2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Season Review: Save Our Season

Feb 23, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Ryan Harrow (12) lays the ball up against the Missouri Tigers in the first half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Missouri 90-83. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

The Uncoachables Respond

John Calipari backed off his “uncoachable” statements almost immediately, but the point seemed to be made to his charges.  At Rupp, Kentucky had another “tougher than it should be” win over Vanderbilt 74-70, but you could not deny that it felt good to get the first win after the loss of Noel.  Willie Cauley-Stein led the way with 20 points. 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks and had a defensive effort reminiscent of Noel’s versus Ole Miss.  Ryan Harrow fouled out, but played well, hitting six of nine shots and no turnovers.  There was still room for improvement, but at this point, a win was a win.

Kentucky still needed a marquee win in order to end all of this “bubble talk” and the Missouri Tigers were the perfect opponent.  Although the Tigers had fallen out of the top 25, they seemed a “RPI Darling” and had a ranking in the mid thirties.  A win for Kentucky would go nice with the Ole Miss win and give UK their best win yet. But at the beginning, UK looked lost and horribly outmatched as Missouri jumped to a 28-15 lead with 4:54 left in the opening half.

Kentucky needed something big to happen and got it in the form of Alex Poythress who had a ferocious dunk and a huge three pointer which closed the gap to 30-27.  Missouri rallied and went back up 35-29 on a Phil Pressey three, but Ryan Harrow made a great hustle play, finding Willie Cauley-Stein for a buzzer beating dunk which narrowed the deficit to four at the half.  Archie Goodwin had zero points at half and the pressure was on him to get something going the rest of the game.

And that he did.  Goodwin hit his first three pointer in eleven games out of the locker room and Kentucky came out with a passion.  A Julius Mays three-pointer made it 45-41 UK and the Rupp crowd responded to the play.  Kentucky stretched the lead to seven on a few occasions and still had a five point lead at 70-65 on a Mays three.  But Missouri took advantage of the turnover bug to grab a 75-73 lead with :54 left and defeat was staring Kentucky in the face.  Julius Mays found Cauley-Stein for a lay-up to tie the game and Kentucky clamped down on defense, forcing overtime.

In the extra period, Julius Mays scored the first four points for UK, knotting the score at 79 with 3:00 left.  Phil Pressey went cold and Archie Goodin’s gave Kentucky a 81-79 lead the would not relinquish. The normally shaky Wildcats sank eight straight free throws as Pressey continued to misfire and UK had their biggest win yet, a 90-83 win over Missouri.  Kudos went all around the Kentucky locker room.  Julius Mays had four three-pointers and finished with 24.  Alex Poythress had 21.  Archie Goodwin had an 18 point second half.  Ryan Harrow had 16 and Willie Cauley- Stein had 12 rebounds and 7 blocks.

When Kentucky played like this they could not be beat.  Kentucky followed up the Missouri win with a 85-55 win over overmatched Mississippi State.  UK led 42-19 at the half and never took the foot off the gas.  Ryan Harrow led the team with 19 points and every UK starter was in double digits.  This was the way Kentucky was supposed to play and after the loss of Nerlens Noel,  Kentucky was a 20-8 and 11-4 in the SEC.  At long last it seemed as if they had finally “gotten it”.