Defense Helps Kentucky Survive and Advance

With Kentucky basketball, it’s never about grinding it out. It’s about running a fast paced offense.

The Kentucky Wildcats took the opposite approach last night. They advanced to the Elite Eight Sunday afternoon by playing defense in their 62-60 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Winning ugly does not satisfy Kentucky fans, who demand blowout victories in every game. That’s an unrealistic view of how basketball is played in March. There’s no such thing as pretty wins. The competition is better in March, and at this time of the year, it’s more about defense than offense.

Credit Kentucky coach John Calipari for emphasizing defense in this game rather than focusing on how to win on offense for this game. Rather than be stubborn about trying to buck conventional wisdom, he focused on doing what win games. It’s something Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni can learn from in this victory, but don’t expect that to happen.

Calipari focused on having Kentucky center Josh Harrelson patrol the lane by blocking shots and getting rebounds, and it paid dividends for Kentucky. The Buckeyes had a hard time scoring from the interior, and they could not grab offensive rebounds for their missed perimeter shots.

Harrelson guarded Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, and he did a great job on his counterpart by limiting him to 21 points. That’s impressive because it’s hard to stop a great player, who could have scored 30 points in this game.

Sullinger missed many shots in this game, and he was worn down late by Harrelson.

Much will be made of Brandon Knight’s game-winning shot, but this game was more about Harrelson’s defense that gave Kentucky a chance.  The Kentucky center played well from start to finish, and he did not give in to fatigue.

David Lighty and Jon Diebler made some key shots for Ohio State, but they were off in making their outside shots for most of the game. At times, they took dumb shots rather than pace themselves.

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta has been known to run a good offense, but he couldn’t find any answers to solve Kentucky’s defense in the second half. He did not make any adjustments.

He hoped Sullinger would bail him out by getting hot, but it did not happen.

This is where Calipari out-coached Matta by running out different sorts of defenses all night long. This is why he is great at what he does. It is remarkable people think of him as a flashy head coach who gets by with talent. He is a better Xs and Os coach than people give him credit for, and last night’s game proved that.

Rather than force the other team to play Kentucky’s game, he had his players play the game Ohio State preferred, which is playing slow. They did a great job of that, and that’s why they are going to play North Carolina tomorrow afternoon at the Prudential Center.

It shouldn’t be surprising Kentucky won yesterday. They were going to play well. Calipari would find a way to get his team in a position to succeed.

He has gotten the most out of his young players this year as he always has. To expect anything different is crazy. That’s what a great coach does, and that’s why people think highly of him. A win like this is what a great coach means to a program.

Expect Calipari to keep winning with defense. He knows offense can only take a team so far. It’s about knowing how to execute on defense.

He tried to win with his dribble drive motion offense in March, but it hasn’t worked. Memphis went to the national championship game, but their lack of defense doomed them against Kansas in 2008.

A similar situation took place when he was coaching UMass, who played Kentucky in the Final Four in 1996.  Their lack of defense doomed his team in that game.

Kentucky lost to West Virginia last year because of breakdowns on defense.

Maybe Calipari learned something from those losses. He applied it in this contest. Now, he has to apply it again as long as his team continues to advance.

Kentucky’s national championship chances are better now that they figured out what to do to win.

That is bad news for the remaining NCAA teams in the tournament.