Wednesday, November 16, 2011
At a glance, Tuesday night’s matchup between No. 12 Kansas and No. 2 Kentucky in the famed Madison Square Garden looked to be a battle of polar-opposite rosters. It was seen as the talented but young Wildcats — many of them just months removed from the McDonald’s High School All-American game — against the seasoned veterans of Kansas.
Except that it wasn’t.
Junior forward Thomas Robinson talks with coach Bill Self after receiving his second half in the first half of Friday's season opener against Towson. Robinson had 18 points and 11 rebounds in the Jayhawks 100-54 victory. KU is now 1-0 for the season.
Yes, Kentucky has a staggering five McDonald’s high school All-Americans on its roster, and yes, three of those are freshman. But sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones played 1078 and 1196 minutes last year, respectively. Senior starting point guard Darius Miller also played a lot of minutes last season, finishing with 1178. That bests Kansas’ two most experienced players, Tyshawn Taylor (977) and Thomas Robinson (482), and dwarfs anyone else in the Kansas rotation.
So while a handful of Kentucky freshman experienced their first big-time college game in the 75-65 Kentucky win, it wasn’t much different for many of the Jayhawks. Even Thomas Robinson, who was pegged by CBS as a pre-season First Team All-American, only averaged 14.6 minutes per game last season.
Both teams showed the effects of inexperience in the first half with errant passes, shaky dribbling, and poor shot selection. With a 28-28 tie in the waning seconds of the opening half, Tyshawn Taylor dribbled past halfcourt. He began to make a move on a Wildcat defender but seemed to trip over his own feet, losing the ball as the final seconds ticked off the clock and leaving the half-time scored tied. Kentucky’s freshmen committed more than their fair share of mistakes in the first half as well, but Kansas wasn’t able to take advantage. The first 20 minutes looked like most early-November games do: extra sloppy with a case of not-sure-how-to-play-together-yet for both teams.
In the second half, as Kansas continued to struggle on offense, Kentucky’s talent woke up. The Wildcats opened up the half with a 13-2 run and never looked back. Kansas mistakes turned into Kentucky dunks in seconds. The Jayhawks shot just 33.9 percent from the field and drives to the basket were met with the long arms of 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis and 6-foot-9 Terrence Jones, both future pros who wreaked havoc on the Kansas offense for much of the night.
Kentucky coach John Calipari told espn that he doesn’t have a good team yet. But as everyone found out, sometimes talent just takes over.
It won’t be the last time Kentucky’s uber-athleticism simply overwhelms an opponent this season, and luckily for Kansas and its fans, the Jayhawks won’t see a team more talented than their opponents on Tuesday night.
— Edited by Sarah McCabe
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