Cats look to spoil potential Cinderella story for Seawolves
Guard Jamal Murray of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates at the buzzer during the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at the SEC Tournament Championship at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN, on Sunday, March 13, 2016. Kentucky defeated Texas A&M 81-77. Photo by Michael Reaves | Staff.
March 16, 2016
After a strong performance in the SEC Tournament that was capped off by an overtime thriller against Texas A&M, UK looks to start off strong in the NCAA Tournament by first playing the role of Goliath to the David in Stony Brook, a team playing in its first NCAA Tournament.
After being outed in the American East Conference championship for two straight years, the Seawolves were finally able to get over the hump in their come-from-behind victory against Vermont.
After trailing by as much as 16 points in the second half, Stony Brook turned to Jameel Warney, the American East Player of the Year. The 6’8”, 260 pounder carried the team throughout the tournament with averages of 30.3 points and 15.3 rebounds and capped off the tournament with a 43-point 10-rebound game in the championship game against Vermont.
Warney is at his best posting up and finishing inside and will likely use the game against UK as an opportunity to show NBA scouts he can score on bigger and more talented frontcourts than he feasted on in the American East.
Stony Brook and Warney will not scare easy at the size UK brings, as it has seen and nearly bested another SEC school in a 79-72 loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville. Warney produced 22 points and 11 rebounds against the Commodores’ two seven-footers, Damian Jones and Luke Kornet.
The Seawolves also boasted the best defense in their conference, but it will have their hands full trying to contain UK’s backcourt.
Tyler Ulis is coming off an impressive game against the Aggies, who forced him to become more of a scorer. That decision ended up being their demise as Ulis led the Cats with 30 points in the victory.
Ulis’ backcourt mate Jamal Murray had a disappointing game by his standards. Murray’s 12 game streak of scoring 20 or more points was ended against Texas A&M as he was only able to chip in 17 points. However, he did drill a 3-pointer with five seconds left to ice the game against the Aggies.
The Aggies defense focused on taking Murray out of the game, which is something that Stony Brook and UK’s opponents will do going forward if it advances.
Not only were Texas A&M’s tactics unfruitful, as he still scored double-figures, but it also allowed Ulis to get hot.
Look for UK’s guards to play a big part of not only the offense, but also the defense as Ulis and freshman Isaiah Briscoe will likely make it anything but easy for the Seawolves guards to throw the ball down low into Warney.
The Cats have possible matchup with Indiana awaiting them in the next round, but head coach John Calipari should have the team focused and ready to be the villain in Stony Brook’s story book season.
