No John Wall? No problem.
Kentucky ushered in the John Calipari regime Friday night with a no-nonsense domination of Morehead State, showing off its impressive stable of young talent in the process. With superstar-t0-be John Wall sitting out a one-game suspension, the Cats turned to Eric Bledsoe…and he did not disappoint.
Bledsoe dropped 24 points in a 37-minute debut, and wowed the crowd with circus shots and a head-spinning display of open court ball handling.
Meanwhile, UK shuffled bodies in and out of the game, and saw fantastic performances from Patrick Patterson (20 points, 12 rebounds) and several of the newcomers.
All in all, here are the major takeaways as UK heads into tonight’s game with Miami of Ohio:
Turnovers - Cats need to take care of the ball better. They turned it over 24 times, including 7 by the otherwise impressive Bledsoe.
Frontcourt - Cousins and Orton complemented each other well, combining for 11 points and 9 rebounds. With PP expected to have a big year, adding these twin talents with a sprinkling of Stevenson and Harrellson is going to make this a tough interior matchup for anyone.
Free Throws – Many are expecting UK to mirror the poor foul shooting of past Calipari teams. We’re not sure just yet. The Cats went 19 for 28 from the stripe in the opener.
The Enigma of Miller – Darius Miller managed 0 points and 5 turnovers in 32 minutes. With Dodson, Hood and Liggins breathing down his neck, he’ll need to turn things around quickly in order to keep his starting job safe.
