Purely in terms of entertainment value, this game was not able to live up to the hype, nor did it come close to matching Monday’s Oklahoma-Kansas thriller. Nonetheless, it showed off a lot of interesting individual matchups between the numerous prospects involved, such as Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis.
LSU Tigers
The big story in this game was the play of junior point guard Tim Quarterman. Just a couple days after I wrote about him not looking like a prospect in the LSU-Vanderbilt game, he put up an incredible 21-10-7 line (with zero turnovers) in only 31 minutes on 9-15 shooting from the floor. At 6-6 with a 6-10 wingspan and a quick and bouncy frame, Quarterman had either a significant size or athletic advantage against all three members of Kentucky’s backcourt (Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray and Isaiah Briscoe). In the first half he struggled to stay with Ulis at times and had a couple ugly off the dribble jumpers, but by the time the second half rolled around he started to take full advantage of the edge he had on Kentucky’s guards.
He used his size and leaping ability to crash the offensive glass, resulting in six second chance opportunities for LSU, and began to realize that he could turn the corner on Jamal Murray whenever he was matched up against him. When he got in the lane he did a good job finishing against Kentucky’s lackluster efforts and started to show off the passing ability that has scouts calling him a point guard despite below average ball handling skills. He also picked it up on the defensive end, making a couple of nice plays both on and off the ball where his energy combined with his physical tools wreaked havoc on the Kentucky offense. I’d like to see him do more against similarly athletic guards like Wade Baldwin, but games like this are why Tim Quarterman is firmly in the second round conversation.
Part of the reason Quarterman was forced to step up was because of the foul trouble Ben Simmons dealt with. Simmons was held out of essentially the whole first half, with my only notes on him being that he did a nice job of walling up against a Marcus Lee finish once and that his patience attacking Alex Poythress on the block is just another sign that his post game could be a real weapon against stronger NBA wings/small ball forwards. The Poythress-Simmons matchup is what I was most interested in going into the game, but they were both in foul trouble — Poythress partially due to Simmons attacking him, and we got very few possessions where Simmons actually got to go at Poythress.
Outside of Poythress, Kentucky tried to guard Simmons with bigger plays like Marcus Lee and Derek Willis. They at least limited his post-ups due to their length, but Simmons was able to back up and attack them with a head of steam — basically forcing them into fouling him.
Simmons ended the game with three back-to-back to back possessions where he had a nice drive and difficult finish, a patient finish on the inside with great footwork and an emphatic put-back dunk, but I was most impressed with his defense down the stretch. He still was a little lazy about gambling for steals and getting out of the play, but he generally did a great job staying with Kentucky’s guards on pick-and-roll by giving them a few hard slides and recovering into the lane. He also forced a couple key turnovers by simply being active with his hands on defense and trying to make plays. This was probably the first game all year where Simmons showed that he could be a positive defender if he played with consistent energy and focused on being in a stance whenever he is forced to guard on the perimeter.
Kentucky Wildcats
This game was far from Kentucky’s best showing as a team. They shot 41.4 percent from the field against an LSU team that lacks any true interior defense, turned the ball over 14 times while only having eight assists and got outrebounded on the offensive glass, 16-11, despite a significantly longer frontline.
This game was a lowlight for most of Kentucky’s players, but guards Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray were able to keep things close for most of the game. Ulis initially didn’t deal well with LSU going under ball screens on him, but as the game wore on he hit a couple pull-ups and started to use his speed to beat his defender around the screen for either a floater or a dish in the lane. Ulis wasn’t exceptional by any means, but it was another solid performance and doing it against NBA athletes certainly helps make the case that he can survive in the NBA at 5-9.
Murray had a rough first half where he couldn’t really get anything in pick-and-roll. However, as has been a theme of his this season, he got the opportunity to work more off-ball in the second half and started making plays. At the end of the game, Kentucky tried to go back to high ball screen action with Murray but he picked up his dribble early against LSU’s hedges and failed to make something happen. At this point in the season it is clear he’s much better running off baseline screens, where he can look for his 3 first and then quickly attack off the curl if defenders close out to his outside shot.
Murray isn’t quite a J.J. Redick level of elite shooter, but he has a great feel for coming off down screens and flares, and might be best utilized in a Redick type of role. One thing Murray did repeatedly in this game that helps make him so effective: He rubbed shoulders with his teammates coming off of screens, which forces the defender to trail the play or risk going under against his jumper.
Unfortunately, Murray was no better than usual on the defensive end as Quarterman looked to attack him whenever Murray was matched up against him.
The rest of Kentucky’s prospects did not fare nearly as well. Marcus Lee fouled out in a mere five minutes of play (you read that right). Alex Poythress also fouled out and in his 26 minutes didn’t contribute much on the glass or guarding Simmons, so he mostly just hurt Kentucky’s spacing on the offensive end. Isaiah Briscoe did a good job neutralizing LSU marksman Keith Hornsby with his length and ability to fight through screens but he gave it back on the other end of the court. He was 2-6 from the field, a startlingly bad 1-7 from the free-throw line, and had three turnovers to zero assists.
Briscoe had the ability to create space against Hornsby with his dribble moves, but Hornsby just sagged off him heavily and Briscoe wasn’t able to do much about it. He settled for a couple pull-up jumpers that were predictably disastrous, and when he tried to get all the way in the lane he was met with a wall of LSU bodies and didn’t have the athleticism to do anything other than get swallowed up. Even worse is the way Briscoe’s presence altered his teammates ability to create due to LSU simply ignoring him on the perimeter. On one particularly egregious play Tim Quarterman left Briscoe in the strong side corner to come and double Murray as he attacked off a pick and roll. Guards who are just complete non-shooting threats need to be able to at least cut and finish in the lane, and with Briscoe lacking the ability to do either it is tough to see his fit at the next level.
The biggest disaster for Kentucky wasn’t even Briscoe, though. It was big man Skal Labissiere. Skal hasn’t exactly been good so far this year, but this was arguably his worst game to date. In his 16 ineffectual minutes he forced up a heavily contested post fade away, lost the ball when it was passed to him rolling down the lane in semi-space on two occasions, got typically beat up on the glass on both ends of the court and repeatedly missed rotations in the lane when he should’ve been protecting the basket.
Labissiere has a bad habit of helping just enough off his man to take himself out of rebounding position, while at the same time not committing enough to the ball handler to truly alter their shot. Guys like Tim Duncan have mastered the art of rotating over to a penetrator, simultaneously denying them an easy look and blocking a passing lane to the big they just left, and still recovering over to box out if a shot goes up. Skal is currently doing none of those things, and he isn’t making it up on the offensive end. It’s far too early to give up on an athlete like Skal with the type of shooting touch he has, but he needs to start displaying some better instincts on both ends of the court.