Kentucky will need to counter Iowa State's defensive intensity
· Yahoo Sports
ST. LOUIS — No. 2 seed Iowa State has some of the most impressive numbers in college basketball going into its round of 32 NCAA Tournament matchup with Kentucky.
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Iowa State has the No. 17 offense in the country and the No. 5 defense, according to KenPom. Iowa State will meet No. 7 seed Kentucky in the Midwest Region round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.
Joshua Jefferson is a 6-foot-9 forward who is averaging 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals a game. No other power conference player in the country has put up those numbers. Jefferson is a consensus All-American.
Jefferson also is probably out of the Kentucky game with a sprained left ankle.
“Right now, we’re continuing to evaluate,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said Saturday. It appears unlikely, but you never want to rule anything out.”
Kentucky’s players think Jefferson will at least try to play.
“We’re definitely going about it like he will play,” Kentucky’s Andrija Jelavic’ said.
Another major player for Iowa State is Milan Momcilovic, a 6-8 junior forward who has been a 3-point scoring demon with 130 made this season at a 49.4% clip.
“He’s put up staggering numbers,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said of Momcilovic. “They earn him a lot of shots with their pace. They earn him shots with actions. He earns himself shots by being an elite level screener and a relocator.
“So it’s gotta be a little bit of a team effort. Of course all the guys have match-up assignments, but also the communication needs to be key. Us being solid in ball protection is going to be the key. Us being good on the glass is going to be a key because he’s so focused on earning threes off offensive rebounds and off cuts and in transition. It’ll be an individual and a team effort.”
Kentucky wants to counter Iowa State’s physicality and defensive intensity.
“They’re going to be like Tennessee times five,” Otega Oweh said. “They’re going to flood the ball, their defense is really connected.”
“They bring it to you,” Collin Chandler said. “Which triggers a response, but I think we can be aggressive in that response. Not letting them slow us down, or not letting them speed us up, rather, I think is the emphasis made is play our game through what — don’t let them dictate what we do, I think is the best way to put it.”
Being the aggressor first will be important for Kentucky.
“Really just throwing the first punch kind of thing so we can dictate the game,” Kam Williams said. “You allow the other team to dictate the game, you kind of counter what they’re doing, but if you’re the aggressor then you kind of control the entirety of the game.”
“They like to double, we want to take care of the ball, pass early to other teammates, we can make shots,” Jelavic’ said of Iowa State. “They’re bringing two guys to the ball every time. The bad side for them and good for us is that if we pass early one of our guys for sure will be open at the 3-point line, we can definitely take advantage of that.”
Kentucky also has Otega Oweh, who scored 35 points and was close to a triple-double in the 89-84 overtime win against Santa Clara in Friday’s opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
“He’s a relentless competitor, really gifted in space, gets into the paint, gets to the foul line, makes plays for himself and his teammates,” Otzelberger said. “Just a dynamic scorer. We played against him earlier in his career when he was at OU. He was a terrific player then. And now he’s playing with such tremendous confidence.
“It’s definitely not a task for one person. It’s a team defense thing, and it’s being intentional. It’s trying to be back in transition, keep him out of space and then make sure that he has to work and earn everything.”