Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Eastern Illinois
After falling to Louisville on Tuesday night, the Kentucky basketball team hits the floor again on Friday, hosting Eastern Illinois inside Rupp Arena (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus).
On Thursday, UK head coach Mark Pope met the met with the media. He is focused on the distracted effort that his team showed on Tuesday, something he explained further on Thursday.
“I’m going to keep going back to this concept of distracted, because that’s what I’m sitting on right now,” Pope said. “That’s kind of where I am trying to understand why we were out of character in so many ways.”
What were the specific things that Pope saw from his team that proved that there was a distraction?
“When you think about the disappointing things for us, just us flagging the ball in transition,” Pope said. “It’s so wildly out of character for our teams. We’ve been really, really disciplined. We’ve been a really good transition defensive team overall. Now, credit to Louisville, because they put a ton of pressure on you with the pace of play.”
Moving forward, Pope knows that he and his team need to turn Tuesday’s loss into something productive.
“The only thing we can do about that is be better tomorrow,” Pope said. “That’s the only way we can approach it. It’s either going to be a setback forever or you’re going to turn it into the pivotal moment in your growth.”
Kentucky’s next opportunity to grow comes against the Ohio Valley Conference’s Eastern Illinois Panthers on Friday night. Pope knows that EIU will challenge the Cats.
“They’re really incredibly disciplined team they run their actions, they screen and cut and move and it makes sense,” Pope said. “They gave Notre Dame everything they wanted.”
After suffering their first loss of the season on Tuesday, the Cats are ready to get back on the floor. Pope is hoping that his team learned from Tuesday’s loss and can limit the distractions moving forward.
A Look at the Louisville Game
Despite rallying from 20 down in the second half, the Wildcats dropped a 96-88 contest to No. 12 Louisville on Tuesday.
• It was the second-highest scoring game in the series’ history with 184 combined points. The Dec. 28, 1991 meeting is the all-time highest scoring output at 192 combined points
• Kentucky won the rebounding, 42-40, and has won the rebounding in all three games
• Kentucky shot 47.1 percent from the field and has shot at least 46.8 percent in all three games
• Kentucky won points in the paint, 40-36, and bench points, 28-24
• Denzel Aberdeen had career highs with 26 points and seven rebounds
• Collin Chandler had 12 points, all coming on 3-pointers. He has made four 3-pointers in all three games this season. He also had six rebounds
• Kam Williams played 12 second-half minutes and was a plus11 to lead all Cats. He scored five points and hauled in four rebounds, while also blocking a shot
Eastern Illinois at a Glance
Eastern Illinois will mark the second first-time opponent for the Wildcats this season.
• The Panthers are 1-2, with a win coming over Nicholls. EIU has dropped games at Valpo and at Notre Dame
• Zion Fruster leads the scoring at 16.0 points per game. He’s shooting 36.4% from distance and 88.9% from the line
• Terry McMorris is snaring 8.0 rebounds per contest
• Marty Simmons is in his fifth year as coach. He won 184 games at Evansville prior to leading the Panthers. With the Purple Aces, he directed teams to 20 or more wins in three seasons and advanced the Aces to five postseason appearances
