The Big Blue Lowdown

The 40-0 Dream continues to live on as UK beat a very game UL squad 71-62 in front of an electric Rupp Arena crowd.

UK played the best half court defense all season in the first half en route to an 8 point half time lead.

[caption id=“attachment_125” align=“alignleft” width=“290” caption=“Courtesy of Kentucky.com”][/caption]

The first half was marred by some ugly flagrant fouling by each team as clearly emotions were high.  DeMarcus Cousins should have been ejected from the game immediately for his flagrant and malicious elbow to the head of Jared Swopshire.  Luckily for the Cats he was only assessed a technical foul and allowed to remain in the game.

Cousins went on to post huge stats of 18 points and 18 rebounds.  If he would have been ejected, it’s possible UK would have lost the game.

The second half was an entirely different story for UK as Pitino’s multiple defensive looks thoroughly confused Kentucky’s backcourt, leading to 12 turnovers in the half.  UK also shot poorly from behind the arc, converting only 2 out of 14 attempts.  To compound the horrid shooting from behind the field, the Cats were brutal from the foul line, converting 21 out of 34 attempts.  Even John Wall missed five free throws.

UL did catch and actually pass UK for a brief moment at 42-41.  But UK proceeded to go on a 8-0 scoring run to essentially put the game away.  UL got no closer than within 5 points the rest of the game.

John Wall came to UK’s rescue again when they were down by 1, scoring 6 consecutive points in the decisive 8-0 run.  One of the shots came on an absolutely spectacular drive where he hung in the air, drew contact and converted off the glass.  It was another Youtube moment for sure.

BBL’s take:

UK shoot poorly from the field and foul line and still won by almost double digits against a team that with some growth and cohesion could end up reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.  Their bench contributed at times in the first half but Calipari tightened the rotation in the second and Dodson, Liggins and Miller didn’t see much time.  Some of that is due to bad decisions and ticky tack fouls, but we still believe those players are going to have to contribute more if UK is going to win the National Championship.

Kentucky has another week off before taking on UGA at Rupp next Saturday.  They then go on the road for back to back games with Florida and Auburn.  We see no real threat versus any of those teams.  UF is really struggling now after opening 8-0.  While they are usually tough at home, they possess little inside strength and should be no match versus the Cats.

All in all Kentucky escaped another ferocious battle today on the back of strong inside play from Big Cuz and Patrick Patterson, and perhaps more importantly, a sensational two-minute span when John Wall took over the game and sent the home crowd into absolute hysterics.

We look forward to the rest of the season especially now that media scrutiny is going to become intense.