KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's final game before facing Gonzaga

Let’s quickly adress the elephant in the room. No, I am not Jack Pilgrim. KSR’s main basketball beat writer is already in Spokane gearing up for Kentucky’s matchup against Gonzaga on Sunday (and enjoying some vacation time along the way). Which means we had to call in the relief (myself, Zack Geoghegan) to head tonight’s takeaways for KSR. I sure hope you enjoy.

In the end, Kentucky came away with a 43-point victory against an inferior South Carolina State squad on Thursday night in Rupp Arena. The ‘Cats never trailed as head coach John Calipari was able to spread the minutes all over the roster. In reality, there isn’t too much we can take from this win in terms of what actually happened on the floor, but there was still plenty of basketball to talk about. Let’s dive right in.

A confidence-boosting victory

If anything, a 43-point win should help calm some nerves among the fanbase and even within the program. Yes, South Carolina State is one of the dozen or so worst teams in all of college basketball this season. But a 43-point win is far more comforting than a 15- or 20-point one. The ‘Cats had this one in the bag from opening tip. Considering how disappointing the loss to Michigan State was a couple of days ago, building any sort of confidence is always a positive step.

The next step — the much harder step — though, is keeping that momentum going. As most know by now, the ‘Cats travel to Washington state this weekend for a showdown against No. 2 Gonzaga on Sunday night. After the win on Thursday night, Calipari said he’s been trying to instill in his group the mentality that they did beat Michigan State. If that concept can create even the tiniest mental edge for UK, then go for it.

“What I told them, I want your mentality to be — and I’ve done this before — your mentality is we beat Michigan State, where would you be feeling right now?” Calipari rhetorically asked the media after taking down South Carolina State. “An out-of-bounds play, a free throw, a missed shot here, late game, not executing and — but all that stuff, we didn’t play great. Still should have won, could have won. I give credit to Michigan State, Tom Izzo is a great friend but I want them to have the mentality you played well enough to win that game. Let’s say you won it, how would you feel going to Spokane right now?”

Personally, I would be feeling pretty good. Obviously, Kentucky didn’t win, but the ‘Cats sure did have several chances to beat Michigan State. The sky certainly isn’t the falling, that’s for sure.

Oscar Tshiebwe earned a half-day

Oscar Tshiebwe, the national reigning player of the year, played far more minutes against the Spartans than anyone (even his head coach) expected coming into Tuesday night’s loss to MSU, but he was needed in order for the ‘Cats to have a chance down the stretch. With another high-profile showdown on Sunday against All-American Drew Timme, Thursday night was the perfect opportunity to give the big man a bit of a breather.

Tshiebwe played just 14 minutes against South Carolina State, his lowest in a Kentucky uniform by a decent margin (he played 20 minutes against Ohio last season, still managing 10 rebounds). He came off the bench once again and played in small segments, finishing with a solid six points and seven boards in his limited action. Calipari even said after the game the plan wasn’t to play Tshiebwe at all against South Carolina State, but the team needed some extra practice feeding the ball to him in the post, so Big O found the floor a couple of different times to help with that.

But what stands out most about Tshiebwe’s lack of playing time — and Calipari referenced this in his postgame press conference — is that he’s not about counting stats this year. The best player in the country, coming off a monstrous 22-point, 18-rebound performance just two days ago, was more concerned about doing what’s best for his team rather than trying to force his way into 30 minutes to stuff his numbers.

It’s a small tidbit, but one I feel is notable, and a good reflection of where this team’s head is at early in the season.

Please… Shoot the ball!!

Kentucky shot 24 three-pointers against South Carolina State, which is right in line with the 25-per game that Calipari is hoping for. The ‘Cats connected on 10 of them for a 41.7 percent clip, eight coming in the second half. CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves shook off a rough first half to come alive in the second — the two sharpshooters combined to go 6-14 from deep. But that being said, UK could have shot at least 5-7 more from deep, with Fredrick holding back on quite a few good looks.

As our good friend Brandon Ramsey loves to say… Shoot. Them. ALL!

If Calipari isn’t going to run lineups with both Fredrick and Reeves on the floor for extended periods, then these two need to take it upon themselves to fire up shots whenever possible. With Fredrick’s defense looking a step or two behind so far this season, he especially has to let it fly if he wants to stay on the court. If those two aren’t shooting the ball, they aren’t half as impactful — full stop.

Fastbreak points GALORE!

Against Michigan State, Kentucky’s lack of fastbreak points was a direct reflection of what went wrong. Calipari has preached a full-speed-ahead style of offense, but five transition points against the Spartans spelled doom. When UK isn’t pushing the pace, the halfcourt offense has to take over, which isn’t nearly as effective of a strategy and seriously stalled the ‘Cats against the Spartans in the two overtimes. Kentucky scored just 77 points despite playing two extra periods against MSU.

On Thursday, however, the ‘Cats made it a point to run all night long. Kentucky finished with 31 fastbreak points against South Carolina State, flying up and down the court for clean dunks and wide-open triples from the wing. As a team, UK assisted on 25 of its 39 made baskets, the majority of them coming during beautiful transition opportunities. Sahvir Wheeler dished out 10 dimes as the lead conductor. That’s when Kentucky is at its absolute best.

Lance Ware’s first career double-digit game

So… How about that guy Lance Ware?

The junior forward recorded his first-ever college outing of double-digit scoring, finishing with 12 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting to go along with three rebounds and two blocks in just 14 minutes as a starter. Ware’s previous career-high with the ‘Cats was an eight-point outing against Missouri during his freshman season.

Ware has taken plenty of criticism over the last 48 hours (and over the last two seasons, really) for his role on this team — some of it warranted, but most of it over the top. He’s carved out his spot as the “energy guy” on this squad but hasn’t found a solidified role when it comes to the actual basketball. UK sure could use nights like this from Ware on a consistent basis as Tshiebwe’s backup.

Calipari says Ware’s confidence has skyrocketed since last season and some of that showed up on Thursday night.

As someone who classifies myself as a “Lance Ware stan”, I thought it was a great confidence-boost to see him get into a rhythm by working his way to easy buckets around the rim. I was even more encouraged to see him show a little bit of bite when asked about the outside noise regarding his play.

“It’s easy for people or fans to point their fingers and other people to point their fingers and get on Twitter and type stuff about you,” Ware told reporters Thursday night. “But I’m pretty sure none of them have ever played in a game like that, and never will. Never been in my position or anybody on my team’s position. So it’s kinda funny to see people talk about stuff they don’t know anything about. They just watch.”

Those with Twitter Fingers (side note: it might be time to find a new social media site…) might not enjoy that quote, but I was all for it. Ware shows plenty of fight on the court — why not show it off the court, too?

Check out KSR’s photo gallery

One more thing… Make sure to check out Dr. Mike’s awesome pictures from Thursday night.