Kentucky never let LSU have a chance to win
February 6th, 2010 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
Finally Kentucky took care of business in impressive fashion in a Southeastern Conference road game.
The Wildcats didn’t make the same mistake at LSU Saturday that they made in their previous road game at South Carolina when they let the Gamecocks stay close early and eventually rally to give the Cats their first loss of the season.
At LSU, freshmen DeMarcus Cousins was again unstoppable inside with his sixth straight double-double — 17 points and 12 rebounds — and UK coasted to an 81-55 victory after building 28-point halftime lead over a team it should have been able to do so against considering the Tigers have yet to win a SEC game this year
Kentucky’s defense limited LSU to 19 percent shooting in the first half and only 26.7 percent overall for the game.
Cousins’ play enabled UK to dominate the inside as UK had a 34-14 scoring advantage on points in the paint. LSU had no fast-break point and no second chance points against the bigger, stronger Cats.
Kentucky had a 33-4 run in the first half after falling behind 6-1 when it had trouble making shots early. However, LSU had no chance to take advantage against UK’s defense and managed only 14 first-half points, the fewest since UK limited Indiana to 13 in the 2009 season.
Cousins was again the big story. Him and John Wall have now both hit over 100 free throws, something only two other freshmen have done in UK history. Over the last five games, Cousins is averaging 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds — in the first half. No other UK player has had six straight double-doubles since Chris Mills in the 1989 season and his 14 double-doubles are the most for any UK player in one season since Jamal Mashburn had 15 in 2000.
It was also encouraging to see Patrick Patterson hit 16 points and get more involved in the offense and equally impressive to see DeAndre Liggins and Daniel Orton continue their solid defensive play off the bench. Senior Ramon Harris also took advantage of his scoring chances.
Even with guards John Wall and Eric Bledsoe not having big scoring games, they stayed under control and found plenty of ways to contribute to the one-sided win.
But what impressed me the most was that UK put this game away early and never let a team it should have dominated have any real thoughts that it could win the game.
Posted in UK Basketball
You know what impressed me the most…Cuz only had 1 foul! It also looked at times as if Bledsoe and Wall had been playing together for years and were reading each others minds. Patrick was stupendous. All the guys really put an effort in today and were not going to let the tigers throw them in the bayou. As on announcer said today, Wall had some moves that Maravich might had made. He didn’t have a lot of points but he has some supper moves today. GO CATS! 22-1!
I agree with Linda! Wall and Bledsoe work very well together! Great game Cat`s!
By holding Mitchell to 10 points Patrick really had a great defensive game.
Go Big Blue!
This truly was a completely lights-out performance in the last 10 minutes of the first half. They played amazing defense the first 10, but only had 12 points, then the floodgates opened. It was a thrill and a pleasure to watch. I have to admit though that the second half was kind of boring in comparison. I found myself treating the second half like a separate game, just to make it interesting. By the way, we lost by 2, so I have our record at 21 1/2 – 1 1/2. They were just sooo much better than that team and actually played like it. They completely let off the gas in the second half, but kept just enough intensity to never let LSU even think about gaining any confidence. I know UK is THAT good, but I can’t remember EVER seeing an SEC team as bad as LSU. We beat Arkansas a lot worse, but we played 2 complete halves, were at home and were playing for the #1 ranking. In this game we were on the road and only played 10 really outstanding minutes. Pretty amazing.
Vandy lost! First place alone – Where we belong! Another great day to be a Cat fan!!
Larry, I’m going to assume that you meant to say Jaamal Magliore above, not Jamal Mashburn, for most double doubles in the 2000 season. I WISH we had Monster Mash that year. I think quite a few of our losses would have been wins, our NCAA seed would have been a lot higher and an Elite Eight or Final Four might not have been out of the question because we had a pretty special group of freshman THAT year as well. Oh well, he changed our program’s direction and history in one decade, so I guess I can’t expect him to do it in two.
GO BIG BLUE!!!!
How great it is to be back in the national spotlight. Saw a great moniker for this year’s team:
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
National Media types will take their pot shots at Calipari, but for those of us who have had the privilege to have an up close and personal view of his work it’s obvious that the guy is an incredible coach. I’ve never seen anyone better in any sport.
The Empire Strikes Back…I like that one. GO CATS! 22-1 on the Road to Indy!
I like that one as well Andy. Still believe this team will be in Indy unless it just has a complete meltdown. Of course, we will know more later this month during that brutal five game stretch that more or less ends the regular season
“The Empire Strikes Back”.I like that.Every special UK team has a nickname, I believe you just named this one.
I like that, too. Catchy and very, very accurate
Does that mean DeMarcus is Darth Vader?
DeMarcus is Chewbacca, the beast
Patrick Patterson – Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi
John Wall – Luke Skywalker, sorry Kenny
Coach Cal – Yoda
Linda, you are just too creative. Very, very good
Great Win to show we are back and going to keep being a force this year & beyond in the SEC!! We needed to come strong against LSU, I thought they celebrated a little to much in Rupp & SEC Tourney last year. Now on to Tuesday for Alabama.
LSU celebrated a lot last year. Now Cats need two home wins this week to get ready for big stretch run
This was a great win. Any large margin win on the road is good for a team mentally.
Agree Jared. HOpefully it was a big step forward for this team and will help with the difficult road games they have left