If everyone played as well as Doron Lamb, the outcome might have been totally different. Lamb was ice water for the Cats today as he was 7-12 from the field, 3-4 from the three, and 7-8 from the free throw line to finish with 24 points. Terrence Jones had a totally different outcome as he only scored 9 points on 3-17 shooting. Jones also fouled out, along with Josh Harrellson, Eloy Vargas and Brandon Knight.
Kentucky couldn’t find an answer for Tyler Zeller, who led the Tarheels with 27 points on 8-13 shooting. His freethrows down the stretch were lethal, as his 11-12 shooting kept stretching the lead everytime the Cats would scrape back to a point.
The big question, which is created by the void by Enes Kanter, is definitely defending the paint. John Henson, who had 13 points, along with Zeller dominated the paint for most of the game. Foul trouble with Harrellson and Vargas really helped the Tarheels control the game around the rim. If Enes doesn’t pull a miracle, I really worry about having to depend on Eloy Vargas to really do anything to help this team. He just isn’t ready for big time college basketball.
Now the Cats move on to play a hot Notre Dame team at Freedom Hall in the SEC/Big East Challenge. It will be another tough test for the Cats, but at least it will basically be a home game for the young Cats, who really looked rattled in the first half in the Dean Dome. I guess we will just chalk this one up as another learning experience for a very young team.
