Well Kentucky played as ugly a first 14:59 as they’ve played all year against the nerds from Penn. The Cats’ shooting was terrible, their defense was uninspired and Penn’s Tyler Bernardini scored 16 points in the first half. The Cats were down 31-19, then they flipped the switch, decided they cared and went on 14-1 run to close out the half led by Josh Harrellson with 6 point, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks in the first half.
Kentucky really turned on the defense holding Penn to only two made baskets over the next 15 minutes after the 31-19 score. During that span, the Wildcats went on a 46-14 run. In the end Harrellson got his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds with no fouls. Brandon Knight scored 22 points with 4 assists and 2 rebounds. And by the way, Kentucky shot 18 for 22 in the second half (81.8%). Smokin’.
Calipari was hoarse in the press conference from yelling at Terrence Jones and Eloy Vargas. He may have yelled at everyone, I don’t know, but Jones and Vargas definitely took the bulk of it.
The Cats are in a good place right now winning by large margins over the teams that they should and winning decisively over Notre Dame and Louisville. This team is now right on par with last year’s team and should have great run through the SEC. They came into the season as a team picked to finish behind Mississippi State and Florida, but now they are all but the prohibitive favorite to win the SEC for the 9,000th time.
After the game Calipari once again praised Harrellson for his effort on the court and his total body conditioning before practices this year. Talking about the lack of defensive intensity in the first half when the Cats were leaving guys with open threes, Cal said, “I was going bananas,” as was the entirety of Rupp Arena.
Cal was still disappointed with Darius Miller saying, “I think he should be all league, but it doesn’t matter what you or I think. It’s what he thinks.”
I’ve done this a few times in my career and when you’re coaching young teams, your will has to be stronger than theirs and you cannot give in and I don’t give in.”
“Brandon, I’m so proud of him. How many of you all were in Hawaii with us? Different player isn’t he?”
Cal mentioned that after he told Eloy Vargas he needed to pull down a missed rebound with both hands Eloy argued, so he was immediately pulled. On Brandon Knight however, “Brandon is really running our team and playing for his teammates, he can say whatever he wants.”
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