Victorious Cats Play "Weird" Basketball Against Colgate

By Jamie H. Vaught

In Coach Mark Pope’s terms, Kentucky had a “weird” performance Wednesday night as it stopped Colgate 78-67 before a crowd of 19,646 at Rupp Arena.

The Wildcats roared to a fast start, racing to a 17-0 advantage in the first seven minutes of the contest.  Then they nearly fell apart, leading only by two (38-36) at the intermission.  After Colgate, one of the top mid-majors in the nation in recent years, came out ahead by three in the early second half, Kentucky bounced back to beat the Raiders of the Patriot League who have won six consecutive regular season conference titles with five NCAA Tournament appearances.

“I was proud of the way our guys kind of responded,” said Pope. “We had some weird energy. There was all kind of weirdness. The 17-0 (run) was a little weird. I think it made it weirder and we got weird.

Koby Brea of Kentucky looks for an open teammate during his team's victory over Colgate Wednesday night at Rupp Arena. (Photo by Wayne Mason)

“Our guys rang the bell the way that they do and I was really proud of them.  We got good contributions from them and got a bunch of guys that protected the ball really well which was a point of emphasis for us. We finally got back over 30 threes and it's been really hard for us to do but I was proud of that.  Some good things for us.  We got some guys some minutes and different situations that they haven't had so it gives us a little chance to adjust to changing lineup a little bit. And it was a good night.”

As for the three-pointers, UK couldn’t do anything for awhile before it finally hit four straight downtown jumpers in the second half, finishing with 10 of 31 three-point field goals for 32.3 percent shooting.  Koby Brea, who had a team-high 17 points, gunned in 5 of 8 three-pointers.

Pope has said he wants his team to keep shooting three-pointers even when the Cats aren’t hitting, and that is what Kentucky did against Colgate.

“For sure, 100%, yes. And for us it's just the volume.  Our volume has been down and it's been a little frustrating to me,” Pope said. “Kerr (Kriisa) has been one of the big catalysts for us. Not only is our volume down for us but we lost one of our catalysts.  We are going to rediscover ways to get back to that part of our game. I was happy to get over 30 (shots).” 

Kentucky forward Andrew Carr, who posted his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, agreed with Pope’s description of the game.

“I’d probably agree with him. It was a little bit weird,” said Carr. “To start a game 17-0 is a little bit

different, of course. We’ve got to keep our focus throughout that. I felt like (giving) credit to

Koby (Brea). He did a great job. They (Colgate) got pretty comfortable knocking down some threes (8 of 19 for 42.1 percent) and things like that. So, we had to buckle down in the second half and really respond and we played well.”

Overall, the Wildcats, who improved their record to 9-1, won the rebounding battle, 46-35 and used their size to win points in the paint, 40-24.

Due to injuries to Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa in the backcourt, UK freshmen Trent Noah of Harlan County and Travis Perry of Lyon County are getting some playing time.  Both played around 10 minutes each with Noah hitting a three-pointer.

Asked about their performance against the Raiders, Pope said, “That is going to be a work in progress. They are super talented players.  I thought they made solid contributions tonight and it's hard. You want to get them in the game when there’s a real flow to it and they weren't.

"Trent was in the game when there was a little better vibe.  My favorite part of Trent Noah. This is why I love him so much is he has been in a game a good minute and seven seconds, I'm guessing, something like that. He's standing right in front of me and I'm like punch it, throw it in the post. You know, punch it, punch it and he shoots a three. That's how I know he's going to be a big-time player. It was a really happy joyful moment for us.  I thought he really gave us a boost. In fact, I think he went nine straight minutes, give or take. It's good, this is how you grow as a team and as individuals.” 

Kentucky meets rival Louisville Saturday at Rupp Arena.  The 5:15 p.m. ET game will be shown on ESPN.

Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro., he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.

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