Trent Noah silencing the Arkansas crowd could be the start of something good

Trent Noah got a little out of his comfort zone in the Wildcats' win against Arkansas on Saturday, and it's the kind of emotional boost most Kentucky would like to see more out of their team as we inch closer to the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

The sophomore forward had one of his best games of the season with nine points and seven boards in 19 minutes off the bench, but it was the one shot from the floor he made — a 3-pointer late in the first half that got everyone talking.

"When you're playing you're so caught up in trying to do everything. I probably shouldn't have been shushing the crowd, I probably should've been getting back on defense," Noah said in the post-game press conference.

I'm guessing that Mark Pope probably agrees that Noah should have been more focused on getting back on defense, but there's something to be said about that sort of energy on the road facing a hyped-up crowd.

Trent Noah gets the last laugh in win over Razorbacks

When Noah hit the shot and subsequently shushed the crowd, you can tell that it fired up the Kentucky bench and also fired up the crowd a little. That's what makes college basketball fun — as long as the interaction with the crowd doesn't get obscene, it's a wonderful thing to watch. Noah wanted to be the enemy to the home crowd at that moment. He wanted the smoke, and he took it all in.

"That's what makes it fun. Everybody in the arena is yelling at you, and you're trying to be the villain on the road, and you're trying to get a win...you can't make it any better than that," Noah added.

It also shows that this Wildcats team is getting closer and enjoying each other. The video of Mo Dioubate clowning Noah for stealing all of his rebounds shows that this group is getting the kind of chemistry that teams need to make a run at something special. Now let's see where it leads.