Disciplined defensive effort best of the season

Disciplined defensive effort best of the season

By Eric Lindsey on March 26, 2010 2:00 AM

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Chants of "Go Big Red" bounced down from the overhead dome. "Overrated" even echoed from a few thousand leftover West Virginia fans. Boos berated the Kentucky players every 30 seconds.

This was every bit a road game. In hostile territory, nearly 85 percent of the 22,271 fans in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., wanted Kentucky to lose.

The Cinderella story was all that mattered to those 17,000 rabid pro-Cornell fanatics. Whether Cornell blood ran through their veins, it didn't matter. Taking down big, bad Kentucky was the only outcome that would satisfy.

For five thrilling minutes, it appeared as if the slipper fit. That was before the deafening Red had finally irritated the Kentucky men's basketball team just enough to turn on quite possibly the most dominant defensive effort of the tournament. Jay Bilas called it the best defensive performance he'd seen all season.

For 15 minutes in the second half, UK looked impenetrable. Cornell couldn't make a shot much less get near the basket. To borrow an overused cliche, they couldn't buy a bucket.

The Cats had shutdown the ATM, the Cinderella story and the anti-UK sentiment.

Kentucky (35-2) is indeed marching on to its first Elite Eight in five years with a 62-45 victory over Cornell (29-5). The next opponent in UK's way stands West Virginia (Saturday at 7 p.m.), a defensive demon in its own right.

"I definitely think it's probably the best defense we've played this year," junior forward Patrick Patterson said. "We understood that they're a great three-point shooting team, so we had to have a total team effort."

The Cats did what few teams -- not Wisconsin (53.3), not Temple (39.1), not Alabama (55.6 percent), not St. John's (61.1 percent) -- could do this season. The three-point line, for one of the first times this season, was a Rubik's Cube the "smart" kids couldn't figure out.

"I thought Kentucky came out and played tremendous defense," said Cornell coach Steve Donahue, whose team shot hit just 5-of-21 from behind the arc. "(They) did a great job of taking us out of things."

The game was billed as the "smart" kids vs. the "dumb" kids. First off, let's give credit where credit is due. The Ivy Leaguers are smart and they are good ball players.

But the Cats aren't "dumb." Recording a 35-2 mark, playing the type of defense the Cats have this season and shouldering expectations that freshmen should never have to face isn't associated with an unintelligent team.

To play defense like that, "It takes a disciplined team," UK head coach John Calipari said.

During Kentucky's smothering 30-6 run in the first half that led to a 32-16 halftime lead, Kentucky allowed Cornell to do nothing offensively. The Cats forced 12 turnovers in the first half (15 for the game), stole the ball nine times (12 for the contest) and allowed just three Cornell field goals over the final 15:16 of the second half.

Only one of those baskets came in a half-court set.

"We just locked down on defense," Wall said. "We went over everything that they did. Handoffs were what was going to kill us and ball screens and backdoor cuts. We went over that for like four days straight with coach. That's all we did. We knew that was the key to their offense."

uk_027.jpgSmart kid(s), huh?

"When they were coming screens to hand off, we tried to pressure them over," sophomore guard Darius Miller said. "Our big men did a great job giving us time to get back to them."

Kentucky's defense helped a struggling offense find its groove in the first half. The turnovers led to easy transition baskets as the Cats scored 17 points off turnovers before halftime and 13 points in transition.

Even when the Cats lost focus in the second half and Cornell crept back into it, Kentucky never wavered on the end that everybody says "wins championships."

Cornell was more focused on getting a shot off than actually making it.

"We came out and played some tough defense tonight," said freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins, who steadied the Cats with a team-high 16 points, including free throws down the stretch when it mattered most. "I've never seen us go at people like that."

For all the praise Kentucky gets for its high-flying athletes, bruising inside presence and lightning-quick transition game, it's the UK coach and his players that have called this a defensive team. They've called it their identity.

They might not go to Cornell, but these kids are smart enough to know what they're talking about.

"I was really pleased with the defense we played today," Calipari said. "The guys really worked hard to make it hard for them. ... The discipline it takes for a group of young people like this in their first NCAA Tournament run was tremendous."