UK rolls over Rider 92-63

That was a fun one.

After back to back closer than expected wins against Miami and Sam Houston State, the ‘Cats hosted a team that a lot of people thought was even more dangerous. The Rider Broncs came in with a 2-1 record, including a win over the projected best team in the SEC West, Mississippi State.

The ‘Cats, though, delivered their best performance of the early season, dismantling Rider by nearly 30 points, running their record on the season to 4-0 and getting to within 8 wins of 2,000.

However, I will say that we shouldn’t be misled into thinking that the issues UK faced in giving up 33 three pointers in their previous two games are still resting below the surface. Rider was a tired team tonight after traveling from Virginia after losing to the Cavaliers on Thursday. The shots, even the open ones, weren’t falling, and when that happened, UK capitalized.

UK did improve its transition defense, as well as its communication, which was a must. “There has to be a sense of urgency defensively. We had that today,” John Calipari said. Kentucky made mistakes, as they have all season, but to me, the most positive sign of this early season is the way that the team is already responding to their coach. They have plenty to learn still, but they are headed the right way.

Even though UK’s star performer from Thursday night, DeMarcus Cousins, quickly exited with 2 fouls, Cal’s ‘Cats didn’t miss a beat because Daniel Orton stepped in and picked up the slack. Orton had the best game of his young career, scoring 14 points and grabbing 6 rebounds, most of which were in the first half. Orton doesn’t have the arsenal of offensive moves that Cousins sports, but his fundamentals are just so solid. Besides, he already has developed a nice chemistry with Patrick Patterson. There was an exchange where Orton and Patterson each made a nice pass to the other that led to a monster dunk.

Cousins barely saw the floor in the first half, so he didn’t waste time when he played in the second. He was in the game until the end, and wasn’t shy about putting up his shots. He managed to score 18 points to go with 6 rebounds. Add in Patrick Patterson’s ho-hum 19 point 18 rebound performance and you have 51 points, 30 rebounds, and 6 blocks from UK’s trio of big men.

Perhaps the most positive step was the fact that, according to John Calipari, DeMarcus Cousins volunteered to come off the bench in the second half on the bench to allow Orton to start since he had played so well.

The big guys were great, but John Wall was the clear cut star. Wall flirted with a triple-double, putting up 21 points, 11 assists, and 6 boards, mixing in 3 blocks and 2 steals as well. John Wall made so many spectacular plays today that you could probably put together one of his signature mix tapes from this game alone. It started with a beautifully designed alley oop that he finished and he kept it up with a series of drives to the basket, finishes at the rim, and and ones. The kid is just unbelievable and a pleasure to watch.

Also, I thoroughly enjoy John Wall’s reactions to his own great plays. Everytime he acts like he’s a little bit surprised at how good he is. His big smile is almost saying “Did you just see that? That was awesome!”

Other than the numerous highlight reel plays from today, I enjoyed this performance most because the ‘Cats extended the lead to 10 early, wasted no time getting it 20, and kept it between 20 and 30 the entire second half. The reason they were able to pull this off was the defense. UK was in position against Sam Houston State to put the game away, but they never could because they could string together multiple stops…they did today.

I’m going to keep this relatively short today since we have a football game coming up in just couple hours, so let’s get right in to looking at the rotation.

The Rotation

The starters were Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Darius Miller, Patterson, and Cousins, as expected. Due to the game being a bit more comfortable, Calipari was able to get by with playing his point guards 63 minutes combined, compared with 75 last game.

Orton was the first guy off the bench, playing 23 minutes tonight. His backup was Josh Harrellson, who provided a spark in the first half, scoring 4 points. It appears that Harrellson may have nosed back in front of Perry Stevenson in the battle for post minutes, as Stevenson didn’t play until the final minutes.

Also, for the second consecutive game, neither DeAndre Liggins nor Darnell Dodson saw the floor. Rumors are circulating about the reason for their exclusion, but nothing is really known at this point about the timeframe for their return.

In their place, Ramon Harris and Darius Miller got most of the time on the wing, with Jon Hood playing a bit as well. Miller had a quiet game, but did have a few nice moves to the basket. He also took shots when they were there, but didn’t hit like he normally will. Ramon Harris continued to earn praise from Cal for his defense, but brought nothing to the table offensively. Even still, it appears that he will be a fixture in the rotation.