The Big Blue Lowdown

Kentucky took care of business Saturday in the annual border war with rival Indiana, pulling away late and winning 81-62 in front of another raucous Rupp Arena crowd.

The Hoosiers kept it close most of the way, building a 3-point lead in the second half. But as was the case earlier this week with Notre Dame, UK’s combination of perimeter shooting, athleticism and nasty halfcourt defense was simply too much down the stretch.

Kentucky got a huge game from its veterans. DeAndre Liggins dropped a career high 19 points on an assortment of runners in the lane and strong finishes at the rack. He executed the dribble drive to a tee, and finally showed an offensive aggressiveness to match his tenacious on-the-ball defense and rebounding. If UK gets more performances like this out of Liggins, that can only be a positive in conference play.

The other upperclassmen were equally on their games. Darius Miller showed assertiveness on the offensive end (9 points), and Josh Harrellson had a double double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He had back-to-back monster dunks in the first half that got the crowd into it. As we’ve pointed out in the past, Harrellson is key to this season. He has become a demon on the boards and gives UK enough inside muscle to contain opposing big men. He also eats up enough space to prevent help side shot blockers from disrupting Kentucky’s slashing wings. As long as he stays out of foul trouble, he is a huge weapon for the Cats even when he doesn’t score.

Indiana simply wasn’t quick enough and didn’t have the ballhandlers to compete with Kentucky’s scrappy defense. The Hoosiers got a big game from their star Christian Watford but he made less than a third of his shots and never really caught fire. Truthfully, IU looks poised for another tough year in a deep Big Ten conference unless they can find some offense.

Other bright signs for the Cats include a solid performance from Brandon Knight, who is not quite the sensation UK got used to from its backcourt last season, but is rounding into a legit 15-20 points per game scorer. He still makes some dumb fouls and can be careless with the ball, but that’s what freshmen do.

Speaking of youngsters, Terrence Jones continued to show that he is an up and down guy. Today, he was back down again. IU did a pretty good job denying him the ball, and Kentucky never really made a concerted effort to get him touches on the block. And when TJ’s perimeter shots aren’t falling, like tonight, he can disappear from the offense a bit. Thankfully he had some strong blocks and threw down a pretty filthy tomahawk off his own miss in garbage time.

Doron Lamb had another solid game that showed he is worthy of consideration already as a 6^th Man of the Year type player. His shooting form is sound and he has a quick release. Lamb also has great instincts and the toughness you can expect from a New York City kid. Jon Hood looks ready to fall off the rotation radar, while Stacey Poole Jr. might be earning himself a little extra playing time.

Cats get the week off for Finals (I assume these kids go to class) before returning to the hardwood with three consecutive patsies before the showdown with undefeated Louisville on New Year’s Eve. By then, both teams could be ranked in the top 10.