Happy John Wall Day!

That’s the text I received to start my morning, and Mr. Wall did not disappoint. For the first time, we got to watch John Wall go up against someone other than his teammates and the Golden Eagles suffered the consequences to the tune of 27 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds.

Other than a blemishes in the form of couple carrying calls, Wall’s performance was close to perfect. He nailed a 3 early, split fruitless double teams to open up the floor, got to the basket almost at will, and zipped passes to open teammates.

The most impressive thing to me about John Wall is the difference he makes while he’s on the court. Good things just happen when he has the ball in his hands. He forces the defense to account for him when he breaks pressure in the open floor then hits his teammates in stride. With how well Eric Bledsoe, Darius Miller, and DeMarcus Cousins pass the ball, Wall will have a ton of hockey assists, plays where he makes the pass that creates the pass that leads to a basket (trust me, if you read that sentence enough times, it makes sense).

The crazy thing was that Wall seemed to be on cruise control the entire time.

John Wall’s debut is obviously the front page news, but as a whole, UK’s play in the second exhibition was markedly better, more focused, and tidier in general. Granted, John Wall played a big role in that, but across the board, UK improved.

They raced out to the same big lead that they did against Campbellsville (28-7 8 minutes in), but there was no lull this time around. Like in Monday’s game, UK’s defense forced its opponent into very poor shooting from the floor (23.8%). Unlike Monday’s game, I think you could credit that poor shooting to UK’s defense. The ‘Cats reached double digits in blocked shots, I feat I do not expect to go unrepeated.

Not only did UK effectively contest Clarion’s looks, it also limited them by forcing 23 turnovers, including 9 steals.

Offensively, John Calipari has to be much happier with his team’s play. Again, Wall played a major role in that, but the dribble drive looked a lot more like itself. Not only was UK much more aggressive in taking the ball to the basket, they were also much less careless with the ball, committing only 12 turnovers after eclipsing 20 a few days ago.

Perhaps Coach Cal’s cracking of the whip is beginning to do the trick.

Other than Wall, I was most encouraged by the performances of DeMarcus Cousins and Darius Miller. Cousins play was predictably good. He’s absolutely huge and his opponents weren’t. He was a beast inside and was a beast almost the entire game, which was an improvement from Monday when his play was a bit uneven. Cousins finished with 20 points and 6 boards.

Darius Miller showed perhaps the most improved play, playing much more aggressively off the dribble. Miller still didn’t look to score off of his penetration as much as Calipari would like, but he created offense every time he did. Miller finished with 11 points and 7 assists, showing why Calipari has named him his third point guard.

At this early point in the season, I am watching the coaching moves of John Calipari as closely as the play of the team. I noticed a couple differences from the way he handled his team in the first game.

First of all, you saw much more of an emphasis on post play. After the opening minutes against Campbellsville, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and Daniel Orton did not get many interior touches. It just wasn’t a priority for the ‘Cats to work on that. However, in the second game, it became abundantly clear that John Calipari has accepted that he is going to change his offensive style this season to fit his team.

The dribble drive is great and everything, but Cal has three guys that are going to score most of the time when they get the ball in good post position. He would be doing those players and his team a disservice if they did not exploit that. Therefore, you saw a lot more post isolations for Patterson and Cousins, and they did their thing.  Calipari made it clear in his post game quotes that “this is a post up team too”, so those of you who love a nice drop step and a baby hook are in luck.

I also noticed a change on the defensive end: the ‘Cats did not press at all. Contrast that with the opening game, when UK was in full court from start to finish. Calipari wanted to empasize defense in the half-court and, just as importantly, defensive communication in the half court.

Pressing an overmatched team like Clarion can make your defense look a bit better than it probably is just because that kind of team is going to make mistakes against UK-caliber athletes. Hanging back in the half-court forced the ‘Cats to play their assignments and get the job done without the benefit of an unforced turnover. I even think I saw some zone during the second half. I think the ‘Cats responded.

Up next is Morehead State on Friday the 13th, which will be a significant step up in competition for the ‘Cats. UK will be without John Wall, so a healthy Eric Bledsoe is a must. The Eagles are a talented, experienced team that will be motivated playing a game in Rupp, so the ‘Cats are going to have to do more than show up to get the win. We’ll have more as the week goes along, but for now I’m worried about the football ‘Cats getting a win tomorrow against EKU to creep closer to bowl eligibility.

Before I call it a night, let’s take a quick look at the rotation from tonight’s game.

The Rotation

There were notable changes in the rotation tonight. Obviously, Wall replaced Bledsoe in the backcourt and Miller, Dodson, Patterson, and Cousins got starts again.

Ramon Harris and Daniel Orton were first off the bench, but Daniel Orton quickly suffered a chest injury. He tried to come back in a few minutes later, but exited quickly and headed to the locker room. He stayed in the locker room until after halftime for tests, returning to the bench when x-rays were negative, but he did not re-enter. He has a week to heal.

Perry Stevenson, after not playing until garbage time on Monday, was a major player. He got most of the minutes that Josh Harrellson played against Campbellsville, and played even more with Orton unavailable. He ended up playing 19 minutes and scoring 8 points, proof positive that this team is very deep and that good play will be rewarded.

Jon Hood was the other swing man to get minutes, scoring 7 points in 15 minutes.

Like Monday, the end game lineup was Miller, Hood, Krebs, Harrellson, and Stevenson, with DeAndre Liggins notching a second consecutive DNP-Coach’s Decision. Cal would not answer questions about Liggins after the game, so the message board posters are left to throw theories at the wall to see what sticks.

Darius Miller is in the unique position of getting starter minutes, but also playing point guard for the mop up squad. This could be a big boost for those of who play fantasy college basketball and own Darius.