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Meyer on Morris Link
 
Moon Township, Pa. – Nov. 19, 2013 – Let's dispense with this notion that Kentucky somehow got revenge against Robert Morris Sunday night.
 
Let's dispense with it about as quickly as the Wildcats dispensed of the Colonials Sunday night.
 
Let's just put to rest any ideas that Kentucky somehow avenged its loss at RMU last March 19 at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
 
That the Wildcats made a statement.
 
Poppycock.
 
Sunday night's game wasn't about revenge or avenging or making a statement.
 
What the game showed, once again, is that in Division I basketball there are mid-majors (Robert Morris) and majors (Ohio State) and MAJORS (Kentucky). The handful of teams in the MAJORS category don't make statements against mid-major teams. MAJORS teams provide a place to play for players who about once a year trade the 35-second clock for the 24-second clock.
 
You want a statement?
 
Permit me to go back in time a bit and bring up Ohio State again.
 
Back in the early 1960s, when Ohio State was making its run of three consecutive trips to the national championship game, it split two Big Ten games with Indiana. The Buckeyes won in Columbus, Ohio, 96-95, but lost in Bloomington, Ind., 99-83. Ohio State won the Big Ten championship and went to the NCAA Tournament. Indiana did not go because back then the Big Ten was a one-bid conference. Imagine
that.
 
Anyway, Indiana fans whined that the wrong team went to the NCAA Tournament. That belief did not go over real big in Columbus. The next season, when Indiana visited Columbus, Ohio State hurried the Hoosiers back to Bloomington by routing them, 100-65.
 
That was a statement.
 
Kentucky's 87-49 victory over Robert Morris Sunday night at Rupp Arena was not a statement. At least not in the sense that the Wildcats proved anything to the Colonials. The Wildcats will move on from this. So will the Colonials.
 
"There are a lot of things for us to take from this experience,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "We'll build on those things and learn from some of the mistakes so that when we get in an atmosphere like the one here in Rupp Arena, we'll be more equipped to play better.''
 
The Colonials' games at seventh-ranked Oklahoma State, Dec. 30, and at Alabama, Jan. 4, come to mind in that regard.
 
It would benefit the Colonials if they shoot better in those games than they did at Kentucky. Robert Morris made just six of its field goal attempts in the first half and shot only 23.2 percent (16-of-69) from the field for the game. The Colonials made 6-of-23 shots from beyond the arc. And they were just 11-for-20 from the free-throw line.
 
"I wish we'd shown more poise offensively,'' Toole said. "But this environment -- it's electric -- and we might have had some anxiety because of the environment.''
 
The Colonials did lead in this game -- and how's that an RMU trivia question? Fifty-one seconds in, Mike McFadden made the second of a two-shot free throw opportunity, and the Colonials had a surmountable 1-0 lead.
 
Kentucky wiped out that lead on an Aaron Harrison three-pointer 34 seconds later, and the Lexington-based NBA Development Team was off to the races.
 
The Colonials did not make a field goal during the game's first 8:23. They trailed, 17-2, by the time Aaron Tate made RMU's first basket with 11:37 left in the first half.
 
"I think there were a handful of shots we rushed and didn't have enough poise on,'' Toole said. "Obviously, with their size and athleticism I think there were times where you think you're open and then very quickly you're not. There were certain possessions where we did a very good job and went for open shots that we didn't make in the beginning of the game. That kind of hurt our spirits a little bit. We needed to make some shots early to continue to make it close, and we did not do that.''
 
The Wildcats' ability had much to do with that.
 
"Their talent level and size made it tough,'' Toole said. "They have such great rim-protectors. They have so much more size and length on the perimeter that it makes it difficult for you to run your offense.''
 
Kentucky's new-found talent is so impressive that ESPN's Jay Bilas said last week when he saw the Wildcats come out to play Michigan State: "It looks the green room at the NBA draft.''
 
"Obviously their talent is better than last year's team,'' Toole said.
 
So much better that Kentucky started five freshmen against the Colonials.
 
"If I had five freshmen that good, I'd start five freshmen,'' Toole said. "I think every coach in the country
is at a point where if guys are able to compete and contribute, whether they're freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors, they're going to be on the floor. We're figuring out who can produce and follow our game plan, and those are the guys who will play, regardless of year.''
 
Freshmen accounted for 78 of Kentucky's 87 points Sunday night. The two Robert Morris freshmen who played Sunday night, Jeremiah Worthem (4 points) and Britton Lee (0), produced four points.
 
While the Wildcats did their thing Sunday night and the ESPN2 commentators continually reminded everybody about how much talent Kentucky has -- that's a news flash? -- the Colonials did what they could.
 
Senior Karvel Anderson led RMU with 16 points. Junior Desjuan Newton scored 11 points in his 19 minutes.
 
"A lot of times we followed our defensive formula the best we could and unfortunately at the end of those possessions they got offensive rebounds or made threes,'' Toole said. "I'm proud of our guys in terms of their fight and continuing to play hard throughout the entire game.''
 
Which UK coach John Calipari appreciated -- and admired.
 
"They play really hard,'' Calipari said. "They're well coached. It was a good game for us because the one thing we're not doing right now is competing at the level of the other team. We want to play harder than the other team, and I thought there were times we did that (Sunday night) against a team that really competes.''

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