Huggins' Kentucky was who we thought they were

By LARRY VAUGHT



CLEVELAND — For once, coach Bob Huggins had no answers against John Calipari’s team.

Huggins was 8-2 lifetime against Calipari going into Thursday’s NCAA Tournament game here but it was all about Calipari’s team this time as No. 1 Kentucky routed West Virginia 78-39 in a game that was never close after an early 16-0 scoring surge by UK.

Huggins wasn’t sure how much of an impact UK’s size had on his team.

“I don't know if they seemed bigger. You watch all the film and nobody scores around the basket. I think that's the people that have given them a decent game are people who could make enough shots to get them spread and people who could offensive rebound and either kick it out or be able to finish around them because you can't finish over them,” said Huggins. “Nno, I wouldn't say they were bigger than I thought they were. They looked awful big on film to me.”

He also said UK did nothing to surprise his team.

“We couldn't practice on Monday because we didn't get back until 4:00 in the morning (from Sunday’s NCAA win over Maryland in Columubs), so I had really all day and I did nothing all day but watch film. And I know John and John knows me, so I don't know, how are we going to surprise each other, you know?” Huggins said.

“They were what I thought they were. I thought they were the best offensive team in the country. Everybody kind of gets caught up in their size and all that, which is certainly a part of it, but to get those guys to play as hard and to play together the way they do, I mean, you look down there, you've got guys that, you know, are going to be lottery picks that they give the ball up, they share the ball.

“John's done an incredible job. A lot of what we do is managing people and managing egos and attitudes and all those kind of things, and he's done an absolutely terrific job of managing them, getting guys to play together and to care about one another. They're terrific defensively. That's the best defensive team I think that I've ever coached against. And when they're making shots, and they made shots today, when they make shots, there's nobody going to beat them when they make shots like that.”

Huggins said Notre Dame, which plays UK Saturday, or any other team would need the Wildcats to have a “bad day” to win.

“They had a good day today and we had a miserable day, so we lose by 40. If they have a really bad day shooting the ball, you can pack it back in, and try to keep the score down and close, but when they're making shots, they're making shots, they get you spread, they're too big and too skilled inside,” Huggins said. “And you've got to be able to create some offense and transition or something because it's just, it's really difficult to score against their half-court defense.

“I think Georgia kind of did the best job, kind of got them spread but they still didn't win. And that's probably as well as Georgia's played all year and probably Cal would say Kentucky didn't play very well and they still win. I think that's the difference.”

West Virginia and Huggins stunned Calipari’s first UK team in 2010 in the Elite Eight.
“ I thought going in really that the 2010 team may be more talented but they weren't near as good defensively.You can't argue with what John Wall and (DeMarcus) Cousins and (Eric) Bledsoe and those guys have done in the NBA. They're very, very talented guys, but I don't think that team guarded the way this team guards, I think that's the difference,”Huggins said.

“I think this team is absolutely fantastic defensively. When you've got two guards that are 6-6 and as long and as athletic as they are, they just take up so much space. Back in Rupp Runt’s (in 1965-660 the biggest guy was about 6-5. He had to be a point guard or he'd never got in now, it's just they're just so big and so long.”

Huggins also downplayed Wednesday’s comments by freshman Daxter Miles about UK not playing hard for motivating UK against his team Thursday.

“Honestly, I think that's a bunch of BS. I think once you throw the ball up, you play. It was a freshman that said it and I'm kind of happy he had some confidence,” Huggins said. “I'm kind of happy he wasn't hiding under a chair somewhere, you know? There's nothing wrong with having some confidence and wanting to go out and compete. They just were way better than we were.”