by Paul Jordan
It’s OK to exhale, BBN. That sound you heard around 9:30PM tonight was the collective sigh of relief all across the Commonwealth as we discovered that this Wildcat team can actually hit a few three pointers. And play a little pressure defense. And get big contributions from the bench. And even though the Super Bowl was a month ago, it’s still cool to like Tho Who and join in a refrain of “The Kids Are Alright”. Kentucky marched into it’s final road game of the season and did something no other SEC East and three previous ranked teams could not do at Athens. They knocked off the Georgia Bulldogs 80-68.
Granted, this was a game that Kentucky should win and win without too much effort. While tough at home, this was still a 13-14 team. But true to their reputation, Mark Fox’s Bulldogs put up a scrap early. Kentucky looked in control early, bolting to a 7-2 lead, but Georgia went on a run of their own, scoring the next nine points of the game. Most of the first half was a classic battle of cats and dogs as Georgia refused to fold and generally outhustled and outrebounded their way to a 26-20 lead with about eight minutes left in the first half. The Cats clawed back some but the Bulldogs still held a 30-28 lead with around five minutes left in the half.
At that time, the Wildcats started to assert themselves as they were keyed by two Darnell Dodson three pointers … yes I said Darnell Dodson three pointers … and UK went in up four at the half 40-36. While the half time score may have caused some murmurs and raised eyebrows across the country, make no mistake, the Cats had this game in the bag.
Jumpstarted by a Wall three pointer, the Cats went on a 12-0 scoring streak to start the second half and took a 52-36 lead with just three and a half minutes gone in the second half. At this point, the bench started to get involved for UK and the Wildcats used a stretch in which six different Wildcats scored baskets to up their lead to 68-49 and for all intent and purposes, UK could be called SEC champs for the first time in five years. The Bulldogs lived up to their pesky reputation and cut the lead back to 11 but could get no closer and Kentucky ensured that they will go the regular season without losing back to back games all season.
And the hero of the night? The three point shot. Even though the numbers were not eye popping amazing, Kentucky did what they needed to do from beyond the 3-point line, tossing in 8 of 24 attempts for 33%. Like I said, not amazing, but if Kentucky can go 8-24 for the rest of the year in every game, they will be cutting down the nets in April. Darnell Dodson made a welcome return from the back of the milk carton with a 3-6 night and he finished with 11 points. It was obvious that UK was going to shoot the three tonight as Darius Miller had thrown up three attempts in the first few minutes of the game. And for those keeping score, the three headed monster of Dodson-Miller-Liggins chipped in 20 points.
Patrick Patterson showed why he is the heart and soul of this team as he scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting, had 10 boards, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. John Wall gave a performance that may make people think twice about crowning Evan Turner as the Player of the Year. Wall drained 3 treys and had 24 points (8-10 shooting), and had 6 assists and 3 steals. Even DeMarcus Cousins, who had an un-Boogie like performance of 6 points and 4 boards, had an impressive 6 blocks.
I think you know me well enough by now to know that I don’t nitpick wins … but while it was not a perfect performance, it was exactly what the doctor needed. Winning at Athens has been as tough as any venue in the SEC, and yes I know I said the Bulldogs were 13-14 … 10 of those losses were road losses. Kentucky had a good shooting night (54.4%) from the field. It was good to see UK shoot well enough to offset a below average rebounding night. And that is what I like about this team. They can win on a night when they are not rebounding very well. Or not shooting very well. Or not hitting the threes. If you take away part of UK’s game (like rebounding), these Cats will just find another way to hurt you.
So for tonight… let’s enjoy the win and the feeling of being SEC champs for the first time in five seasons. It’s been too long.
For complete game stats, go here.
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