Darius Miller had the tape over his eyebrow to stop a cut he had received. Patrick Patterson hobbled gamely on one leg for the final minutes of the game. Daniel Orton mugged Kemba Walker to prevent an easy basket. The only thing missing from tonight’s matchup at Madison Square Garden was Martin Scorsese doing a casting call for “Gangs of New York 2: The UK/UConn edition”. And in a movie like ending, John Wall scored 12 of UK’s last 15 points including a incredible layup between half the UConn defense with :31 remaining to lead UK to a 64-61 win over the UConn Huskies. Make no mistake, this was a war, pure and simple.
It did not start out that way. Fueled by 3 steals, 6 points, and an assist by John Wall in the first 3:30, UK stormed to a 12-0 lead and had the Huskies on the ropes early. But this Huskies team obviously saw the tape of the 28-2 UK blitz over UNC and said “No Mas” and went on a 16-4 streak of their own and these two heavyweights were knotted at 16 with about 11:00 left in the first half.
Dyson and Kemba Walker obviously did not take to being upstaged so close to home and the battle was on. In a continual theme for the night, UK had horrible defensive transition all night long and allowed way too many easy baskets to UConn. Along the way, UK got into bad foul trouble and had Ramon Harris, Daniel Orton, DeMarcus Cousins, and John Wall all sitting on the bench for the last 8:00 or so in the first half. Sensing the blood in the water, UConn went for a knockout punch and outhustled the Cats to a 26-18 lead with about four minutes left in the half.
Swinging as hard as they could, the Huskies could not deliver a knockout punch to the disjointed Wildcat lineup of Dodson, Bledsoe, Stevenson, Miller, and Patterson. In what had to be a moral victory, UK went in at the half down 29-23 despite being out shot 46.2% to 31.6% and having Wall miss about half the game.
The slugfest continued in the second half with both teams missing lots of scoring opportunities and Kentucky missing four straight free throws at one point. The second half was about as pretty as a lead pipe brawl and UConn still clung to a 40-36 lead. It was bout this time that I had serious concern about UK’s 3-pointers streak being in jeopardy when Patrick Patterson saved that streak and pulled UK to within 40-39 with 12:00 left. Proving that 3-pointers are contagious, John Wall and Darnell Dodson drilled treys and UK seemed to be in control at 47-42.
Not so fast. UConn clawed back to 49-47 at the 7:30 mark, John Wall took over. He hit two FT’s stole the ball, got a dunk and was fouled on that and made the FT. 54-47. But as magnificent as Wall was on the offensive end, UK’s defensive transition was just as bad, continually allowing UConn easy basket after easy basket. The last minutes evolved into a Wall vs UConn scoring fest, and it appeared that the team (UConn) would beat the individual (Wall) as UConn grabbed a 61-60 lead with a Kemba Walker jumper, setting the stage for Wall’s heroics.
All in all, a frustrating night to watch UK. But a ugly win is better than any loss. John Wall had 25 points and 6 steals but also had the unattractive 2 assist, 7 TO evening. Patrick Patterson threw in 16 points and DeMarcus Cousins had a double double with 10 points and 10 boards. There is lots more to dissect here, but at this point I am elated to be 9-0 and will save the nitpicking for another day.
For complete game stats, go here.
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