Dodson started the game and it seemed as everyone was having fun as Kentucky beat #25 Ole Miss, 85-75. Coming off of a win against Vanderbilt on Sunday and the John Wall drama (that is so blown out of proportion), the Cats were focused and ready to play.
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ESPN covered the game and continued to mention the comments made by John Wall earlier in the week. They did a decent job of keeping things in perspective and focused on the observation that UK is not having as much fun as they were having earlier in the season.
Rupp was rocking but this time the crowd included some special guest as 20+ NBA scouts were on hand to watch the game. ESPN said it was a record for the number of scouts on hand for one game. If you think about it, where else can you see so many NBA prospects? Dodson and Liggins are not on the NBA watch list, but they took full advantage of this opportunity and turned in their best performances of the year.
[B]Let’s break down tonight’s performance…[/B]
I’ll start off by saying that I really liked the effort from everyone. Besides a five minute laps late in the first half, it seemed as if UK was in full control. There were a few careless turnovers in transition, but it seemed as if everyone was having fun and Calipari was letting them enjoy it. In the second half, Coach Cal did call a couple of time outs that helped everyone settle down and get re-focused. I’m beginning to accept the fact that turnovers are going to be a by-product of this style of play.
[B]Wall and Bledsoe[/B] – It seemed as both Wall and Bledsoe really had fun tonight. It reminded me of some of the games earlier this season. Both guys’ have very similar box scores, with the only big difference being points scored. Wall scored 17 points to Bledsoe’s 8. On the turnover front, Wall had 4 to Bledsoe’s 7. Most if not all of these turnovers seemed to come during transition as they were trying to make passes to someone cutting to the basket. They also did a great job of getting everyone involved as they combined for 15 assist.
[B]Patrick Patterson[/B] – Patterson turned in a solid performance across the board. He made a nice inside move after receiving the ball on the post that reminded me of the old Patterson. Calipari also got Patrick involved when he called the ally-oop play for Patterson. This is the same play that is often run for Wall. The result was the same as Patterson slammed it home. Over the past two games Patrick has definitely performed better, but I would say this game is one of his strongest of the season.
[B]Demarcus Cousins[/B] – As Calipari said, “He’s a beast!!”. Cousins turns in another double-double and moved one step closer to that NBA lottery pick. What’s even scarier, is that he seems to get better with each game.
[B]Dodson and Liggins[/B] – I was definitely on both of these guys at the beginning of the season, but their performance over the last two games has been outstanding. Dodson is hitting the three and it’s making life that much easier for our big guys inside. I really don’t see how anyone can beat us when were hitting our perimeter shots.
Liggins continues to be Mr. Hustle as he turned in 5 points and 5 rebounds and made number of defensive and hustle plays that just don’t show up in the box score.
[B]Darius Miller[/B] – Miller turned in 5 points in 9 minutes and he was 1 for 4 behind the three point line. It seemed this really took it’s toll on Miller and made it hard for him to get into the flow of the game. I really want to see him do well, but he’s going to have to start hitting the three if he’s going to jump back in front of Dodson.
[B]Daniel Orton[/B] – Continues to get better with each game. He made a really nice inside move that may be a sign of things to come.
Overall I think this was a great win and performance by the Cats. It definitely gets them moving on the right track as we go into February and prepare for March. The Fake Billy Clyde Player of The Game award goes to John Wall. He clearly had fun tonight and he made everyone better.
[B]Besides Cousins (we all know he’s a Beast!), who would you give the “Player of The Game” award to?[/B]
[B]Here’s the post game presser’s in case you missed them…[/B]
[B][SIZE=3]John Calipari[/SIZE][/B]
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[B][SIZE=3]John Wall[/SIZE][/B]
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[B][SIZE=3]Demarcus Cousins[/SIZE][/B]
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