UK-Pikeville 11/1/10

Our opening pre-season game smiled highly upon my Blue-White notes. The only early whiff was Terrence Jones, but I don't expect that to be the case in the future. I ventured a guess to expect around 24 points a game from B. Knight and the kid dropped 22 without even looking for his shot in the second half. I said that for all intensive purposes this was Darius' squad, and he went out there and notched 21/10/3. I hyped Liggins' all-around offensive game and he dropped 2 jumpers to go with his 5 lay-ups. I noted that Hood will probably fail to make it in the rotation and Coach Cal kept him benched the entire second half after a failed first half run. I said Vargas still can't absorb contact and he got proceeded to get rag-dolled by opponents half his size. I know that none of those predictions were anything life-changing or even that notable, but I'm just saying that these guys already have their roles cemented more than we give them credit for and are ready to contribute.

Top Players:
1. Brandon Knight: 22 points (6-11 FGs, 1-3 3Pt, 9-10 FTs), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals in 37 minutes. Knight saw the team couldn't get the ball in the basket in the early going, so he took over and put it in the hoop. Over and over again. He knocked in two great jumpers (a three and a long two) coming off picks which will keep the defense honest all the time and help his penetrating attack as well. He forced the action on a lot of breaks and forced the team to match his pace. His high-flying highlight of the night came in a clean swipe at the top of the key leading to a one-on-none fastbreak that he punctuated with a standing ovation-worthy slam. We'll be relying on Knight a lot to get us out of the occasional offensive funk. The game's just too easy for him. 2-Eezy. That's what I'll call him.

2. Darius Miller: 21 points (5-12 FGs, 0-3 3PT, 11-12 FTs), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal in 36 minutes. Darius brought it all game long. If he could've dropped one of his attempted threes then his game would've been simply perfect. He got to the bucket at will and either finished creatively with a floater or got fouled. He looks like he definitely understands how to use his size now, as exemplified by his double-double production. Miller also showed off his confidence in isolation situations where he made big-time moves on the wing freeing him up for midrange jumpers. He's primed to have quite a few 20-point explosions this year.

3. DeAndre Liggins: 18 points (7-10 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 4-6 FTs), 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal in 34 minutes. Dre is our leader on the defensive end. He never gives up anything easy and never saw a loose ball that he didn't think he had a great shot at tracking down. All that's a given on every single night, but Liggins made a point to show off his offensive repertoire tonight. He only took a handful of shots between the Canada games and the Blue-White scrimmage, but he called his own number last night. Maybe the highlight of the game was his backdoor cut where he caught a perfect Miller pass and finished with a winding reverse lay-up as he crashed to the floor. Liggins is going to be bigger than a lot of the wings who are slated to guard him and he showed an understanding that this size differential aids him highly in sealing off his man and forcing his way towards the rim. There's absolutely nothing you could complain about with Liggins' decision-making or production last night.

4. Doron Lamb: 16 points (4-10 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 8-10 FTs), 5 rebounds, 1 steal in 28 minutes. He came on heavy late in the game with reckless abandon attacking the rim. He surprised everyone multiple times by crashing the offensive glass and mixing it up with the bigs. He looks to be the smallest guy on the floor a lot of nights, but that's great if he can keep up that fearlessness and cause random havoc down there. As with Knight and Miller, he was rewarded with double-digit free throw attempts due to his attacking mentality. We didn't get to see any of his patented floaters or midrange game last night, but that was because he got to the rim every time and never needed to pull those out of his arsenal. He didn't do much in the passing department, but if he can produce without a terrible shooting percentage, no one's going to complain.

5. Terrence Jones: 9 points (2-9 FGs, 0-3 3PT, 5-6 FTs), 7 rebounds, 1 block in 22 minutes. He had a hard time, but still contributed. Coach road him heavier than any of the other guys, but that's a good thing. It shows Jones that he has high expectations for him. We'll chalk this one up to nerves and hope TJ makes more of a concerted effort to be an inside force and never throw another inbounds pass turnover. (UPDATE: and as Ethan brought to my attention in the comments, Terrence doesn't want your freakin' water bottle, Tristan!!!)

6. Josh Harrellson: 3 points (3-4 FTs), 7 rebounds, 2 blocks in 16 minutes. Josh came in and controlled the boards from the minute he stepped on the floor. He got a monster ovation on a possession where he got consecutive offensive boards, kicking it out one time and putting it up to get fouled the second time. The opponents were undersized, but Josh made all the right decisions in his time off the bench.

7. Eloy Vargas: 5 points (1-1 FGs, 3-4 FTs), 6 rebounds, 2 blocks in 11 minutes. His only field goal was a botched alley-up where he just kind of bobbled it in since couldn't quite catch and dunk it. He let a smaller guy score right in his area about four times, which was very painful to watch, but he filled in pretty well in his limited time. His did get hyped on a nice blocked shot, but there were two separate occasions when he got possession of the ball and through a terrible outlet pass resulting in a turnover. He's gotta get his decision-making tighter and work on keeping his position.

... and Free Enes.