by Paul Jordan
As John Calipari said last night, he really likes UK’s “will to win” but he is concerned about their lack of “killer instinct” And with this UK team taking on an air of invincibility, the biggest battle the Wildcats may face will be developing that “killer instinct” and keeping teams down when they are down instead of letting that team hang around and pulling out the game at the stretch.
UK had this classic battle last night Tuesday night as they jumped out to a 15 point lead over Florida in the second half. But instead of putting their throats on the necks of the Gator’s and not letting up, they let the Gators claw back into the game behind some circus shots from Erving Walker and the Gators actually took a one point lead late, but then the “will to win” kicked in and UK blitzed the Gator’s for a 12 point lead.
In a way, UK seems to be “toying” with some teams, knocking them around a good bit, but not finishing them off, and then right when the games gets interesting, UK snaps back into their “refuse to lose” mode to finish the game. So far this season, there have been several instances of the Cats games coming down to a “will to win” or finishing them off with a “killer instinct”. Let’s take a look at some of those games.
UK 68 UNC 66: Kentucky definitely had the Tar Heels on the ropes a couple of times, jumping out to a 30-11 lead and holding a 15 point lead at half. North Carolina kept crawling into the game and actually cut the lead to 59-56 with about 4:00 left but then UK refused to let the Tar Heels grasp a lead and hold on for the win.
UK 64 UConn 61: The Cats jumped out early and took a quick 12-0 lead and you can argue that was too early to put a big claw on UConn and keep them down, but this was a game that UK once again showed their refuse to lose mentality. UK actually fell behind 8 points in the second half and played nip/tuck down the stretch with John Wall winning the game at the end. You can look at this game as the game UK made believers of the nation.
UK 90 Indiana 73: Actually a good display of UK applying the killer instinct against the Hoosiers. UK broke open a close game with a 17-0 streak in the second half and never let the Hoosiers threaten the rest of the way.
UK 71 UL 62: UK jumped out to a 18-5 lead and held it most of the game, but let the Cards cut the lead down to four with about 6:00 left. UK turned on the after burners then and answered any challenges the rest of the way.
Keep in mind, I am not nitpicking on any wins. Just following up on what Calipari said and I can see this being a problem come tournament time. It’s still a long ways off, and I see this team getting better everyday. If we can ever master that killer instinct. I see a title in the future.
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