As his players gathered for meetings Sunday after a deflating loss to Louisville, Kentucky Coach Joker Phillips saw young men looking for guidance and, perhaps, reassurance.
“You could tell everybody was down, guys were looking for answers,” Phillips said on a teleconference Sunday afternoon. “We as coaches have got to give it to them.”
Seemingly echoing his coach at UK, Jerry Claiborne, Phillips called for a re-emphasis of football fundamentals.
“Our guys are tackling well, defensively,” he said before adding, “I don’t think we’re blocking very well on offense. A lot of it has to do with technique. We’ll have to go back to fundamentals and have a little bit more individual (sessions).”
Phillips also suggested a “scale back” of what Kentucky has been trying to do.
“We’re having a lot of missed assignments,” he said. “Either you’re doing too much or not doing a good job teaching.”
UK might shed some plays that have not been executed well, and rely more on plays that have reaped success, he said.
Noting how well UK moved the ball in the fourth quarter against Louisville, Phillips said the Cats might speed up the offensive tempo. “Get to the line and go,” he said.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
