SUPER BOWL 2012

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Arkansas- Little Rock 1/3/12 Tuesday 7PM/6PM (Fox South)
First meeting between the two schools.

Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans (Sun Belt Conference)

Location: Little Rock, Ark
Enrollment: 13,167
Arena: 5,600

Head Coach: Steve Shields
Career Record: 132-112 (54.1%) 9 Seasons

2010-11 Record: 19-17
2010-11 Sun Belt: 7-9
2010-11 Postseason: NCAA-0-1

2011-12 Record: 5-10
2011-12 Sun Belt: 2-2

Tulsa 65 ALR 49
ALR 72 Northeastern St. 66
ALR 75 IUPUI 70
E. Michigan 62 ALR 51
Milwaukee 59 ALR 54
Northwestern St. 80 ALR 65
SMU 69 ALR 63 (OT)
ALR 102 Philander Smith 59
Missouri St. 68 ALR 60
Oral Roberts 58 ALR 55
Louisiana Tech 71 ALR 68
Illinois St. 72 ALR 65
ALR 69 North Texas 66
ALR 66 Denver 59

ALR Stats

PPG-64.1
FG%-41.4%
3 PT%-31.5%
FT%-71.5%
RPG-34.3
APG-10.5
TO’s-13.7
SPG-6.2
BPG-2.7

Probable Starting Lineup

Will Neighbour F-6’10” Soph……………………..12.0 PPG
D’Andre Williams G-5”10” Sr……………………..11.7 PPG
Chuck Guy G-5’10” Soph………………………….10.3 PPG
Courtney Jackson F-6’6” Sr……………………….. 6.8 PPG
Taggart Lockhart F-6’5” Fr…………………………4.5PPG

Last season despite losing 4 of their final 5 regular season Sun Belt games, ALR won 4 Sun Belt tourney games to go to the NCAA. Unfortunately, the Trojans lost their two best players from last season, but are hoping that the incoming freshmen along with returning players will make them competitive again in the Sun Belt. Thus far, although losing 10 games this season, ALR has been very competitive in most of the losses….and they have opened the Sun Belt schedule with two wins.

ALR is lead in scoring by Will Neighbour who also leads the team in perimeter shooting hitting 42.2%….in addition, he also leads in rebounds and blocks. Williams leads the Trojans in assists with 4.1 PG while Jackson leads in steals.

ALR is a small team that simply doesn’t match up with Kentucky in talent and is outmatch at every position.

Kentucky is coming off a big win over rival Louisville. The game was marred by a tremendous number of fouls on both teams and coach Cal was forced to use some combinations that had not played together. This was a very physical game with both teams playing tough defense…..the result was poor shooting by both teams.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had a spectacular game with 24 points, 19 rebounds and not a single TO in 39 minutes on the floor. There is no question that MKG is a truly great player who is indeed a coach’s dream….he is a winner who gives 100% on both offense and defense. Anthony Davis made his presence known when on the floor with 10 rebounds, 6 blocks and 3 steals…..this despite sitting out much of the 1st half with 2 fouls. Amazingly, Davis, despite struggling at the foul line this season, hit 12-13 FT’s.

Although, Terrence Jones continued to struggle offensively, it was great to see Jones play hard on defense and grab 11 important rebounds and garner 3 steals.

Unfortunately, there were concerns that came out of the UL win….very poor shooting from Miller, Teague, Jones and Lamb….they were 5-32 together and were a miserable 3-16 from the perimeter. In addition, a fear many UK fans had regarding UK handling the UL press came true….as the Cats had 21 TO’s with Miller contributing 8 TO’s.

The positives for UK were the great FT shooting and the Cats dominance on the boards.
While it was great to see UK defeat a good UL team, this game revealed a number of weaknesses that this UK team must improve on if they are to make a great run in the NCAA tourney. A key concern is Teague’s willingness to listen to coach Cal and run the point as Cal wants. A very revealing comment from coach Cal in his post game comments was that Teague chose to not follow coach Cal’s instructions. This is totally unacceptable behavior from any player, especially a PG. No one questions that Teague is a talented player, but he must run the team as coach Cal demands or sit on the bench. We all understand that Teague is a freshman PG still learning and that mistakes will happen, but mistakes caused by Teague ignoring Cal’s instructions cannot be tolerated!

This game against ALR is UK’s last tuneup before SEC games. Let’s hope that UK improves it’s shooting eye and handles the ball better….and that we see Teague run the point like Cal wants.

UK should defeat ALR by at least 20 points. GO CATS!