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UK Basketball: Gillispie says Cats not facing adversity

February 03, 2009|LARRY VAUGHT

LEXINGTON - Since Billy Gillispie said earlier this season that he liked a team to face adversity early in the season so he could see how players responded, it would seem that the Kentucky coach might have learned some needed lessons then that could help him now.

His Wildcats have lost consecutive games to Mississippi and South Carolina after opening Southeastern Conference play with five straight wins. However, Gillispie says it is wrong to assume the Cats are having any kind of adversity now.

"Just because you lose does not mean that is adversity. You don't want to lose any time. What we didn't do well enough was rebound. It was not any adversity on our team. We had a few distractions earlier in the year, and I do not mind those kind of things," Gillispie said.

"The problem is I give credit to Ole Miss and South Carolina. They made some nice one-on-one plays. But our biggest problem was not rebounding like we need to do on defense. When you get a stop in this league, you better get the rebound. We can't continue to give teams more than one shot per possession, and we have been doing that in recent games."

Kentucky (16-6, 5-2 SEC) hosts Mississippi State tonight and Gillispie's players insist the Cats can bounce back from what they perceive is adversity due to the two-game losing ski.

"We definitely can come back. We have a really good group of character guys," junior forward Perry Stevenson said. "We are more than willing and able to do that. I think it will happen for us. We just need to be a whole lot tougher in the lane."

Sophomore center Patrick Patterson says the Cats have no choice but to "bounce back" after losing two straight games.

"It is mental and physical both. When you are out there playing, you have to be more physical and want to rebound from the post. On the perimeter, it is all about not letting your man get the ball, beat him to a spot and just being disruptive," Patterson said.

" Coach just wants us to be the toughest team in the SEC, be the most physical team and be the best mental team in crunch time and not let opponents be comfortable out there. Those are things that should not be that hard for us to do."

Blocked: Kentucky is blocking 7.4 shots per game - the nation's second best mark behind Mississippi State's 7.9 - but that could also be leading to some problems rebounding.

South Carolina had 18 offensive rebounds in Saturday's win over Kentucky and many came when Patterson and Stevenson either blocked shots or tried to block shots.

"When a guard penetrates, usually me and Perry try to jump up and swat the ball and at times we jump up and maybe they just decide to pass it when we are in the air," Patterson said. "Then there is only me, Perry and maybe one other person down low to try and get the rebound.

"The odds are against us and with me and Perry jumping in the air, I can understand them grabbing the boards. So we might have to be a little more selective about how we go after the blocks."

Patterson (45) and Stevenson (50) have combined for 95 of UK's 162 blocked shots.

"I want them to be aggressive," Gillispie said.

He also wants other players to rotate properly when Patterson, Stevenson or any other player goes after a blocked shot.

"Penetration forces rotation and rotation is what we should be good at this point in the season and we weren't very good it Saturday," Gillispie said.

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