UK Basketball: Cats learning, winning

UK Basketball: Cats learning, winning

by Keith Taylor/Sun Sports Editor
February 15, 2010

LEXINGTON — It wasn’t a typical performance for DeMarcus Cousins.

But that’s fine if you ask Kentucky coach John Calipari. Cousins had his streak of seven consecutive double-doubles broken in a 73-62 win over Tennessee Saturday night, but Cousins still had a big hand in Kentucky’s ability to overcome the Volunteers’ zone attack and gutsy effort in the post.

Kentucky managed just 30 points in the paint — two more than the guests — but knocked down seven shots from long range and outscored Tennessee 20-4 at one point in the second half to eliminate Tennessee’s hopes for an upset in front of a national viewing audience.

Cousins struggled in the paint, with five points in 29 minutes, but his presence was valuable enough for the Cats. The freshman center snagged 12 rebounds and had one steal. Although the offensive numbers were lacking, Calipari thought Cousins overcame the poor offensive showing by doing the little things to rattle the Vols.

“It is not all bad, because it is one of those things where you say to him, ‘Are you ready? Deal with it,’” Calipari said. “He still gets 12 rebounds and he is a beast because he goes after every ball.”

If not for missed free throws, Cousins could have kept the double-double streak alive. Instead, it’s a thing of the past.

Cousins made just one free throw in eight attempts, but his 6-foot-11 frame obviously intimidated the Vols, including Tennessee forward Wayne Chism, who fought through an ankle sprain and gave it his best shot at stopping Cousins.

As Chism found out, defending Cousins wasn’t an easy task, at least not the same thing as going up against Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson.

“I’ve been playing with Patrick (Patterson) ever since he got here and since I’ve been here and it’s always tough,” he said. “But, it’s been the same. But, playing against Cousins is a different task. He is a good player and played hard, and I can give him a lot of credit.”

Tennessee guard Bobby Maze said the team’s goal was to not allow Cousins “as many touches” and “force him to take shots off the block.”

It didn’t work.

Kentucky guards Eric Bledsoe and John Wall made the Volunteers pay for the decision focus on Cousins with timely outside shooting throughout the contest. Bledsoe and Wall combined for 40 points, with Bledsoe scoring 16 of those in the second half. Bledsoe busted the Vols’ zone with three shots from long range in the second half.

“That goes to show how much talent Kentucky has on (that) team,” Maze said. “We were able to take a big player away from them and they were still able to win by double digits.”

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl praised the performances by Wall and Bledsoe and had no regrets on his game plan to make Kentucky beat his team from the perimeter instead of the post.

“Pick your poison,” he said. “If I’ve got the chance to get beat by Eric Bledsoe from the three versus Cousins or Patterson in the inside, I think that’s the risk we took, the gamble we took and obviously it made us tight.”

It also showed why Kentucky’s speed and size is hard to overcome.

http://www.winchestersun.com/stories/2010/02/15/spo.258818.sto