Without a doubt, first and foremost among any fan’s postgame thoughts today have to be with Ramon Harris. The latest news we have at this point is that Harris collapsed outside of the locker room at halftime. Coach Gillispie said that he threw up, was taken to the hospital (and was conscious), and now is feeling better. There is no official word yet on the cause of the collapse, but Ramon is undergoing tests that will help determine what happened. I’ll minimize the speculation, but Ramon’s health has been an issue since his scary collision with Michael Porter in December. Head/neck injuries are always a troubling, tough to understand subject, so you have to be concerned. As a matter of fact, I’m watching the Mississippi State-Georgia game, and Jimmy Dykes just reported that Ramon has been discharged from the hospital, which is great news. (Here’s a C-J article reporting the same thing)

It was a truly bizarre scene as the ‘Cats came back on the floor to start the second half. Everybody was just kind of standing around, and Tim Brando and Joe Dean, Jr. were getting updates on the fly of what was going on. They simply said that a UK player had collapsed and that they were not sure who it was. Eventually they discerned that Ramon Harris was the missing player, and they also pointed out that Coach Gillispie was with Ramon as he was being tended to medically. This was a stark reminder of how closely knit this team is and how much Coach Gillispie cares about his guys not just as players, but as people. Gillispie was notably absent as the second half started, but he eventually returned about a minute into the action.

Lost in all of this was the situation in the basketball game. UK was down 25-19 to Alabama at the half, looking worse offensively than they had all season. Patrick Patterson was almost AWOL in the first half, scoring just two points on an uncontested dunk, and he quickly picked up fouls number 2, 3, and 4 very early in the second half.

It would have been understandable for the ‘Cats to float through the second half with the Ramon situation and one of their two unquestioned leaders on the bench for the foreseeable future.  Instead, Jodie Meeks simply decided that UK was not going to lose to Alabama. He overcame a defense that was entirely devoted to stopping him, he went to the boards relentlessly, and played some inspired defense. His final line read 27 points (16 points after halftime), 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and an assist. Very impressive, but not even approaching his line a week and half ago in Knoxville. With that said, I would make the argument that his game tonight was even more significant than his 54 point explosion in Knoxville.

Meeks put the team on his shoulders, inspired solid play out of Perry Stevenson, Darius Miller, and DeAndre Liggins, and allowed UK to tread water until the 6 minute mark when Patterson returned with the score tied 45-45. At that point, UK scored 8 in a row, and was in control the rest of the way, ending up with a 61-51 victory to move to 5-0 in the SEC, and 3-0 on the road.

Even though Jodie was fantastic, UK would not have won that game if not for Perry Stevenson. Perry played arguably his best game as a Wildcat, right up there with his game against Florida with Patterson sidelined on Senior Day last year. He scored 16 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and led UK with 4 assists. He also shattered his previous career highs set in that Florida game of free throws made (6) and attempted (8) by going 10-13. Perry has sat out for a grand total of three minutes his last two outings, and is really emerging as that much talked about third scorer.

Darius Miller didn’t do much in the way of scoring (OK, he didn’t score at all), but his play was key today. With Ramon Harris sidelined, he needed to step up his defense (he drew the assignment of Alonzo Gee, ‘Bama’s leading scorer). After the game, Coach Gillispie praised his work on Gee, saying he played the scouting report to perfection (Miller’s 3 blocks probably didn’t hurt). Gee scored 6 points below his average, with only 8 on 3-10 shooting. Also, with Patterson on the bench, he needed to get some key rebounds, and he responded with 7. It was a bit of baptism by fire for Darius in the second half, with no Ramon Harris waiting to replace him, and I was very pleased by Darius’ play.

For the second straight game, an athletic SEC West backcourt created some problems for Michael Porter. Porter’s poor play left Gillispie with no other choice but to go with freshman DeAndre Liggins. Liggins made some head scratching decisions and turnovers, but his defense was largely solid, and he provided some desperately needed scoring with Patterson riding the pine. He finished with 11 points (including a big three to give UK a lead with 8 minutes left) and 3 assists. There are going to be games going forward where Porter is going to be ineffective, and it’s good to know Gillispie is getting to the point where he is more comfortable playing Liggins through his mistakes.

Finally, before I get to the grades, I have to mention the Jorts sighting this afternoon. Harrellson played double digit minutes for the first time in 2009, failing to score but blocking 2 shots and making a couple nice hustle plays to counteract his mistakes.

Turnovers/Point guard play: C

UK again topped the 20 turnover mark today, in a remarkably balanced effort: every player that played more than 3 minutes had at least 2 turnovers. Liggins was much better than Porter at the point today, or else this grade could have been much lower.

Rebounding: B+

There were certainly plenty of rebounds to go around today, with UK shooting 38.8% from the field and Alabama only shooting 29.3%. UK outrebounded Alabama 42-36 (21-15 in the second half), and considering how little Patterson played in the second half, this has to be looked at as a good performance. Meeks, Stevenson, and Miller were excellent in this area.

Getting the ball to Patterson: D

Part of the blame for Patterson scoring only 6 points the entire game can be placed on foul trouble, but foul trouble does not explain Patterson taking 2 shots in 18 minutes on the floor in the first half. It’s not a coincidence that Patterson’s worst offensive game of the season coincided with UK’s worst offensive game of the season. Jodie Meeks made up for it today, but there are not many good teams that UK will beat with that kind of lack of involvement on the part of Patterson.

Secondary scoring: B+

Liggins’ and Stevenson’s scoring contributions were enormous today. A lineup with Meeks, a contributing Patterson, Liggins, Stevenson, and Miller definitely has the highest offensive ceiling of any that UK can throw out there. Hopefully Liggins and especially Stevenson can continue this kind of production with Patterson on the floor.

**Ramon Harris Released from Hospital**
According to ESPN’s Bottom Line, Kentucky guard Ramon Harris has been released from the hospital and is heading back to Lexington. Harris was held at Tuscaloosa Hospital after collapsing at halftime. They administered tests to see what caused the collapse. The results have not been released.

Good news in what was a very scary situation.