The Bearcats played good for about 17 minutes. Real good, even leading by a couple. At the end of the half, though, UK got their offensive engine running.
The officiating has been abysmal from our perspective. UK has shot 11 free throws to our 0. They also starting sinking threes.
The Cauley-Stein dunk serves as a dividing line between the early Bearcats’ success and UK living up to the hype. After that, the Big Blue Nation erupted and stayed engaged for the remainder of the half.
On the half, UC shot 42% from the floor, and was only 2-7 from three (28%). DeBerry leads UC in scoring with 6 points. Caupain has struggled early, shooting 1-5 from the floor. Clark has been a nonfactor, and hasn’t even taken a single shot.
Kentucky shot poorly in the first half, hitting only 34% of their field goal attempts, 2-9 from three. Towns is UK’s leading scorer with 8.
I’m concerned. We outshot UK and head into the half down 7. However, I recall trailing to Purdue with 48 seconds left in the game. Clearly the Bearcats have room to come back and win.
Keys to the comeback:
1) Control the foul situation.
2) Caupain must assert himself.
3) DeBerry needs to stay active on offense.
4) Clark must show up. Take shots.
