Tag: 2009-10 college basketball season (Page 14 of 16)

#2 Kentucky fends off #12 Tennessee

For 31 minutes, the Vols gave Kentucky all they could handle, but a 16-4 run — including back-to-back three-pointers from Eric Bledsoe — put the game away. Kentucky prevailed, 73-62.

The Wildcats were perplexed by Tennessee’s zone, failing to attack the high post (enough) or the baseline (at all), the two weakest parts of a 2-3 zone. They made their run by getting out on the break and were fortunate when Bledsoe knocked down those back-to-back bombs.

John Wall led the Wildcats with 24 points, while Bledsoe chipped in with 16. DeMarcus Cousins had a tough night scoring the ball, hitting just 2-6 shots from the field and going 1-8 from the free throw line. However, he had 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.

Lack of continuity is killing the Tar Heels

North Carolina put up a fight, but lost at home to #7 Duke, 64-54. The score was tied, 45-45 with eight minutes to play, but a pair of Jon Scheyer bombs — one with 5:35 to play to give Duke a four-point lead and another with 2:35 to play to push the lead to nine — effectively broke Carolina’s back.

The Tar Heels are a mess, especially offensively. It’s no surprise that they’re suffering from a lack of leadership, considering that just two of the team’s top seven players (in terms of minutes), Deon Thompson and Ed Davis, returned from last year’s championship team. And it’s tough for big men to be leaders because they don’t handle the ball as much as guards do and aren’t able to set a standard for taking care of the ball and making that extra pass for an open shot. Upperclassmen are so important in terms of leading the youngsters by example, and Roy Williams simply isn’t getting that kind of leadership from seniors Thompson and Marcus Ginyard, or junior Will Graves.

The Tar Heels also got killed on the defensive glass. Duke had 19 offensive rebounds, which allowed the Blue Devils to shoot 11 more shots than UNC.

North Carolina is now 2-7 and isn’t likely to get a bid to the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, Duke is 8-2 and in sole possession of first place in the ACC.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

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