Magic in Rupp

There was magic in Rupp Arena last night, both literally and figuratively. There was magic throughout the game as the Cats put together one of their best highlight reels of the season in their 82-61 rout over South Carolina to avenge their only loss of the season. The Cats also currently can claim that they have defeated every team that they have played this year, a feat that has only been accomplished by one Kentucky team at the end of a season: the 34-2 1996 Cats who split with Mississippi State and avenged their early loss to John Calipari's UMass team in an eventual meeting in the Final Four.

Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, as well as NBA Hall of Famer, Ervin "Magic" Johnson joined the long list of stars that have graced their presence through Rupp Arena this season to watch these super talented Wildcats. The presence of Roethlisberger, "Magic", Lebron, Drake, Mike Tomlin, Ashley Judd, and Eddie Montgomery at games this year are a testament to the Cats' emergence once again as the premiere program in college basketball in every sense of the imagination.



Ervin Johnson, however, was not the only "Magic" in Rupp last night. In fact, there's been a spark of magic in these Cats since their only loss in Columbia on January 26th that has made a world of a difference in this team. It's something that was missing throughout the season, and especially in that game at USC, that has been prominent ever since that game. What is it you ask? The dominating performance of Patrick Patterson that we had been accustomed to before the "new kids on the block" came in town this year. Before the season, Patrick Patterson was looked as the Cats' only veteran starter whom would lead the Cats this year and be a strong National Player of the Year Candidate. Instead, Patrick has at times been ineffective and has lost the spotlight to talented Freshman DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall. However, since that loss in South Carolina, Patrick has emerged along with Cousins to be an unstoppable force in the paint (and beyond the arc).

Here is what Patterson did in Columbia in the loss to USC and what he has done since that game:

• Patterson had a quiet and ineffective five point performance and let the smaller Gamecocks out rebound the Cats (the leading rebounding team in the nation).
• The next game he was 3 of 4 from the 3 point line against Vanderbilt at Rupp
• Patterson has continued to hit a three point shot in EVERY GAME since his poor performance in Columbia (that's 8 straight games- and the big guy only has 2-3 attempts per game from deep range)
• He then had back to back double-double performances that made the difference in close road games against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt
• Then on Thursday night, he capped that off with his highest point total of the season with 23 points and 8 rebounds

Patrick has recently played himself back into being a Top 10 pick in the NBA Draft, as he was considered to be before the season started. And with Patterson playing like this, along with Cousins being Cousins, John Wall being John Wall, and DeAndre Liggins NOT being the same Liggins we saw a year ago- the Cats' can't be beaten, not with this version of Patterson.

The Cats face the Vols tomorrow in yet another brutally tough road game to clinch at least a share of what would be it's 44th SEC Championship.