by Paul Jordan
Tonight’s game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs will mark a measuring stick for Kentucky’s DeMarchus Cousins. He gets to match up against one of the top big men in the country, the Bulldog’s Jarvis Varnado. Varnado is averaging 13.3 points and 11.3 rebounds a game, but his forte is the fact that he is a disruptive force defensively and a true game changer. Varnado is averaging 5 blocks a game and is just 16 blocks away from being the all time NCAA leader.
Kentucky fans, of course, need no introduction to the big man. Varnado is a huge reason why the Bulldogs have defeated Kentucky the last two seasons. In 2008 in Starkville, the Varnado had the very unusual triple double of 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots as the Bulldogs beat Kentucky 69-64. Then last season at Rupp, Varnado scored just 6 points, but had 12 boards and 7 blocked shots as the Bulldogs won 66-57. This is not UK coach’s John Calipari to the Varnado block party. Jarvis swatted 5 of Cal’s Memphis Tiger’s shots when the two teams faced off in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
And this year, Varnado is better. He has evolved into more of a scorer and has three games with more than 20 points this season and has scored in double digits in all but five games. Varnado is currently on a streak of five straight double doubles.
This is where we enter DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins has been called the best big man in the country and brings 15.9 points, 10.2 boards and 1.8 blocks per game into Starkville. Cousins also brings an additional two inches size advantage into the matchup with Varnado. And Kentucky has something they have not had the past two matchups: a solid forward tandem in Cousins and Varnado that can double up on Jarvis and wear him down. And if that is not enough, UK has Daniel Orton coming off the bench. NBA scouts will be watching to see how Cousins plays against Varnado and how Varnado will respond against UK’s three headed attack.
Bulldog fans may think that the Achilles heel for Cousins is his temper and they will try to get under his skin. They have been trying this tactic since the weekend actually, as somehow they obtained Cousin’s cell phone number and have been harassing him non stop via phone calls, voice mails, and text messages. So far, it has not fazed Cousins who admits that he picks up the phone calls and talks to his hecklers and that he is not changing his number until after the Mississippi State game. He wants to see what the Bulldog fans have to say after the game.
A snide aside to the Bulldog fans: other teams have tried to heckle Cousins and get under skins on the road and well, it has not really worked that well. Cousins has had some pretty big games in front of the other teams verbal spars:
- @ Indiana – 14 points, 8 rebounds
- @ Florida – 13 points, 5 rebounds
- @ Auburn – 16 points, 11 rebounds
- @ South Carolina – 27 points, 12 rebounds
- @ LSU – 19 points, 14 rebounds
It does not really look like the Bulldog fans tactics are really getting to Cousins either. Check out the following video where Cousins discusses his matchup against Varnado, and those Bulldog fans phone calls.
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