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By: LONNY DEMAREE
The entire state seems to know when it is a big moment and they rise to the occasion. The team rises; the fans rise; the scalpers rise; the football recruit are filing in to their seats; and the Rupp Area buzz is there. Such as it was when the Wildcats took on the North Carolina Tar Heels. Granted the Tar Heels are not the team is was in 2009 when it was NCAA Champions. But the name still carries with it the cachet and tradition.
Fast Start
The Cats came out afire and by the first timeout they had sprinted out to a 16-8 lead and immediately after the timeout Devin Booker sunk a three-point shot. And what had been a problem for the Cats in several games the fast start had been accomplished.
Three Point Shooting
The Wildcats seemed to be about correcting some things that they were resistant to admit was becoming quite worrisome. From the 02:31 mark of the first half to half time Aaron Harrison buried three quick three-pointers for a 49-34 lead. He only missed by a hair of sinking a forty-footer at the halftime buzzer. The team went 7-15 for the game from three point range. In a recent interview Aaron Harrison said he wasn’t worried. He said they are just rimming out but they will start dropping.” And they did.
Marcus Lee’s Playing Time
Aaron Harrison and Marcus Lee did significant damage in the first half to fight off what appeared to be a determined bunch of Tar Heels that appeared to be playing better that they had all season. Lee played like he was determined not to be the odd man out of the rotation or should I say platoon system. Lee played twelve quality minutes whereby in the meantime Willie Cauley-Stein, who’s playing like an All-American, played 28-minutes.
North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams said Willie Cauley Stein effected the game in a big way to have taken only nine shots. His and the rest of the Cat’s defense was the difference in the game. The commentary by the players, Willie Cauley-Stein, Tyler Ulis, and Devin Booker left you with the unmistaken conclusion the players were playing for their fallen teammate Alex Poythress who went down in practice with an ACL injury to his left knee. Williams said – “In the short term you are better without Poythress but nobodies better in the long term.”
The Tyler Ulis Effect
We said before the season got underway that Ulis would see far more playing time than most fans could see him getting. After all when he was signed some fans with the superiority complex were scratching their heads. Calipari said yesterday he thought Ulis was tremendous. Not only against North Carolina but also against Providence he was tremendous. His quickness harassing Marcus Paige North Carolina’s hot-shot guard kept him from getting anything done early.
Looking ahead to the U of L Cardinals Ulis is going to be a huge key to disrupting the guard play Chris Jones and Terry Rozier who Rick Pitino is lavishing praise on. He is saying they are one of the best guard combo’s in the nation. Of Jones he says – “For a (5-foot-9), 5-10 point guard to grab nine rebounds, get steals, get the offense playing at a high pace…. He didn’t finish the thought. Ulis will be key in a big way because both of the guards size-wise should be more to his liking. Given the drive and determination he will likely be ready to step up to the challenge.
My guess is Calipari will have his troops ready to invade Yum Center and continue his mastery over Rick Pitino. Just like he did over Roy Williams Saturday. In the post-game presser Williams was asked to expound upon the three things he said he wanted to get done. Williams named two, pondered and said they obviously didn’t get the third done. “I’m to ‘ticked’ to answer a B--- S--- question like that,” as he stormed off the podium.
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