Cauley-Stein draft stock moving to an all-time high

By: LARRY VAUGHT

When junior Willie Cauley-Stein sparked Kentucky’s win over Texas, coach John Calipari called his play “ridiculous” because it was so good.

After Cauley-Stein turned into another game like that against North Carolina on Saturday, Calipari just joked that he was “Willie good” against the Tar Heels.

Apparently DraftExpress.com noted his play as well because he’s now listed No. 4 in the 2015 NBA mock draft behind Jahlil Okafor of Duke, Emmanueal Mudiay who is playing overseas and UK teammate Karl-Anthony Towns.

Cauley-Stein is averaging 10.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 1.7 blocked shots and 1.2 steals per game while averaging only 24.5 minutes per game.

But against North Carolina the 7-foot Cauley-Stein got to play 33 minutes and had 15 points, six rebounds and four steals. Against Texas, he had a career-high 21 points on 6-for-11 shooting, 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots.

Freshman guard Devin Booker says he’s “definitely” amazed by some athletic plays that Cauley-Stein, who was projected a likely lotter pick if he had declared for the 2014 NBA draft, makes daily.

“Did anyone see that lob that Trey (Lyles) threw him? I thought it was going way over his head, but he just came down with it. To be 7-foot and run like that and be able to jump like that is incredible,” Booker said after Saturday’s win.

That’s why even on a team loaded with potential draft picks — DraftExpress.com has Dakari Johnson (No. 24), Andrew Harrison (No. 27), Alex Poythress (No. 36) and Aaron Harrison (No. 42) — Cauley-Stein’s athleticism stands out, especially when UK plays the best competition. He had seven points, 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in a typical performance in the win over Kansas.

Cauley-Stein said after the North Carolina win that he was simply “playing with more confidence” this season.

“For real. Knowing that there’s a role I have on the team. Last year I didn’t really need to have a role. Just roam around and block shots. This year it’s clear I have a role I have to uphold. That type of leadership role, too, is big to me. Having that is really what’s keeping me going,” Cauley-Stein said.

It also helped Saturday that he was playing to honor Poythress, who tore a knee ligament Thursday in practice and is out for the season.

“It was good (having him at the game) because I didn’t know if he was going to be able to,” Cauley-Stein said. “The past couple days for him to get up and go to the bathroom has been hard being out of breath, using all of his upper body.”

While he said he had “nothing to prove” against North Carolina, he knew it was important to show that UK could still play well despite Poythress’ injury.

“We can’t have let-downs like we did the last game we played (against Columbia). If we can play this way against top teams in the country, we should be playing like that all the time,” he said.

However, just the way he’s been playing in big games has been more than enough to raise his draft stock to an all-time high.