Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
Following Kentucky’s win over Tennessee on Tuesday night, John Calipari said he can’t see this team being up 20 on anybody. Tonight, his team walked off the court in Auburn Arena with a 22-point victory after leading by as many as 27. The Cats went down to Auburn without Willie Cauley-Stein and “womped” the Tigers, 75-53.
It was a balanced attack from the razor thin Kentucky lineup in what was arguably the Wildcats’ best all-around game of the season. Yes, you can say Auburn isn’t any good, which may be true, but the boys in blue took a step forward when many wondered how they would respond to playing on the road, in another team’s Super Bowl, with one of the starters back in Lexington.
Challenge, met.
Let’s talk about it, quickly. It’s a Saturday night.
Before we celebrate how strong the team looked for the last 31 minutes of the game, let’s at least acknowledge how ugly it was for the first nine. Kentucky came out firing from beyond the three-point line, only to find a lot of iron and no net during that stretch. UK missed its first eight three-point attempts as part of a 2-for-14 drought to start the game, including 11 consecutive missed shots. The Cats only had four points in the first nine minutes until a Ryan Harrow layup got things rolling. Luckily, Auburn wasn’t doing any scoring on the other end, either.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk positives. Exhibit A:
Nerlens asked the smaller Auburn defender, “Mind if I rest these here on top of your head? No? Well I’m going to anyway.”
If I told you before the game that Nerlens Noel would only play 11 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble and he’d pick up his third in the opening minute of the second half, you’d probably be a little concerned about the outcome of the game. However, Nerlens’ foul trouble, though a little frustrating at the time, wasn’t much of an issue. The big guy still managed to meet his career-high in blocks with seven and he fell one rebound shy of a double-double. All that in just 25 minutes of action.
So who stepped up in the 15 minutes that UK didn’t have its ketchup or mustard? Look no further than Kyle “Big YMCA” Wiltjer. Wiltjer played one of his best games of the season and the Cats didn’t skip a beat when he was at the five in relief of Nerlens. He led the team in scoring with 17 points and dished out a career-high five assists, three of which led to Alex Poythress dunks (maybe one to Goodwin) in a short stretch in the first half. The Big YMCA looked like Magic Johnson in the paint the way he dished the ball to cutting teammates and he held his own against Chubb and the Auburn frontcourt on the other end. After the game, Calipari said he liked Wiltjer’s aggression and how he fought for rebounds and loose balls.
We hoped to see a double-double from Alex Poythress but we’ll settle for the 12 and seven he gave us tonight. Like Calipari said earlier this week, it’s baby steps with Alex Poythress. He’s not going to turn into “a beast” — we love that one, don’t we? — overnight. It’s a slow progression and he showed more progress again tonight against Auburn. It sure would be nice to get a loud yell from him after one of those dunks though, ammiright?
Ryan Harrow set a UK career-high in assists with eight, although he had five bad turnovers to go along with the dimes. It’s amazing how well he’s playing after returning from that dark period of wondering if we’d ever even see him play in Lexington again. He’s scoring, he’s aggressive, and he rebounded tonight (5) against the Tigers. Harrow said the team’s performance was a result of what they built during Camp Cal, it just took them a little longer to put it together.
Jarrod Polson made the most of his opportunity tonight, scoring six points in 10 minutes off the bench. He also had three rebounds and a block. No, really, I’m serious. Scroll down and look at the box score.
“They all did what they were supposed to do” — Calipari on the postgame show
Charles Barkley joined the announcers at halftime for an interview and he was very entertaining, as he always is. Sir Charles was very critical of the NBA’s one-and-done rule and he went as far to say, “There ain’t one player on this Kentucky team that should go pro early.” He blamed family members and agents for being greedy and said too many players leave after one year when they’re not ready. ”Just because it’s a rule, it doesn’t mean you should do it,” he said. I don’t think too many people will argue with him on that one.
As Tyler mentioned in a post just south of this one, Calipari said they’re not ruling Willie Cauley-Stein out for Tuesday night’s game against Alabama. But, hell, if we continue to get the Kyle Wiltjer we saw tonight against Auburn, there isn’t a huge sense of urgency to get Willie back. With that said, come back, Willie. If you’re ready, of course.
Go Cats and have a good night.
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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January 20th, 2013 at 12:38 am
Seriously?? We are getting all worked up beating the #168 ranked team?? Seriously?
January 20th, 2013 at 12:45 am
All things considered, all of the one-and-dones we’ve had would have improved their all-around game if they had returned. They also would have all risked blowing out a knee or suffering another serious injury that would’ve cost them money, perhaps their career. But for their development and for our program, it would be nice to get more of them back, assuming Cal can plan for it and not over-recruit.
Odds are we lose all 4 of the freshmen to the draft unless any of them REALLY want to improve their game next year and compete for playing time against a lot of talent. If we actually add 2 of the 3 guys we’re still after, we’ll be stacked even if no one returns.
1) It’s how we played as a team, not who we beat. If we’d only won by 5, you’d be one of the people on here whining about us being no good.
January 20th, 2013 at 12:47 am
Nuts on your head
January 20th, 2013 at 12:49 am
Quit being negative #1 enjoy it. Auburns bad ok, so were tennessee and vandy, people are happy we won the way we should against a bad rpi team. It is a step forward no matter who we were playing plus they showed some toughness on the road.
January 20th, 2013 at 12:50 am
#2. You’re no good. Happy?
January 20th, 2013 at 12:55 am
Peope like UK freshmen and oldschool are either not uk fans (trolls) or disgruntled over something personal in their lives. It is not worth engaging them. Rational discussion is usless with people who are either fools or ignorant.
January 20th, 2013 at 12:58 am
Nerlens’ nuts ended up #4 on SC top plays.
January 20th, 2013 at 12:59 am
Aahhh, I had forgotten just how good it feels to whomp someone!
Good times. Keep it up, guys.
January 20th, 2013 at 1:00 am
Nerlen’s balls on the side of my face…all over the web I’m a damn disgrace…Manti T’eo aint got nut in on me…his fake girlfriend’s dead…I’m a C leb rit T…but in a bad way…not in the good…never again show my face in the hood…my Daddy disown me…My Ma hide her face…all over the web I’m a damn disgrace…
January 20th, 2013 at 1:07 am
GREAT GAME CATS! ESPN has a picture in the game gallery of the POLSON block. GO WBA!!!!
January 20th, 2013 at 1:10 am
Awesome GIF.
January 20th, 2013 at 1:12 am
The only thing that rivals my hatred for all things UK is my love for receptive anal sex.
January 20th, 2013 at 1:16 am
Ken Pomeroy had Florida as the best team in the country going into the weekend. They looked like it today
January 20th, 2013 at 1:17 am
Great gif. Had to rewind and watch that dunk a couple of times. Cats looked great tonight; like they were having fun. That’s a good sign going forward.
January 20th, 2013 at 1:18 am
On ESPN they name Polson “Shaq Johnson” on the picture of his block. Wonder who told the photagrapher that name?
January 20th, 2013 at 1:19 am
I’m so hard
January 20th, 2013 at 1:26 am
Barkley hit nail on the head concerning agents and greedy family members.Cal would embrace and thrive even more with the two year rule.
January 20th, 2013 at 1:37 am
No ketchup or mustard. No problem. Mayonnaise (Kyle) to the rescue. That’s right. Kyle “Mayonnaise” Wiltjer.
January 20th, 2013 at 1:37 am
I don’t see much mention of Goodwin having a very good game offensively and defensively. I think that was his best game all year. Also, see the way Archie reacts after Noel throws down the nice lob he threw him. Very fun.
January 20th, 2013 at 2:07 am
12. 8=>
January 20th, 2013 at 2:20 am
#15 – I wonder who taught you how to spell photographer?
Besides missing the first 20 minutes or so because my buddy and me were too drunk to notice that the game was being aired on ESPNNews while watching the UC/Marquette game, best game all year! Plus, missing the first 20 minutes or so is probably one of the reasons it seems that way.
January 20th, 2013 at 4:07 am
In terms of fun, it was by far the best game of the year. We physically dominated them and then mentally dominated them. Chubb illustrated that domination with his flagrant foul on Alex. That was all he had. What a turd.
#1 – Your team lost today. So sad that Little Brother only last a week, but that is better than coach’s 15 seconds. Hope you guys enjoyed that feeling of being like UK for that short period of time. I believe you # 12. It’s what Card fans do.
January 20th, 2013 at 4:42 am
Definitely UK dunk of the season. That was sick. Glad to see Wiltjer play so good for 2 games.
January 20th, 2013 at 5:13 am
Matt Pilgrim is a beast
January 20th, 2013 at 5:33 am
Hey Drew.
I was not on at halftime. I was on during the 2nd half of the game.
I am serious about these agents. They are Turrble!!!!!
January 20th, 2013 at 5:57 am
So proud of Wiltjer. Yeah his defense is weak but he can be such a caveot at the offensive end. To have a big guy like him be such a deadly shooter. Not too many teams out there have a guy like him and he can start runs and end other teams runs by just hitting a 3. Don’t sell Auburn short. THis was a dominating win against a respectable opponent. War Eagle has been playing very good basketball of late and that was about as hostile environment as you will see and when you felt like we were susceptible for a loss here. We came in and absolutely blasted them. It is an absolute travesty we still aren’t ranked and if we aren’t tomorrow there should be research done on who has it out for us. We did not even have one of our better players. I still believe. From what I saw from OTIS and Cuse. We are better than both of those teams. Only team I don’t think right now we are as good as is Florida. That is a scary team right now. Glad we still have some time before we play the Gators.
January 20th, 2013 at 6:42 am
Isn’t there any football news today?
January 20th, 2013 at 7:50 am
18- I already beat you to it a few weeks ago… that would be “Big Mayo” to you!
good effort last nite… 2 good games in a row now that we played very well. maybe we’re turning that corner snd improving
January 20th, 2013 at 8:08 am
One quick note that bears mentioning again – the guys *really* looked like they were having fun in the second half. Good to see some smiles on the court and team comradery.
January 20th, 2013 at 8:37 am
Okay we won, i’m not getting over hyped about it can we beat a team thats good.You know a team is bad when Ymca Kyle and WBA Polson, are making inside moves that’s a statement against Auburns athletism lol.
January 20th, 2013 at 8:48 am
One thing to take away from last night, wasn’t the fact that we beat a crappy team, but rather, we beat a team in a hostile environment. Those auburn students stayed with it all night. I’ll take it!
January 20th, 2013 at 8:49 am
29) Yeah buddy, thats the most emotion this team has shown during any game
this year. Looked like they had alot of fun last night.
January 20th, 2013 at 8:54 am
31) Yes Sir!!! Plus, the 2nd half was some of the best basketball we’ve seen
this year. Everyone was solid and they all shared the ball last night. Like
you said, I’ll take it.
January 20th, 2013 at 8:56 am
Tonight we saw who can lead this team Kyle Wiltjer and Jarod Polson should start and Harrow and Goodwin should come off the bench. This team will never be great with with Harrow and Goodwin as starters. They are too selfish. Their ball handling and judgement is very suspect.I think Goodwin does not want to see Wiltjer ever have an open shot. He drives past him draws the defense but seldom ever passes back to the open man.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:06 am
34) Go back to bed, that wasn’t the smartest thing you could’ve said. I agree that
Goodwin can be to selfish at times, but w/o Harrow this team has ZERO chance
of beeing at their best.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:07 am
33- totally agree tdogg. 2nd half looked great. Smiles and happiness. Good stuff. Hope they build from it.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:08 am
I wish this site would stop referring to everything polson does as a miracle, like he stinks. He’s doing great with the way cal jerks him in & out& with the hand he’s been dealt. He’s a good player & would be a starter @ auburn.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:11 am
Observations:
- the first 10 min or so they looked like they had no idea what to do with one of their 2 bigs not there; so they just jacked up 3′s
- halfway through the 1st half they figured out they had other options than forcing it inside, calmed down and started running an efficient offense
- could it be the “twin towers” system doesn’t work as well as Cal’s more traditional offense?
- any chance Cal will shelve the Twin Towers system and we won’t see Noel and WCS on the floor together very often?
After last night I’d say its worth consideration.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:13 am
#29 – couldn’t agree more! I may have not been paying attention in the past last night was the first time I think I’ve seen Poythress smile on the court.
He still isn’t there though….
January 20th, 2013 at 9:19 am
Three points from this game: 1) The kids looked much better pushing the ball up the court before the half court defense was set up. 2) When Auburn was in their half court defense the team played much better with Kyle in the high post. 3) Ryan needs to work on his pain threshold (if he doesn’t he is in for a rough SEC schedule).
January 20th, 2013 at 9:19 am
John Hood needs some credit for the solid minutes he played last night.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:23 am
Pathetic that if we went down there and lost there would be about 300+ comments on here…..we have our most fluid and “clicking” offensive game and good vibes on the floor last night and there is just 42 comments.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:29 am
42) I agree with that, but alot of the 300+ comments after a loss are from TROLLS !!
Not all, but alot of them are …. just sayin
January 20th, 2013 at 9:43 am
Balzakhat. The latest fashion on the plains.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:46 am
The pieces started to fit together last night. We may remember that game like the at Vandy game in Tubby’s era when they came out at halftime and blazed for the rest of the season. Let’s not do, by the way, the thing that was so common during Tubby – ‘well, that win didn’t mean anything because they weren’t any good’. Auburn had been playing very well and was nearly undefeated in the conference. The pressure and hype was huge and, without WCS, UK stomped them; and it could have been worse. The best 3 pt. shooting team in the conference was goose-egged. It means something.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:49 am
Given SEC road officiating, it’s amazing that Nerlans wasn’t called for a flagrant foul and thrown out of the game on the dunk.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:54 am
#1-Are you an Idiot? Who is getting “all worked up”? I know you would prefer fans who are completely negative as you are, but sorry… I’ll bet you are a real possitve force at your place of employment if you even have a job.
January 20th, 2013 at 10:05 am
Positive…sorry.
January 20th, 2013 at 10:10 am
I, for one, am hoping Barkley is right and none of our guys go pro next year. Just think how absolutely loaded we would be!
And, with that much talent and only so much playing time, several of them would have to stick around another year setting us up again for 2014.
Add another top recruiting class to those goes and you’re going to be set up for 2015…
rinse, wring, repeat….
January 20th, 2013 at 10:13 am
#38. I’m not sure if Cal will think differently about the twin towers. One thing I do know is if Wiltjer starts for WCS it reduces the amount of time that Mays and Wiltjer are in the court at the same time. When they play athletic teams that get to the hoop the lineup with Mays and Kyle struggles big time.
January 20th, 2013 at 10:16 am
In all seriousness, take a look at the one-and-dones from UK the past 3 years, how many are seeing decent PT in the league? Not many. Only the “can’t” miss guys – Wall, Cousins, MKG, Davis… the rest are costing their respective teams major $$$ to ride the pine.
In hindsight, most should have stayed in school. Hopefully, and I’m sure it’s been considered, the NBA GM’s will recognize this and stop drafting so many of these young kids. It’s far better for them (the NBA teams) if they develop in college instead of the D-League where the NBA teams are footing the dime.
January 20th, 2013 at 10:22 am
I thought that the UK team competed and play more as a unit last night then any game this year, keep it up.
January 20th, 2013 at 10:31 am
#52 – I completely agree, once they realized they didn’t have both big guys down low and had to rely on the rest of the team to score. Once this happened, they were damn good, even a bit scary as they started using ALL their options and not relying so heavily on the 2 bigs.
If you remember, we played with only 1 big (Noel) most of the time the first few games of the year. Once WCS proved himself a bit Cal went with the “Twin Towers” and they haven’t been near as efficient. Now, being forced to go back to the previous system, we play much better as a team.
My opinion only, and a serious “armchair” opinion a that, but I do think it has some merit.
January 20th, 2013 at 11:08 am
46. Who is nerlans?
January 20th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
#51 what about LIGGINS? BLEDSOE? ask ul/iu about how many players that even make the league!
January 20th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Drew Franklin for President!!!!!
January 20th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
#55 – Bledsoe sat for well over a year before getting a chance and he’s done well in spurts this year (not so great as of late). Liggins has bounced around a bit and been up and down from the D-league; he also came out as a junior so wouldn’t be included as a one-and-done.
My point is the NBA would have benefitted by not drafting these guys so high. This way they could get another year or so of development at the expense of their respective universities; not at the considerable “lottery pick” expense of an NBA team or their D-League teams. And, it sure would be nice to keep some of this talent in Blue & White for more than a year!
As for UL/IU – my point has nothing to do with them, we all know they have very few guys even in the league, much less a one-and-done!!