Defensive Pressure, Terrence Jones key Kentucky's 72-58 come from behind win over Notre Dame

Wednesday nights matchup between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was just the latest “youth versus experience” battle that John Calipari’s squad will face this season.  All five of Notre Dame’s starters were in either fourth or fifth season while 40% of Kentucky’s starters were in just their 8th collegiate game.  In the end, the youngsters from Kentucky flashed their potential and practiced some lock down defense and knocked off the undefeated experience of Notre Dame 72-58.

The Wildcat’s came out energetic and seemed determined to not be manhandled the way they were Saturday at Chapel Hill.  Three or four Wildcats would crash the boards and a Brandon Knight three pointer gave Kentucky an early 12-6 lead.  Josh Harrellson then received his second foul on just 5:00 and Kentucky fans began to fear a repeat of the frontcourt domination of Saturday.

Instead, Kentucky got the Ben Hansborough show.  Tyler’s brother scored 11 straight points for the Irish, including three straight treys to pull his team to within one, at 19-18.  And then like a prize fighter, the Irish worked the inside with Carelton Scott scoring twice and Hansborough nailing another trey to take a 27-20 lead.  Keeping with the boxing analogy, Notre Dame started connecting inside and outside and had the Wildcats on the ropes with a 38-27 lead with just 4:44 left in the half.

Just when it looked like a repeat of the UConn game, Terrence Jones said “no more” and took the ball to the hoop against a couple of Notre Dame players draped on him for an exclamation point dunk that woke up the Wildcats.  Stacey Poole Jr then nailed a three pointer and it was all Wildcats for the rest of the half.  Kentucky figured out that Notre Dame could not keep up with their speed and started to attack the basket with the precision of a surgeon.  The Wildcats finished the half with a 13-2 streak and the first half ended with the game tied at 40.

Kentucky got the second half off to a quick start, scoring the first six points, but missed a golden opportunity to blow this game wide open.  Notre Dame started out ice cold, missing their first 11 FG’s of the second half  but Kentucky’s play got sloppy as well, ranging from turnovers to ill advised missed three pointers early in the shot clock or with no one underneath positioned to rebound.  A Darius Miller 3-pointer put Kentucky up 49-42 with 13:30 remaining, but Kentucky should have a double digit lead at this point.

During this span though, Kentucky was playing some hardcore defense.  We’re talking some Tubby Smith style defense and they effectively held Notre Dame to just one FG over a span of about 15:00 and then the three’s started falling for Kentucky.  Brandon Knight and DeAndre Liggins nailed treys which gave UK a 56-46 lead with 8:57 remaining.

Notre Dame chipped away at the lead but every time they could get it to 4 or 5 points, Terrence Jones answered with a three pointer to give Kentucky to put the Wildcats back in the comfort level.  And it was all Kentucky free throws and more bricks from Notre Dames cold shooters as Kentucky won going away.

Tonight was yet another showcase game from Terrence Jones.  He has become the heart of the Wildcat team and he exerts his will to win on his teammates.  For the night. TJ had 27 points, 17 rebounds, and hit two key 3-pointers to lead the Wildcats.  Brandon Knight had one of his strongest games as he chipped in 20 points and had 5 assists.  We know that Knight is not a true PG, but he is grasping the position more each game and was quite formidable tonight.  Those two accounted for the bulk of Kentucky’s scoring tonight, but there are other game balls to be had.  Doron Lamb had just 7 points, but he is a big reason why Ben Hansborough suddenly went cold and he is starting to flash some potential defensively.

Kentucky needed everything that Jones could give them inside as the two headed center combo of Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas combined for 0 points and 10 rebounds.  And Darius Miller continued his troubling trend of disappearing for long stretches at a time offensively.

But that’s really all the negatives from tonight.  This was a big win for Kentucky who like I said earlier were on the ropes down 38-27.  Then buoyed by Jones, Kentucky went on a 45-20 blitz the rest of the game and shut down a Notre Dame team that was averaging 81.8 points a game.  And they outrebounded the 6th best rebounding team in the country 40-33.  It’s not pretty at times, but this young Wildcat game is learning game by game and they have the potential to be pretty special.  And if they can get Enes Kanter ….. forget about it.  It’s a quick turnaround for Kentucky as they face Indiana on Saturday and get a chance to knock off another undefeated team.

For complete game stats, go here.

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