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KNOXVILLE — Facing a team that plays well early in the game and with more passion and intensity than it has in other games is no surprise to Kentucky junior Willie Cauley-Stein.
It happened here again Tuesday night against Tennessee when the Cats had to take over in the second half to win 66-48 after a back-and-forth first half.
Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall had said after his team’s home loss to LSU Saturday that No. 1 UK might beat his team “by a hundred” if it played the same way. This time Tennessee played more physical and outscored the bigger Wildcats in the paint but still could not hold off the Cas.
“As players we gotta just know that it’s going to be tough everywhere we go. Like, especially now that we’ve got this huge target on our back. The whole country wants us to lose, they want to see us lose, so we gotta come in like they’re trying to kills us and stuff like, we’re not trying to let them, you know, get off on us,” said Cauley-Stein, who had nine points, seven rebounds and one block against Tennessee.
“And so like, that’s the mentality you have to come in with, and if you don’t then it’s going to look like we’re sluggish or it looks like we’re not trying to play, and that’s not it at all. It’s just, like, dudes (are) really fighting for their lives, so we gotta fight back.”
Why does the whole country want Kentucky to lose?
“Because we are Kentucky,” Cauley-Stein said.
Kentucky coach John Calipari insisted he has not specifically told his team the whole country is against them because of their No. 1 ranking and 26-0 record. Instead, he noted that TV ratings were much lower when UK won by 30 points than when it was a close game and ratings were like a “NFL number” that was much higher.
“Maybe they want to see us win a close game,” Calipari joked. “It’s just natural (with wanting to see No. 1 lose). Nothing wrong with that.”
Cauley-Stein said UK has had to take other teams’ best shots early in games all season.
“The first half we don’t know how to score on their defense yet. The second half we figure out holes in the defense,” Cauley-Stein, who did not have a rebound the first half, said. “That’s why it looks like we are so much better (in the second half). We really are playing with the same aggressiveness. Maybe we get caught up shooting too many jump shots. The second half we drive and shoot jump shots after that.”
Cauley-Stein said teammates have to know regardless of the circumstance, UK will always get an opponent’s best effort.
“That is the target we have,” the junior said. “Literally every time we step on the floor it’s like that. I have been here three years and whether it is the best of Kentucky or the worst, they are like that. You have to come out ready to swing or you get hit in the mouth and look like you are playing bad.”
Kentucky did not dominate the boards against the smaller Vols. The rebounding was 35-35 and even though UK got 17 offensive rebounds, it allowed Tennessee to get 19.
Cauley-Stein said it was tougher to rebound against the smaller Vols.
“They were smaller than us and would just grab you,” he said. “You were going up with one hand and another guy was whacking you on the other hand. You just have to play tough and play through it and know you are not going to get the calls.”
Tennessee’s Armani Moore, who had a game-high eight rebounds, said UK’s depth took a toll on the Vols when Kentucky dominated the final nine minutes when the lead went from 48-44 to the final 18-point margin.
“It is all about boxing out and trying to be tougher than the other but sometimes you come up short. But that is why you have to do other things almost perfect so that you can give yourself a chance,” Moore said. “But I thought we did well tonight, I thought we competed as a team, we showed that we can play with them. It is unfortunate that we came up short but our team did a good job of competing. We did a good job of boxing out in the first half, I felt like we were really showing them that we could be in the game.”
However, once again Kentucky survived the scare to stay unbeaten.
Cauley-Stein insisted it was not any extra special to him after his trip here in 2013 when the Vols beat UK by 30 points in the first game after Nerlens Noel went down with a season-ending knee injury. Kentucky later ended up in the NIT.
““I mean it’s just, it’s another game. I didn’t come in here thinking like, ‘Oh, I have to beat Tennessee ’cause my freshman year we got blown out.’ Like, I mean, it’s a game, but at the end of the day, like, our team’s so different than the last two teams we’ve had, so, I mean, this year’s just really focused on every day, like trying to get better, and every day everybody grinding to make themselves better and make the team better,” Cauley-Stein said.
“Like, when Coach (Calipari) really says this is like a wolf pack, this is a wolf pack. Like, we’re trying to be, like, something special. So every day we’re trying to, like, make each other better and that’s powerful. That’s the path we’re on and we’re going to continue to be on that path, so, I mean, that’s the biggest thing I can tell you.”
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