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.

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