Westward Ho! High flying Cats ground the Pilots 79-48 in opener of four game western trip

In the days leading up to this game, it was evident that the Kentucky Wildcats coming to Portland was a very big deal for the Portland Pilots program.  The local media hyped the coming of the Wildcats and the Pilots exuded a strange form of confidence that tonight could be a very big stepping stone for their program.  Jared Stohl made a prediction on Facebook that the Pilots would beat Kentucky and even Vegas seemed to take notice, installing the Cats as a mere 6.5 point favorite.

All signs pointed to the scrappy Pilots giving the hotshot Wildcats something to think about while they headed off to the Maui Classic.  Or at the very least, the Pilots would throw a scare into the 13th ranked Wildcats.

But in the end, talent and tradition (and Kentucky’s length) won out over hype.  Or maybe the Portland players froze when they saw K-E-N-T-U-C-K-Y across the jerseys of their opponents.  It sure seemed that way anyway.

Kentucky got out of the gate a little slow but found themselves up 8-0 five minutes into the game.  Then Darius Miller took charge and scored the next seven points for Kentucky while Portland continued to miss shots and it was 15-0 Wildcats.  Portland started out 0-11 from the field and had dug themselves a hole that they would never recover from.

Not that Portland did not try to get back into the game.  Eric Waterford hit back to back treys  and added a layup to make it 20-11, but Brandon Knight nailed a trey to put the Cats back up by a dozen.  For every Portland charge, Kentucky had an answer.  Hot shooting Jared Stohl finally got loose for a three to bring the Pilots to within 31-20, but Doron Lamb answered with a trey of his own to put Kentucky up 34-20.  That was about as close as Portland would get the rest of the night as Kentucky went in at the half up 38-24.

Any motivational speech the Pilots may have received at halftime was deflated as Terrence Jones set the tone for the rest of the game as Terrence Jones scored the first two baskets of the second half to put UK up 42-24 and at this point it was all but over. Kentucky displayed that killer instinct and downed the Pilots 79-48.  The Wildcats  kept up the pressure on defense for the remainder of the game, holding Portland to just four 3-pointers on the game and a 30.5% shooting performance from the field.  Kentucky, on the other hand, is proving to be a very good shooting team, hitting 57.1% from the field and nailing 8 3-pointers in 17 attempts.

Brandon Knight led the Cats in scoring with 21 points and had 2 3-pointers.  It’s obvious that Knight is very fast.  And he is very aggressive in attacking the basket.  Among his play tonight was end to end play where he scooped the rebound and zipped by all five defenders for the layup.  Knight had just 2 assists but did grab four boards .  Darius Miller showed some leadership tonight and hit 6-7 shots for 15 points and went 3-4 on 3-pointers.  Miller has developed into a streak scorer for UK, but the thing is, he scores his points when Kentucky really needs him to step up.  Darius played a great game on defense and also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocks.  He can disappear on offense at times with a stat line like that.  Terrence Jones scored 12 points and had 5 boards in his homecoming to Portland.  Those numbers seem a little low because it seemed like every basket Terrence had was a statement balance.  Terrence did also have 3 assists and 2 blocks.

Those that read the site regularly know that I have been saying that Kentucky will have a very successful season if Harrellson/Vargas can average close to 12 points and 10 rebounds a night in the post position.  Guess what?  Tonight they basically did that did that, with a combined 10 points and 16 rebounds.  They were also a combined 5-6 from the field and Jorts accounted for 12 of those rebounds, which is a career high at UK.  Doron Lamb had another night of instant offense off the bench, with 13 points on 4-5 shooting.  I can see now why John Calipari wanted Doron Lamb so badly.  This kid is fun to watch.

And even though he had just 2 points on the night, I have to give DeAndre Liggins a game ball for his defense.  Simply put, he made life miserable for Stohl and was a very big reason why the NCAA’s best 3-point shooter suffered through a 1-7 night on 3-pointers.  Liggins did not let Stohl breath all night and constantly smothered him.  DeAndre Liggins is very quickly becoming one of my favorite Wildcats.

I know we are two games into the season, and I really can not complain about anything yet.  The biggest surprise is that through two games against NCAA quality teams, Kentucky has shown the killer instinct that last year’s team was inconsistent on.  And that is a very good sign.

So it’s on to Maui for Calipari and Kentucky and  Monday afternoon date against the Oklahoma Sooners.  I have to admit, I feel pretty good about these Wildcats going ino the Maui Classic.  And I am sure that even John Calipari, using his fuzzy math does too, and even he has to admit that Kentucky is 2-0.

For complete game stats, go here.   

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