Watch the Tape: Ole Miss Rebels

The Kentucky Wildcats finished off an undefeated season at Rupp Arena on Tuesday night with an 83-72 win over the Ole Miss Rebels. It is the sixth time in Coach John Calipari’s tenure, and 14th time in school history, that the ‘Cats did not lose a game at home. Ole Miss hung around until the end, eventually cutting it to six points in the final minutes, but could never get over the hump. Kentucky is now 24-6, 13-4 in the Southeastern Conference heading into the regular season finale at Florida.

There were some defensive concerns that crept up once again against the Rebels. Matthew Murrell went off for five three-pointers, Nysier Brooks found success around the rim, and Ole Miss went over their scoring average by four points. However, there were still some really great stretches for the Wildcats defense. This is a team that can survive with their elite offense and then lock up on the other end when it is needed. There is certainly no reason to be alarmed with any perceived defensive issues.

In today’s edition of watch the tape we are going to highlight TyTy Washington’s impact on the Kentucky defense. When he is in the game the ‘Cats are simply a different unit on that end of the floor. Additionally, we will take a look at a couple of potential “tweaks” that Coach Calipari has made offensively. It looked like there was a concerted effort to put Kellan Grady in driving situations and throw the ball inside to Oscar Tshiebwe more. Let’s step inside the KSR Film Room and breakdown Kentucky’s win over the Ole Miss Rebels.

TyTy Washington’s Defensive Impact

As always, watching the film provides important context for takeaways from the game. On paper, it may have seemed like Kentucky wasn’t great defensively. Giving up 72 points to the Ole Miss Rebels admittedly isn’t great compared to what you would expect from a really good defensive team. However, simply gathering a couple of extra defensive rebounds could have really held Ole Miss down in the first half. There was also a stretch in the second half where the Rebels hit some really tough shots. In the end, the film would say that the Wildcats were fine defensively. That is why we are simply going to focus on how special TyTy Washington is on that end of the floor.

There is a different level of defensive activity when TyTy Washington is in the game. He is one of the best help defenders in all of college basketball. In this clip, Davion Mintz gets a little out of position running through a screen but Washington is right there to cut off the drive. He gets his hand on the pass using his length and Mintz does a good job of getting himself back in the play as well. Washington’s aggressive help and active hands led to an easy lay-in for Mintz.

In our KSR Scouting Report’s we talk a lot about tightening up as the ball comes towards you when guarding a shooter. Washington is guarding #11 Murrell in the corner and starts to tighten up as soon as #24 Joiner begins to pick the ball up on his drive. The early recovery allowed Washington to get a steal and got the Wildcats out on the break.

Washington comes a long way to help on this drive. He has to come from the perimeter into the paint to get hands on the ball and take it off #24 Joiner. Typically you wouldn’t want to help this aggressively off of a shooter like #11 Murrell. However, sometimes aggressive play can cover up a lot of problems. This play led to another easy two points on the other end for Kentucky. When you consider plays like this it becomes clear the defense wasn’t that bad against the Ole Miss Rebels.

Feeding the Post to Oscar Tshiebwe

Is it time for more Coach Calipari tweak talk? The Kentucky offense appeared to make a real effort to throw the ball into the post a little bit more against the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday night. Oscar Tshiebwe is still a little raw with his back to the basket. When he has to make actual post moves his lack of ball-handling ability holds him back. However, his quick feet, strength, and touch gives him a chance when he gets deep post catches. If he is going to win National Player of the Year he has to be a guy the ‘Cats throw it to more in March. It looks like Coach Calipari is in agreement.

Oscar Tshiebwe got a little lost at the beginning of this play, but using downscreens as a way to feed the post is a great wrinkle for March. Tshiebwe has gotten really good at the quick baseline drop step. This is a called action by Coach Calipari to feed the post off the downscreen and he has the weak side set up perfectly as well. The baseline drift pass goes to Keion Brooks who then moves the one-more pass to a wide open Kellan Grady for three. Beautiful offensive execution.

When your center is a National Player of the Year candidate you might as well find ways to throw him the ball. It would be great if Tshiebwe was able to recognize the ball reversal coming and duck his man in right at the front of the rim for a deeper catch. However, he still gets it deep enough to score on a one dribble drop step. His percentages are really high when he can score on zero or one dribbles.

This clip is a great example of Tshiebwe ducking his man in for a deep catch. He does recognize the ball reversal this time, throws his body into his defender, and puts himself in a position to score on the drop step without taking a dribble. Credit to the coaching staff for developing Tshiebwe into the post player that he has become this season.

Kellan Grady as a Driver

We all know that Kellan Grady is one of the best shooters in college basketball. However, against the Ole Miss Rebels, we got to see him as a driver a couple of times. Even if it is just one or two right hand drives per game this is a great development for Grady’s offensive game. He is a 51.9% finisher from two-point range and has driving opportunities due to aggressive closeouts. Here are a couple of the plays he made against the Rebels.

For those who want to see more plays for Kellan Grady, Coach Calipari went to him right away on Tuesday. Kentucky ran this elevator doors set on their first possession to free the sharp-shooter up for three. Ole Miss blasted through the screen, but Grady was able to attack the closeout getting downhill to his right hand. This is what he needs to continue to do more and more often. He has proven to be good at the little runner and has the skill to make these quick right hand drives.

Coach Calipari called more set actions against the Ole Miss Rebels than he typically does. Some of that could have been due to it becoming a more half court style of game. However, it also allows him to make sure the Wildcats play to their strengths when the pace slows down. This play here not only gives Oscar Tshiebwe a chance to duck in, but it also opens up a driving lane for Grady. He needs to continue to be more aggressive off the dribble as Kentucky enters tournament play.