lead kept slowly getting bigger and bigger for the Kentucky Wildcats and was finally out of reach for the Rebels.  The final score of the game was 71-58 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top performers for the Cats included:
Jodie Meeks - 25 points and 3 assists
Patrick Patterson - 15 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks
Perry Stevenson - 13 points and 8 rebounds
Darius Miller - 12 points and 2 assists

Kentucky’s next opponent is LSU tomorrow.  More will be posted on Tomorrow’s basketball game later in the day.  Bring on the Tigers!!

SEC Tournament, Kentucky vs Mississippi, 12 March 2009

The season is finally over and now on to the Tournaments.  Kentucky is playing on the first day of the tournament due to a fourth place finish in the SEC Eastern Division.  Kentucky’s opponent is the Ole Miss Rebels on 12 March 2009, at 1:00 p.m. (EST).  The SEC Tournament is being held in Tampa, Florida.

The Kentucky Wildcats hope to make a run through the SEC Tournament to secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament.  The way it is looking, that is the only way that Kentucky would be accepted to the big dance.  I believe if the Cats could make it to the SEC Championship game, then that would be enough to secure a 10 or 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Most analysts only have 2 or maybe 3 at the most from the SEC going to the NCAA Tournament at the moment.  The majority pick LSU, Tennessee, and South Carolina to be in the NCAA Tournament.  On the outside, looking in, are Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi St, and Vanderbilt.

As for the basketball game, Ole Miss has already won the only meeting against Kentucky this year.  The final score of that game was 85-80 in Mississippi on the 27th of January 2009.  Look for this game to be a lot more meaningful and we all hope that the outcome is different.  If Kentucky does win the game, then they have a tough road ahead because LSU awaits the winner of the Kentucky/Mississippi basketball game.

It’s now or never (at least this year) for the Cats to make their case for the NCAA Tournament.  If we see an early exit from the SEC Tournament, look for the NIT to come a calling.  The question is, will the Wildcats accept a bid to the NIT?  I believe that they would if that was the only option.

Everybody get your game-faces on and let’s go out and pull a Georgia!!!