Kentucky held its annual Blue/White game in front of a record crowd of 15,035 as the Blue defeated the White 99-71. John Calipari knows he has a talented team, but I think he was impressed with the way they battled last night. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this much talent on one team. Let’s take a look at some of the good and not so good things from last nights game.
THE GOOD
Coach Calipari
Coach Calipari just continues to surprise the Big Blue Nation with his generosity. Last night he gave two UK students scholarships for the spring semester. The recipients of those scholarships were freshman Amanda Dowell and senior Joshua Lawson. Congratulations to those two individuals. This kind of gesture shows just how good a person John Calipari is.
James Young
James Young led all scorers with 25 points. Young also had seven steals and three rebounds in 34 minutes of action. James was 3-5 from three-point range. Young showed the ability to get to the rim with his athletic ability, and I didn’t know how good of a shooter he was until last night. Overall on the night Young was 11-15 shooting. Young only played for the blue team.
Derek Willis
Derek Willis was one of the better players on the floor last night, and I think he shocked a lot of the fans that were in attendance. Willis hit 5-6 three-pointers finishing with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Willis only played for the white team last night.
Aaron Harrison
Aaron Harrison scored 19 points on 8-13 shooting, while hitting 3-4 from three-point range. Harrison also had six assist to go along with one rebound. Harrison also showed his ability to run the point guard position when Andrew is not in the game. Aaron only played for the blue team.
Dakari Johnson
Dakari Johnson played for both the blue and white team and finished the game with a double-double. Johnson finished the night with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Dakari is really good when he has the ball close to the basket. Dakari is really going to help this team this season.
Julius Randle
Julius Randle could be the best player in the country right now. After watching him last night, he could be playing in the NBA right now. He has the ability to handle the ball in the open court and is just a beast under the basket and on the boards. Randle finished the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Randle only played for the blue team.
Willie Cauley-Stein
Willie Cauley-Stein is a completely different player this season from what he was last year. Cauley-Stein was more aggressive on the boards last night and showed his ball handling abilities on a couple of fast breaks. Cauley-Stein finished the game with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Willie played for both teams.
Overall Shooting
This team is a very good shooting team, much better than Calipari’s past teams. Overall for the game white team shot 45.3% from the field on 29-64, and shot 50% from three-point range on 9-18 shooting. The blue team shot 62.3% from the field on 43-69, and shot 60% from three-point range on 6-10 shooting.
Not So Good
Free-throw Shooting
Kentucky is a team that will get to the foul line a lot because of their ability to drive to the basket and the new hand check rules in college basketball this season. With that being said they will need to shoot better than 58% from the charity stripe or that could haunt them at some point this season. Overall both teams combined was 11-19 from the line.
Turnovers
I know its early in the season and this is an inexperienced team, but they are going to have to cut down on the turnovers. The blue team finished with 16 turnovers, and the white team finished 22.
Andrew Harrison’s injured knee
Andrew Harrison had to leave the game early due to knee contusion, but it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. He just set out as a precaution. He should be good to go Friday.
Alex Poythress
Alex Poythress has all the talent in the world, but just seemed lost on the floor last night. I am hoping he was just having an off night, because Kentucky is really going to need him. Alex finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds while playing for both teams.
Overall this is going to be one exciting team to watch this season, and it all gets started Friday November 1 at 7pm as the Cats host Transylvania.
