TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — All eyes had been on Coleman Coliseum on Saturday morning for ESPN’s lone faculty basketball broadcast of the day.
On nationwide tv and with over 30 NBA scouts in attendance, the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide dismantled Kentucky by a remaining rating of 78-52.
Lots occurred, a lot of which had been positives for Alabama, so listed below are a few of my takeaways from the sport.
1. Charles Bediako outmatched Oscar Tshiebwe.
I wrote about this in my story from the sport right here, however it nonetheless cannot go with out mentioning.
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Tshiebwe was the Nationwide Participant of the 12 months final yr and is likely one of the finest gamers in all of school basketball, and Charles Bediako made him seem like he did not belong on the ground.
From burying him offensively in ball display screen coverages to walling up defensively and utilizing his energy and body to make Tshiebwe alter his shot, Bediako was nothing in need of spectacular on Saturday.
There are a lot of different nice bigs all through the SEC — Auburn’s Johni Broome and Florida’s Colin Castleton to call a couple of — so to see that Bediako has this skill to close down an opposing star large man, it raises Alabama’s already-high ceiling.
2. Kentucky remains to be a really gifted workforce, but Alabama was on a totally totally different stage.
Do not be mistaken, this Kentucky workforce has excellent basketball gamers.
Everybody is aware of Tshiebwe is sweet. Kentucky’s level guard, Sahvir Wheeler has led the SEC in assists in two seasons. Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston had been each McDonald’s All-Individuals. Antonio Reeves averaged 20 factors per recreation final season.
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Regardless of all of this, Alabama outclassed Kentucky in each sense of the phrase. From its protection, to its capturing, to its playmaking offensively. Alabama had extra factors within the paint, extra assists, extra steals, extra area targets, extra 3-point makes.
Kentucky needs to be high-quality this yr, as Alabama head coach Nate Oats mentioned in his postgame press convention. This appeared extra like an announcement of how good Alabama could be, even in opposition to a really gifted workforce, when the Crimson Tide is clicking on all cylinders.
3. Alabama as soon as once more blew out one other workforce with out capturing notably nicely.
We are able to now formally bury the “stay by the three, die by the three” narrative surrounding Oats-coached groups, if we hadn’t already.
Usually, if you happen to see that Alabama beat a workforce by 25+, you’d assume it hit 13, 15, even 17 or extra 3-pointers. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, because it beat Kentucky by 26 with solely eight 3-point makes — lower than its season common.
At halftime, Alabama led by 11 whereas capturing solely 2-for-10 from past the arc.
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The Crimson Tide shot 8-for-22 for the sport, however was simply 6-for-20 earlier than freshman Rylan Griffen nailed two deep threes in rubbish time.
The capturing wasn’t essentially dangerous all through the sport, however Kentucky was making a degree defensively to remove that aspect of Alabama’s recreation. That was high-quality for Oats, as a result of he simply utilized his artful guard play to work the ball inside for layups and dishes to large males for dunks.
Alabama can beat you in all kinds of the way, and if the 3-pointer occurs to be falling at a extra fast clip than regular that day, good luck.
4. Mark Sears was glorious defensively.
Sears has been heralded all season lengthy, however largely for his efforts on the offensive finish as Alabama’s second-leading scorer. As a defender, followers are usually going to consider Jaden Bradley, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako first.
Scroll to Proceed
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On Saturday, although, Sears was all over the place defensively. He racked up six steals, probably the most by an Alabama participant since Trevor Releford in 2014. His palms had been lively in passing lanes and on Kentucky’s bigs. Anytime a Wildcat large man would deliver the ball down beneath his shoulders, Sears’ fast palms had been able to strike and poke the ball away.
Moreover he confirmed nice effort as a fringe defender, guarding arduous in opposition to Wheeler and different Wildcat threats on the permieter.
Throughout his postgame press convention, Oats mentioned Clowney informed Sears that the workforce might be anticipating this type of defenivse exhibiting from Sears each recreation, now that they’ve seen that he can do it. Oats added that he agreed with Clowney, so watching Sears defensively could also be one more enchancment this Alabama workforce could make.
5. Effort by no means waivered all through your complete recreation.
As I discussed earlier, Alabama shot simply 2-for-10 from past the arc within the first half. Regardless of this, none of Alabama’s gamers let their defensive effort waiver despite the fact that their pictures weren’t falling.
We have seen Alabama groups prior to now, final season particularly, the place it was apparent that defensive effort decreased when gamers weren’t capturing the ball nicely or scoring at a excessive clip.
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This season that could not be farther from the reality. Everybody provides most effort on protection, which is a part of the explanation why Alabama’s defensive effectivity now ranks within the top-10 based on the analytics service KenPom.
And it isn’t simply the truth that they play arduous when pictures aren’t falling, they play arduous even with an enormous lead.
When Alabama led by 25 factors or extra on Saturday for a big portion of the second half, Alabama gamers nonetheless did not hesitate to dive on the ground for free balls or work arduous on protection for a block or a steal. Even with the sport already determined, there was no let up within the effort class from anybody.
That’s the purest signal of a tradition that creates successful basketball, and it is exhibiting, to say the least.
6. A number of extra issues…
The reported sellout crowd inside Coleman Coliseum was unbelievable. Typically it has been tougher to get the place fully stuffed, however when it’s it may be the most effective environments within the SEC.
Jahvon Quinerly seems an increasing number of like his outdated self each recreation. His 12 factors on 4-of-7 capturing from the sphere had been an enormous increase for Alabama off the bench. He even acquired a technical foul for chirping with Wheeler whereas main by 20, which tells me he is getting his confidence again.
Alabama as soon as once more restricted turnovers, giving up simply 9 within the recreation. That is the second straight recreation Alabama has had single-digit turnovers, and coincidentally the second straight recreation Alabama has received by no less than 20 factors.
Alabama scored 21 quick break factors within the recreation, lastly with the ability to push the ball in transition constantly after the quantity of steals and stay ball turnovers that had been pressured.
Alabama has held 4 straight opponents beneath 70 factors since permitting 100 to Gonzaga on Dec. 17.
Not once, but twice did Mark Pope call out Cooper Flagg‘s spinning tendencies when looking to create scoring opportunities with the ball in his hands. And that’s just what we saw in The Journey, the Kentucky head coach first bringing up the star freshman’s habit at halftime, telling the Wildcats to attack those moments with two hands when they inevitably present themselves.
“If Cooper gets in there and starts spinning around, move your feet, move your feet, move your feet. And if you’re going for the ball, go in there with two hands,” Pope told the team down 46-37 at the half. “They’ll be less inclined to call a foul. Stick your nose in there. If you’re coming help defense, go in with two hands.”
He brought it up again down the stretch with Kentucky fighting to pull off the upset win, tied at 72-72 with just 26 seconds to go. Duke had the ball with a chance to throw a dagger, almost certainly putting it in the hands of Flagg to make it happen.
Pope’s response?
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“If I get Cooper on an iso, we’re coming and we’re rotating down. As he starts to spin, we’re coming,” he said once again. “This could either be a full-body or two hands — we are not paying him out with a foul. Go in with two hands and take the ball. If Cooper goes to work and spins, we should have a body there to take the ball. Yes? Let’s go boys.”
You know the rest of the story, Flagg falling right into Kentucky’s trap. The likely No. 1 pick drives on the left elbow, defended by Andrew Carr. He goes between the legs twice, then spins from left to right with Otega Oweh waiting for him with an outstretched hand. The junior guard makes contact with the ball and secures it with two, just as Pope requested, then takes it coast to coast for the foul and free throws on the other end.
It was the game-winning sequence, putting the Wildcats up two before forcing another Flagg turnover to go up three, then five to wrap up the upset victory.
How did it all happen? Kentucky saw it pop up on film going into the matchup, then saw the trend continue as things unfolded inside State Farm Arena. It was a real-time adjustment called by the head coach — one of many throughout the game, but inarguably the biggest.
“It was something he noticed in real time. He did it a couple of times during the game. We watched it a little bit on film, all of our fours were watching film on him,” Lamont Butler told KSR. “That’s just a smart guy, smart coach. He knew what was going to happen and it helped us out. Otega was able to make a big play and help us get the win.”
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“Going into the game, the scouting report, part of that is knowing players’ go-to moves and moves that counter very well,” Brandon Garrison added. “I feel like he was doing that all game, so we knew as players that he was going to make that spin and Otega would be right there to make the game-winning steal.”
Pope also stressed improved transition defense and ball screen coverage among the mid-game keys to a win, but it was his ability to call his shot with Flagg that has stolen the attention — and rightfully so. It’s like when Tony Romo first started calling NFL games for CBS and correctly predicted the plays before they happened. There’s an element of magic to it for the casual fan, but for those participating in the action, it’s about reading the situation and coming up with a response.
Fortunately for Kentucky, Pope is pretty darn good at it.
“It feels great. If you stick to the plan, stick to the scouting report, good things happen like that. We’re going to keep sticking with it,” Garrison said. “… Coach Pope is a great coach.”
“The way Coach Pope does it is very special. He really helped us at that point,” Butler added. “… That’s going to be great for us throughout the year.”
CINCINNATI — The Bearcats hit the road for the first time this season on Tuesday night at Northern Kentucky. Cincinnati lost in this exact scenario two years ago amidst a brutal offensive showing in the second half, but they are ready to avenge that performance with the best UC roster Wes Miller’s had.
UC enters with a 92.9% chance to win the game on ESPN’s Matchup Predictor. The Bearcats are ranked 11th on KenPom, while Northern Kentucky is 186th (highest-ranked UC opponent yet).
“I was pleased with the defensive effort to start the game,” Miller said about his team following Friday’s 86-49 win over Nicholls State. “I was pleased with the defensive effort to start the second half. And there was some good stuff going on.”
Cincinnati is 2-1 all-time against NKU ahead of the 7 p.m. ET Tuesday tip-off on ESPN+.
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Will Simas Lukošius keep shooting over 70% from three-point land? Probably not, but Cincinnati is going to be a firm national title contender if he does.
So far, he’s hit 10-14 triple tries to rank tied for third nationally at 71.4% overall. The stroke looks as clean as any shot I’ve seen in person, mixed with the best shape Lukošius has been in during his college career. History says he can’t shoot this well on this type of volume, but above 40% over the full season is very plausible at this rate.
“I don’t feel like he’s forcing the shot at all,” Miller said about his top shooter. “I can’t think of one time when he forced a shot. In fact, early in the game, as he was coming off the floor for the first media timeout, I told him to shoot more. I thought he passed a couple of shots up. He had one he passed up in the corner drove in and turned it over by trying to get a lob to Aziz [Bandaogo]. Those are the turnovers that I can live with because they are aggressive, but he is such a damn good shooter.
“He hasn’t been forcing them, and I think he’s taking the right shots. I believe you have to give credit to the other guys as well because the ball is popping around. You look down tonight and we have 18 assists. The ball is moving around, and there are a lot of other good players on the floor as well. Simas [Lukosius] is not going to shoot 80% this year, because nobody’s ever done that. I want him to do that but that won’t happen. He is going to have a great year, because he’s a really good player, and he continues to improve.”
Off the catch, dribble, and in transition, Lukošius is hitting every type of deep shot through three games, all while he and Jizzle James lead the offense with 5.3 assists per game each.
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He’s been the second-most efficient offensive player in the Big 12 so far, posting a whopping 40.3 Player Efficiency Rating and a scorching 92.9% effective field goal rate (fifth nationally). Now, he gets to test that shot outside the friendly confines of Fifth Third Arena. A place where UC shot 28.6% from deep two years ago.
The Lithuanian is showing the end of last season wasn’t just some hot streak—it’s who he can consistently be as a college player. We’ll see if the full-season cement can set on this trajectory.
Time will ultimately tell who takes over the top perimeter guarding role on this Bearcats roster, but Jizzle James has led the way so far.
John Newman III looks like he’s rubbed off on the stout young guard. He’s notched an 82.4 defensive rating this season (16th-best in the Big 12), a big improvement from his 104.6 freshman mark. That’s been showcased with strong footwork on defense and complete control of his on-ball physicality (zero fouls committed in three games).
NKU doesn’t boast any daunting guard matchups like Nicholls’ Rob Brown. The Norse’s leading scorers are both guards, but neither are shooting over 42% from the floor.
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“Jizzle James is really improved, and I think that’s so obvious guys,” Miller said on Friday. “He was really, really good on defense tonight. I mean, not only did he defeat ball screens, but I don’t think anybody hit him with the ball screen all night. I mean, he was special, so I was pleased with that, and I could keep going down the line, but I thought Jizzle had a really nice night.”
NKU is bottom-10 nationally in scoring average (57 PPG) and has KenPom’s 300th-ranked offense by efficiency. It should be a clamping field day for James and his teammates.
If healthy, Cincinnati has a few different avenues to hit a high ceiling this coming spring, and these early signs from James are great indicators they can keep climbing up the CBB hierarchy.
Bookmark Bearcats Talk for the latest news, exclusive interviews, and so much more. Check out our YouTube page as well, starting with the video below.
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The Jackson State Tigers (0-4) will try to stop a four-game road losing streak when they take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (2-2) on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at E. A. Diddle Arena. The game airs at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN+. In this article, we investigate the Western Kentucky vs. Jackson State odds and lines around this matchup.
No line is set yet for the Hilltoppers vs. Tigers game.
Western Kentucky won 19 games against the spread last season, while failing to cover 12 times. Jackson State compiled a 14-18-0 record against the spread last year.
To prepare for this college hoops matchup, here’s what you need to get ready for Wednesday’s action.
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Check out: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Western Kentucky vs. Jackson State prediction
Western Kentucky 80, Jackson State 71
Against the spread
Western Kentucky covered 19 times in 31 chances against the spread last season.
Jackson State went 14-18-0 ATS last year.
Last year, the Hilltoppers put up 80.2 points per game, only 4.6 more points than the 75.6 the Tigers allowed.
Western Kentucky went 10-6 against the spread and 13-6 overall last season when scoring more than 75.6 points.
Jackson State went 11-10 against the spread and 14-7 overall last season when giving up fewer than 80.2 points.
The Tigers scored just 3.2 fewer points per game last year (71.2) than the Hilltoppers allowed their opponents to score (74.4).
When it scored more than 74.4 points last season, Jackson State went 10-3 against the spread and 9-4 overall.
Western Kentucky had an ATS record of 9-2 and an 11-1 record overall last season when its opponents scored fewer than 71.2 points.
The Hilltoppers outscored their opponents by a total of 197 points last season (5.8 points per game on average), and opponents of the Tigers outscored them by 139 more points on the year (4.4 per game).
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