The guys played so hard. Really, really proud of the heart, the hustle and the never give up attitude. When Ky shot 58% in the first half and led by 11 it didn’t look great, but I was liking the way we competed at the end of the first half. Then we put on our best performance of the season in the second half. We held Kentucky to 33% from the field (9-of-27) and 22 percent from downtown (2-of-9). The defense was sensational. We outrebounded them 42-37, with one of our biggest hustlers and heart guys on the team, Shelby Moats, pulling down 10. We had 20 offensive rebounds to their nine. Kede finished with 18 and Rod added 12. Dai-Jon and Sheldon gave us some awesome minutes. Wow, that blown shot clock violation miss by the refs hurt, but who knows what would have happened if we were down three rather than five with the ball? But it sure would have helped. Still we came back and Kede knocked down a three and we got them to turn it over and Kede had a nice look at a deep three that was a couple of inches off the mark from getting us a 61-60 victory. The shot was so close to going in. The crowd was fantastic and the players were totally into it.
I love this group of guys. They have an amazing amount of heart. We’ve just got to scratch and claw for every win we can get. As tough as it is to do on a Thursday-Saturday week, particularly after a loss to UK, we’ve got to get ready for Arkansas at Fayetteville on Saturday. Tip off is at 7 PM ET/6 CT on Fox Sports Net. Arkansas is led by guard B.J. Young, who averages 17.3 ppg and has 54 assists. and power forward Marshawn Powell, who averages 14.1 ppg and 5.1 rbg. Need to turn around and be ready for this.
A lot of season left. That was just one loss. It was a tough one for sure, but we can snap back and get back on the winning track. Arkansas is 9-5 overall and 0-1 in the SEC with a loss to A&M Wed. night, 69-51 at College Station. They’ve lost to Wisconsin (77-70), Michigan (80-67) and have a quality win over Oklahoma (81-78). So they’re going to be tough. Just gotta snap back.