Kentucky Wildcats: 27-1

Friday, February 26th, 2010

This is something I don’t normally do in “print” but I think after last night’s home win against the South Carolina Gamecocks I can’ help but talk about how well the Kentucky Wildcats played. Let me first start off by saying what an incredible effort and performance the Wildcats had as a team last night. This is one of the most hard fought games I’ve seen them play all year. They were firing on all cylinders and only during a few times in the game did Kentucky let it’s foot slightly off the gas pedal.

From the opening tip you could tell that the Kentucky wanted nothing more than to, not hand a loss to, but shove a loss down the Gamecock’s throats. They were out for blood and they got it. After a disappointing performance from Patrick Patterson in their first meeting back in January he opened this game with a three-pointer on a pass from John Wall. A three-pointer that was shot without any hesitation and more confidence than I’ve see from him all year. Believe it or not, that shot along with his defensive rebound on the previous possession set the tone for the rest of the game.

I’m not going to give you a ton of stats and numbers, and tell you that this person did that and that player did this but I am going to give you something else. The last three games Patrick Patterson has been playing the best basketball of his collegiate career. Coach Calipari has asked him to step up and Patterson has gladly obliged. You can see him demand the ball in the post, he’s more active than ever on the boards and getting to loose balls, and he nearly always seems to be in the right place at the right time (especially last night). Patterson finished the game with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, & 2 steals in 33 minutes of play. He hit 2 of 3 from the charity stripe and shot a ridiculous 10 of 12 from the field. That’s a unbelievable 83%! No wonder he’s among the NCAA’s top players in field goal percentage. Despite being shadowed by the likes of the “Fab Freshmen” this year, Patterson is still my favorite player on this team. (Followed by DeAndre Liggins – more why later). Patrick is the glue that holds the Cats together. Sure, John Wall is a tremendous play maker, has the ball 80% of the time and runs the offense, and DeMarcus Cousins is beast inside that no force on college basketball can contain right now, but if you take Patterson out of the mix the Cats are going to have a harder time winning.

If you look back to the beginning of the season when Wall was averaging 17+ points a game and hitting game winning shots and opposing teams hadn’t even started to figure out how to contain Cousins, Patterson was playing well, but he was deferring way too much to his teammates. Yes the Cats were winning, but they weren’t winning their non-conference games the way should have been winning. The majority of those game should have been blow outs and I believe had Patterson been more of a factor in those games they would have been.

I said I wasn’t going to spout stats at you but let’s look at last nights numbers as proof. I’ve included the starters and a key reserve, DeAndre Liggins. He brings more energy with him to the court than any player I’ve seen in years and I absolutely love it. I remember telling my best friend early in the season last year to watch out for Liggins because he would turn into something special. I saw potential in him and I’m so glad he’s proving me right.

John Wall: 12pts /05reb /4asst /0blk /2stl /6to’s
DeMarcus Cousins: 19pts /11reb /2asst /0blk /0stl /1to’s
(Cousins also only had 2 personal fouls!)
Eric Bledsoe: 08pts /02reb /2asst /2blk /0stl /2to’s
Darius Miller: 07pts /08reb /1asst /2blk /0stl /0to’s
Patrick Patterson: 23pts /08reb /0asst /4blk /2stl /0to’s
DeAndre Liggins: 07pts /02reb /1asst /0blk /2stl /0to’s

When the Kentucky Wildcat’s play this kind of balanced game they cannot be beaten. They also shot 50% from the field and 75% from the free throw line. They had 12 assists on 32 made field goals and an amazing 10 turnovers. That’s way under the norm for Kentucky this year. Cousins was right there at his season average and kept out of foul trouble enabling him to play 32 minutes. Wall didn’t have a huge game but for the Cats to win he doesn’t have to. His job is to make plays, whether it’s himself or creating for someone else, when Kentucky needs it the most, and last night he did just that. I’ve already mentioned Patterson’s huge game. Bledsoe took advantage of a sleeping or preoccupied defense at times and Miller had one of the better games I’ve seen from him this year. He made a few key shots, was a beast on the glass and had two MONSTER blocks. Click here for the box score.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game in Knoxville against the Vols. This will be Kentucky’s last real threat of the regular season. Wayne Chism was injured this week when Tennessee played Florida and I’m not sure if he will be playing or not. Either way Kentucky will have their hands full traveling to a very hostile environment. Even if the crowd isn’t rowdy like I know they will be, the ugly ass bright orange in that arena is enough to distract anyone playing there. If the Wildcats play like they did last night they’ll win by at least 10. If not… well, we’ll see.

Tags: demarcus cousins, John Calipari, john wall, kentucky wildcats, patrick patterson
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