Tonight in Rupp Arena, the Wildcats faced their biggest opponent if they are to be successful in bringing home NCAA title #8 this season. No, I am not pencilling the Tennessee Vols in the championship game of my bracket. Regardless of who they play, Kentucky is going to have to overcome a steady diet of zone defense and will have to learn how to play defense for all 35 seconds of the shot clock.
And that was exactly the game plan that Bruce Pearl designed for his Volunteers. And it worked for about thirty one minutes Saturday night as the Volunteers held a 52-50 lead over the Wildcats. Then Kentucky’s backcourt of Wall and Bledsoe took over, took charge, and ran over the Vols en route to a 73-62 victory.
But the Vols gave Kentucky all they wanted early. The first half of the game had the beauty and the intensity of a rugby scrum. Kentucky jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, but then the Vols responded with a 14-4 run and UT led 14-10 right at the midpoint of the first half. Tennessee frustrated the Wildcats with a steady diet of a 3-2 zone defense and then milked the clock on offense. Kentucky played well on defense for about 25 seconds, but the Vols ended up getting lots of easy baskets on back door cute as the shot clock expired. Kentucky also had trouble with their defensive transition and the first half ended with UK clinging to a 30-29 lead.
The second half started with more of the same. The Vols continued to control the tempo on offense and the Vols broke out to a 45-41 lead with 13:37 remaining and appeared to have created a great shift in momentum. But like they had done some many times this season when faced with adversity, the Wildcats clawed back. John Wall scored 6 straight points and the Cats took the lead for good, 54-52 with 8:36 remaining.
DeAndre Liggins made a great steal and then finished with a dunk for the Cats and John Wall hit a couple of free throws to put UK up 58-52. Then Eric Bledsoe took over. Bledsoe scored UK’s next 10 points, including back to back 3-pointers and UK had a 68-56 lead at 4:22 when the dust cleared. And what about UK’s killer instinct? Tennessee never sniffed double digits the rest of the way and UK had a 24-1 start to their season in the books.
The big news of the game was not the win over Vanderbilt, but Dick Vitale’s comment that there were very strong rumors that DeMarcus Cousins would be returning to UK for his sophomore season. And as if on cue, tonight’s came was a case in the arrested development of the big man. Cousins played frustrated most of the night and had a terrible night at the line, finishing 1-8. His frustration was apparent as he also had four fouls. Even on a “bad night”. Cousins was still the best rebounder on the floor, finishing with 12 boards and just 5 points.
Tonight’s game also was another chapter in the rebirth of DeAndre Liggins. Liggins played starters minutes (28) off the bench, and responded with a high energy and hustle effort. He had 7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals – the latter earned him a chest bump from Coach Calipari. John Wall once again displayed his scoring prowess, leading Kentucky with 24 points and 4 assists. Eric Bledsoe was a dynamo in the second half, scoring all of his 16 points in the last 20 minutes. Patrick Patterson finished wih 10 points and 7 rebounds.
The SEC East has officially become a 2 team race as UK dropped the Vols three games back with six games remaining. Kentucky is in the drivers seat, but has a very tough two week stretch ahead of them. Tonight’s game was very similar to a NCAA Tournament game as the two teams felt each other out for about thirty minutes and then UK delivered the knock out punch in the form of Wall and Bledsoe. Kentucky will continue to see a lot of zone the rest of the season, and like tonight will need to figure out how to get those transition baskets. Once the Cats start running, no team in the country can match up. Hence, all the zone. I’ve said it before, but I love the will to win on this team. When it was 45-41, it looked like UK was wobbly against the ropes, but they outgutted the Vols and broke it open.
Corey Price reports that this is the seventh time that UK has started a season 24-1. Four of those seasons (1949, 1951, 1966, and 1996) the Cats advanced to the NCAA final game. So I guess tonights game is kind of a good omen.
For complete game stats, go here.
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