It’s amazing how a season can turn on a dime. A loss to Tennessee would have sent Kentucky to 7-5 in conference, and more importantly, on the wrong side of the bubble. Instead, UK’s 77-58 win over Tennessee keeps the ‘Cats in at least tie for the first place lead in the SEC East, keeps them in the NCAA Tournament picture, and instills the team and the fan base with a renewed sense of optimism about the rest of this season. I wrote in my SEC rundown just two days ago that UK is an underdog to make it to the Tournament, now I’m trying to figure out what this team’s ceiling is if they play this way.

Thinking back on the season to this point, I can’t remember a better performance by UK. There have been games where UK won by large margins buoyed by scoring outburst by Jodie Meeks, but all in all, I think it’s pretty clear UK played better than they had all season.

It’s no coincidence that this performance by UK coincided with Darius Miller’s best game of his career. He did not miss a shot on his way to a career high 17 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Darius’ freshman counterpart for UT also played well offensively, leading his team with 14 points, but Miller’s all around game proved why he was Mr. Basketball last year, and I couldn’t be happier to have him. Darius is not going to be perfect from the field every game from here on out, but the confidence that comes out of a performance like this could really do wonders for a guy who always seemed on the verge of breaking out.

Darius Miller’s breakout game would not have been possible if not for the return of UK’s star big man, Patrick Patterson. Patterson looked closer to 100% than anyone could have realistically expected for his first game back after an ankle sprain. He battled a bit of foul trouble, but led UK with 19 points on 9-12 shooting. He wore a noticeably smaller wrap on his bothersome finger, shooting like it was not bothering him nearly as much as before his ankle injury, which is exactly what I hoped would happen with the rest he has gotten over the past week and a half.

As discouraging as Tuesday’s loss without Patterson was, I think this win was equally encouraging. Something I had not realized about Patterson until the past week is that he is just as important to what UK does defensively as to what they do offensively. The 19 points were great, but he brings a physical interior presence that no one UK’s active roster can bring.

A little over a month ago, UK rode Jodie Meeks and his 54 points to a 90-72 victory on the road over this same Tennessee team that crowned UK as the favorite to win the SEC. Things have changed in that month and a half, but something that has barely changed is UK’s margin of victory. UK won by one more point than the first matchup, but in a much different way. Instead of riding Jodie Meeks to victory, they rode solid scouting report defense and a very balanced scoring attack.

Tennessee came in playing with the idea that Jodie Meeks was not going to beat them, and, to Tennessee’s credit, they executed on that front, holding Meeks to his lowest point total in SEC play (14) and without a three point basket for the first time all season. I’m not sure I would have believed you if you had told me Jodie would be so handcuffed by UT’s defense, and UK won comfortably.

It certainly was a comfortable win too. UK jumped out to a quick 13 point lead, holding Tennessee scoreless for the first 8:03 of the game. Tennessee cut UK’s lead to four on three separate occasions, the last being Tyler Smith’s two free throws (2 of his 6 points on 1-11 shooting) with just under 19 minutes left in the game, but Michael Porter drilled a three, and UK never looked back.

UT’s scouting report tells you that it’s fine for almost anyone to have good looks from three, because they are an atrocious shooting team. UK played to the scouting report very effectively. Billy Gillispie seems to have Bruce Pearl’s (aka Big Pussy from The Sopranos) number, beating him for the third time in four matchups. When you consider that the last two years have been the season’s that Tennessee has been strongest relative to UK, it can’t be encouraging that UK still keeps getting wins.

Let’s get to the grades:

Turnovers/Point guard play: A- (last game C-)

23 assists on 28 field goals. That’s a pretty good indication that your point guards are setting things up well. The ‘Cats also only turned the ball over 15 times today against a team that prides itself on forcing mistakes. If you take away the stretch of play right before the first half that Billy Gillispie referred to as Kevin Galloway and DeAndre Liggins’ attempt “to set the world record for turnovers”, I would say the ‘Cats were better than they have been all season in this area.

Key Stat-Assist to turnover ratio: 23:15 (9:6 for Liggins, Porter, and Galloway) (8:15 last game and 7:7 for Liggins, Porter and Galloway)

Rebounding: D (last game F)

Probably the only reason why they didn’t get lower in this category was the fact that they won the game. Rebounding was the only blemish today. Tennessee won on the boards 35-28, and even though it’s common knowledge that UT is one of the better offensive rebounding teams around, 23 offensive rebounds is absolutely unacceptable. I’m guessing that Patterson was still just a little unsure to be the rebounding beast he’s capable of being, but guys like Perry Stevenson, Ramon Harris, and AJ Stewart have got to pick it up.

Key Stat-Defensive rebounding percentage (defensive rebounds/opponent FG missed + opponent FT missed x100): (20/43+7)x100=40.0% (last game 48.4%)

Getting the ball to Patterson: B (last game NA)

It’s definitely nice to be able to grade UK in this category for the first time in a while. All in all, I am happy with the way they got the ball to Patterson today in his first game back. Patterson found open spaces, and guys made some nice passes to get it to him for open baskets. I would like to see the ‘Cats feed the post a little better though. Most of Patterson’s points came from Patterson finding holes, not from throwing it into him and Patterson making a strong move. They need to get back to this.

Key Stat-FGA+FTA-offensive rebounds by Patterson: 12+2-1=13

Secondary scoring: A (last game C)

The most exciting thing about today’s game was the way that guys stepped up in response to Tennessee’s defense and Jodie’s off day shooting the ball. We all know how great Darius was, but plenty of other deserve praise. Mike Porter overcame some ugly misses early to score 9 points on 3-6 shooting from three, AJ Stewart score 5 first half points, Ramon hit a three and scored 5, and Perry Stevenson scored 6 in the first half.

Key Stat-Percentage of points scored by Meeks and Patterson: 19+14/77=42.9% (last game 40.6%)