Wall to the Rescue!

(Photo courtesy of Kentucky.com)

Was tonight's game what we expected? Absolutely not. But relax Kentucky fans. Ask yourself this: "What team in the country would win substantially over a team that shot 15 of 26 from behind the 3 point line?" 15 of 26. That's incredible. Heck, how many teams could win a game period with that kind of performance against them? Miami's Nick Winbush knocked down 8 of 10 all by himself. Kansas, North Carolina, or anyone else would have had their hands full against that type of shooting by the Redhawks tonight. There's not much you can do about a guy having a night like that, especially when it is not expected and you have only had three days to prepare and scout this team since Friday evening's opener. Miami, on the other hand, has had this game circled on their calendar all summer long. Miami shot the lights out and would have played with anyone tonight, and hats off to Charlie Coles, Nick Winbush, and the Redhawks. It was Miami's Superbowl. They hear it all up in Southwest Ohio about Wildcat basketball and take it from a Northern Kentuckian...they hate our guts. For the Cats, it was just another game, only three days after their opener against Morehead State.

If you can't see the talent out there and see what Calipari is going to do with it, than you just don't have a very high basketball IQ. The turnovers need to be cut down and Wall and Bledsoe need to learn to play together, but this was their very first time in game action on the court at the same time. Bledsoe looked like an All-American as he led the Cats with 24 points a few nights ago. Tonight, he was only 1 of 5 from the field for 2 points. Currently, the Cats' offense probably works better with only one of the two in the lineup at the same time. With them in together, the offense was actually a little too fast and uncontrolled at times tonight. But, keep in mind, this was their first time ever playing in a game situation together, including exhibition play. In the long run, these two are going to be unstoppable together come March.

The more I think and reflect on tonight's game, however, I can find more positives from this one than negatives. A freshman led team learning a new offense and a new coach found themselves down by eighteen points. Demarcus Cousins was on the bench early and in foul trouble and wouldn't see significant action until the second half. Then, Daniel Orton had to leave the game to get seven stitches after being head-butted near his eye and nearly smacked around by a blatant elbow. Orton would return and finish with six points and two steals in 12 minutes of play. All of a sudden, with Cousins and Orton out in the first half, this was once again Patrick Patterson's team in the post. Patrick as well as the sharp shooting of Darnell Dodson and Darius Miller helped the Cats claw back in the 1st half. In the second half, after a talk with Coach Cal, Cousins got back into the game and dominated with 10 points and 10 rebounds, earning himself a double-double entirely in the second half alone as Cousins and the heroics of John Wall took over in the second half, in his highly anticipated first game as a Wildcat. Wall would eventually lead the way with 19 points and hit the game winning shot.

This team refused to lose, they have heart, they're tough, and they found out a lot about themselves tonight. Calipari stated that he was "ecstatic" when he saw that they were down 18. He wanted to see what they had in them. You could see it in their eyes. They refused to lose. They matured and gained invaluable experience playing from behind that will help these young freshman down the road this season. They learned their flaws that need to be corrected and they learned what it is like to play in a high intensity game at Rupp with 24,000 fans screaming their heads off. They also found out that John Wall is their "go-to guy" in a last second situation. They found out all these things, while still winning. Keep in mind folks, these kids are 18 years old. They passed this early test presented to them tonight with flying colors. Could they have learned and improved as much as they did tonight with a 30 point win? I don't think so. They were also a bit humbled tonight. Maybe, just maybe, this was the best thing that could have possibly happened to them.

"They kept telling themselves", Calipari said, "We are not losing this, we are
not losing this game."

You know what else was refreshing? Watching Calipari coach his guts off tonight. Remember when Gillispie would just sit there with that sarcastic little smirk on his face down 15 by Gardner Webb? It was also refreshing to hear Coach Cal give a fantastic postgame interview with Tom Leach. He had a whole lot to say and was overall very pleased with being able to win against that kind of a shooting performance and that big of a deficit with such a young team. Remember Gillispie's post game interviews? "We got whipped," was just about the only phrase that would ever come out of his mouth.

Going into this season, I wasn't sure if these guys would play with the passion that they played with tonight. For a group of potentially one-and-done players, they love being here and are loving this experience. They know that this experience at Kentucky is one that they'll treasure, and they all want to leave a legacy here. Most importantly, they're having fun and they love their coach and want to play hard for him. Having fun, along with the positive attitude that Calipari has brought in and given these players, is the difference in winning and losing games like this under the previous and current regime.