[Quality88]

10/31

7:00 pm tip off

[Lefty Noob]

Wow, college hoops already - this stuff kind of sneaks up on you.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Wow, college hoops already - this stuff kind of sneaks up on you.

Yeah the Gillispie Era kicked off with an exh. They had to way to many turnovers, 21.

[Quality88]

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Billy Gillispie asks three things of his basketball teams: to play hard, to play smart and to play together.
Last night his first University of Kentucky team gave him two out of three in his first exhibition game as coach, and that was good enough for a 99-64 rout of Pikeville College at Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats played hard, Gillispie said. They played together.
As for smart?

"They played hard, and I thought they played together, and we will get better at playing smart," he said. "They didn't play un-smart, or that 'D' word."
Dumb? No.
Dumbstruck? That's one way to describe Pikeville, which saw sophomore guard Jodie Meeks torch its zone defense in the first half, fell behind by 20 points early and never was a threat as the Cats pulled away.
Meeks was "hot as a match," Pikeville coach Kelly Wells said, finishing with 34 points -- he matched the Bears with 27 in the first half -- and making 7 of 9 three-point shots.
Freshman Patrick Patterson added 21 points and nine rebounds in front of 18,231 fans.
"I was real anxious," Patterson said. "I think I performed pretty well."
For the most part, so did his teammates.
UK shot 61.8 percent (34 of 55), held Pikeville to 40.8 percent (20 of 49) and forced 25 turnovers. The Cats led by a game-high 36 points in the second half.
Senior guards Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley had 15 points each, and Bradley added nine assists. Sophomore forward Perry Stevenson had nine points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Cats blew the game open early with a 16-0 run that put Pikeville in a 29-9 hole, and from there, UK was in control.
But the Cats didn't coast.
During one first-half sequence, freshman A.J. Stewart missed a shot underneath, then chased down the loose ball with a dive on the floor. That drew loud applause, as did a pressure defense that created a five-second and a 10-second violation.
But the Cats weren't always ovation-worthy.
They committed 21 turnovers and gave up 12 offensive rebounds. UK won the rebounding battle only 31-27. And though the score was never in doubt, the Cats were in a second-half shootout, outscoring the Bears 48-37.
"Giving up 37 points, no disrespect, but that's too many points in a half, no matter who you're playing," Gillispie said.
And though the coach proclaimed himself "proud" of his team's effort, he wasn't always happy.
"I thought the pace of our offense was really slow," Gillispie said. " … Our secondary break, maybe once or twice we ran it, (but) I thought we had a lot of opportunities to run it. And I think it's just recognition things."
Gillispie was surprised that his team seemed to be at its best against the zone, which it has practiced against little. Against Pikeville's man-to-man, he said, the Cats didn't perform as well as they needed to.
He'll hope for improvement in that regard when UK hosts Seattle on Saturday in its final exhibition.
Gillispie said the Cats will try to get the ball to the high post more often and reverse it faster.
"We'll be much-improved on Saturday," he said. "I promise."
He'd like the Cats to look much the same in their effort and togetherness.
It's the smart part he hopes they'll keep ironing out.
"We could have thought the game through a lot better; I could have gotten guys in position a lot better," Bradley said. "Hopefully I'll -- well, I will -- learn from mistakes. Everyone will get in and watch film together, and we'll get better. We'll get our rest, and we'll get better (today)."

[Lefty Noob]

Well, it's good to get a sloppy performance out of the way in an exhibition game, and a win to boot. Now Gillespe knows exactly what he needs to work on.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Well, it's good to get a sloppy performance out of the way in an exhibition game, and a win to boot. Now Gillespe knows exactly what he needs to work on.

Yeah... Gillispie is very dedicated to the game. His record shows that. I hope he can get things gon good.