Watch the Tape: Georgia Bulldogs

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watch-the-tape-georgia-bulldogs-2 — Photo by Dylan Buell | Getty Images

Tuesday night was absolutely a tale of two halves. The Georgia Bulldogs were rolling at Rupp Arena for the first 20 minutes. They were shooting 55.6% from the field, held Kentucky to 33.3% shooting, and took a 42-34 lead into the halftime locker room. However, the Wildcats responded by outscoring the ‘Dawgs 51-29 in the second half and completely flipped the script in terms of shot-making. Reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe responded after a 4-11 first half by going 8-9 in the second half. He finished with 37 points and 24 rebounds on the game for one of the best stat lines in college basketball this season.

There were two common themes that carried over from Kentucky’s big win at Tennessee to Tuesday night’s win over Georgia. First, the ‘Cats absolutely dominated the glass against a Top 25 offensive rebounding team in the country. Kentucky posted an 87.5% defensive rebounding percentage against a team that normally gets about 35% of their misses. Secondly, the free throw shooting was excellent once again. After a 22-25 performance in Knoxville, the ‘Cats followed it up by going 23-30 at the line on Tuesday night. If the Wildcats can continue finding success in those two categories it should lead to more wins in the back half of the schedule.

This week was all about holding serve at Rupp Arena. Step one of that plan was successfully executed on Tuesday night with an 85-71 win over Georgia. Now, our attention turns to Texas A&M which comes to town on Saturday afternoon. Before moving forward we still have to take a look back at Tuesday’s performance and break down the film. We will primarily focus on the second half as we continue to build positive momentum in the heart of the SEC schedule. Let’s dive on in and take a look at what went right for the Wildcats against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Oscar Tshiebwe Dominating the Paint

It can be easy to take Oscar Tshiebwe’s greatness for granted. This season there have even been legitimate reasons to criticize the reigning National Player of the Year. On Tuesday night though Kentucky’s big man absolutely dominated the Georgia Bulldogs. In the second half alone Tshiebwe put up 23 points and 15 rebounds on his way to a 37-point, 24-rebound stat line. Part of his success was due to the Bulldogs’ defensive game plan allowing him to play mostly one-on-one. However, he also went to his face-up game more out of the post which allowed him to use his quickness and strength to his advantage. Let’s take a look at the film.

Oscar Tshiebwe hasn’t finished as well at the rim this season. He is being held to a National Player of the Year standard, but the statistics still prove it out. After shooting 60.6% last season, Tshiebwe is down to 58% as a senior. A big reason for that drop is simply because he continues to attract more and more attention from opposing defenses. However, the Georgia Bulldogs played him one-on-one for the most part and he was just 4-11 at the half. When Tshiebwe found success though he was more willing to face-up which allowed him to use his quickness and strength to his advantage. That should continue to be a bigger part of his game going forward.

Kentucky came out in the second half and immediately started getting the ball inside to their star. Oscar Tshiebwe rarely has a height advantage around the rim. However, he is usually quicker and stronger than his matchup. That was certainly true on Tuesday night against the Georgia Bulldogs. When Tshiebwe can face up and turn the corner on his defender he is able to finish at a higher percentage compared to when he operates with his back to the basket.

As Oscar Tshiebwe got hot in the second half Coach Calipari started to dial up some set plays in the half court to get him the ball. This cross screen action with CJ Fredrick is really good. Opponents won’t help on the cross screen off of Fredrick because of fear of giving up a three. When Tshiebwe has this much space he is nearly impossible to guard. He has the quickness to get by his defender on the baseline and the strength to finish through some contact.

Cason Wallace & Antonio Reeves’s Playmaking Ability

Sahvir Wheeler did not play against Tennessee and only played 11 minutes on Tuesday night against the Georgia Bulldogs. In the second half, Wheeler logged just one minute after a costly turnover on a post entry quickly got him back out of the game. How much Wheeler should or shouldn’t play is a different discussion for a different article. However, there is no denying that Cason Wallace and Antonio Reeves have emerged as dynamic playmakers for the Wildcats. Their playmaking was a big part of Kentucky’s dominant second half.

Coach Calipari dialed up some different half court actions on Tuesday night. This one put Antonio Reeves in a good position to attack a closeout and lead to an easy two points. Over the last couple of games, Reeves has really flourished in his role as a secondary playmaker for Kentucky’s offense. He can be really dangerous against closeouts because of the urgency with which the defense will try to take him away from three-point range.

Sometimes the best offense is as simple as putting the ball in your best player’s hands and asking him to be better than the opponent. That is old-school Coach Calipari and Kentucky offense. Against the Georgia Bulldogs, Cason Wallace showed some potential of being that sort of playmaker. Here his defender is anticipating a ballscreen that never came and Wallace exploded in a straight line downhill to the rim.

This is an excellent offensive possession for the Wildcats. There is a little of everything here including a post entry, off-ball cutting, ball movement, and ultimately a made jump shot. The more the ball moves the easier it makes things offensively. Kentucky is slowly but surely starting to learn that concept.

Down the stretch Cason Wallace continued to make winning plays for Kentucky offensively. Similar to the last clip we saw with Wallace, the Georgia defender was quickly beaten off of the dribble as Oscar Tshiebwe faked the ballscreen. These are the type of play the ‘Cats need from their point guard position going forward. If Wallace continues to take over more of the primary ball-handler duties from Sahvir Wheeler he will need to be a dynamic scorer off of the bounce.