LSU First Half

After a week of hearing Coach Cal talk about how disappointed he was in the team and its effort, today's first half was about as good as any fan could expect. Terrence Jones once again started the game on the bench but still became a scoring presence for the Cats, this time-thankfully-from the low block.

Other thoughts:

• Great to see Hood and Vargas get some solid first half minutes. I think Cal is tired of hearing it from the reporters about how sparingly the bench is used and when your team is up 30, you really have no excuse. Hopefully Poole will get a chance in the second half as well, and I would think Hood and Vargas will see at least 8 to 10 minutes apiece.
• At the collegiate level and as a freshman, I honestly think Brandon Knight may be better than John Wall. He is not (quite) as explosive or creative, but the kid can shoot the lights out from anywhere on the floor and plays so poised and within himself, it's hard to think he is only 18 years old. His basketball IQ is off the charts and he seems to get better at maintaining possession and limiting turnovers every time he steps out on the floor.
• Liggins seems to have regressed a bit the last couple of games and hasn't been the omnipresent force we're used to seeing as Wildcat fans. Hopefully that can be attributed to better play from Knight, but it feels strange not seeing Liggins diving around on the floor all the time, although the swat at the end of the half was a good sign.

All in all, a great performance once we started rolling, and it certainly helps that our defense held the Tigers to a woeful 6-of-33 (18%) from the field.

Will UK get to 100? Doubtful. But I'll take winning by 50.