UK 84 UCM 52

UK had been chewing up teams and spitting them out like spent bubble yum. Wait, MEEKS had been chewing up teams and spitting them out like spent bubble yum. He can obviously streak into orbit at any moment. Be he could also be grounded at any time as well. So the big question for me during that stretch was how will this team perform once Meeks returned to earth? Granted, a return to earth for Meeks is getting 23…

The answer? The team did just fine. Led by a pesky point in Porter and some extremely high quality minutes from Slone, UK has passed the test with flying colors. Some say might say it was against a 3-8 (now 3-9) undermanned team. True, but that doesn’t tell the whole story about this team. If you look a little deeper, you see the worst this team has done was a 14 point loss to Marquette. Yes, this team has lost, but they have been there in all their games. They were in all the games until they met the Cats, that is. The Chips came out and showed a ton of heart. heart is about all they had and sometimes it can carry a team a long way. But this UK team has a ton of heart as well. So when heart meets heart, and UK has Patterson, UK wins easily.

With all the attention given to Porter and Slone’s play, one little tid bit that is flying under the radar is a major accomplishment by Liggins. The fine young man got his first start in the Chips game and played much better than he has of late. Liggins short coming have all been of the above the shoulders type. Last night he seemed to play with an added focus and wasn’t the huge liability on D that he has been to this point. And these were the type of players that could give him problems. Most assumed Liggins and Miller would have left the Porters and the Slones in their dust by now. I think its more a tribute to Porter and Slone than a knock on Liggins or Miller that they have not. As for Porter, he had his best game ever as a Cat against the Chips. Not only did he provide his customary stick to D, but he also distributed OK (not great), added some needed long range daggers, and scored on the break to the tune of 12. More than anything else, though, Porter is providing the visual and spoken leadership the team desperately needed.

Overall I give this team a B+ for their performance. Now, ready or not, it’s on to the Cards!