Kentucky guard DeMarcus Cousins (15) grabs a rebound between Wake Forest center Chas McFarland, left, and L.D. Williams (42) during the first half of an NCAA second-round college basketball game in New Orleans, Saturday, March 20, 2010. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

By LARRY VAUGHT

NEW ORLEANS — Kentucky hasn’t won the national championship yet, but the Wildcats certainly are playing like a championship team.

The Wildcats broke away from a 19-19 tie with Wake Forest here Saturday night with one of their most impressive performances of the season to win 90-60 and advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2005.

The Cats will play either Cornell or Wisconsin in Syracuse, N.Y., Thursday night in the East Region finals, but if UK plays like it did here it won’t matter who the Cats are playing.

“One of the things we talked bout before this thing started was I want you to play your best. I want you to visualize what it means when you’re playing your best,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari. “They’re having fun out there, which is what we want. As long as they keep having fun, playing harder than that other team, we are fine.”

Top-ranked Kansas lost to underdog Northern Iowa moments before UK took the court here. Earlier Villanova, a No. 2 seed, and New Mexico, a No. 3 seed, both went down Saturday.

But not Kentucky.

The Wildcats gave Darius Miller’s best game of the year — 20 points and nine rebounds — and solid play from almost everyone to win just as easily as they had in the opening round when they blitzed East Tennessee State 101-70.

Kentucky had such an easy time that freshman DeMarcus Cousins took a hard hit midway of the second half, but got up smiling and waving his arms to the Big Blue fans to keep enjoying the rout.

Actress Ashley Judd even managed to take a picture with four overzealous young fans with no shirts and the word C-A-T-S spelled in body paint on their chests while the Cats were toying with Wake Forest.

Why not? The Cats shot 60.3 percent (38-for-63) overall and won the rebounding battle 42-34. They had four players in double figures and everyone except Ramon Harris scored.

Wake Forest? It struggled to shoot 32.8 percent (21-for-64) and had no chance after star Al-Faroug Aminu got three fouls midway of the first half. The Cats also kept point guard Ishmael Smith from playing well as he was 1-for-9 from the field and had three turnovers because Calipari turned Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre loose on him defensively.

“We just played out of our minds,” UK guard John Wall, who had 14 points and seven assists, said. “We did a great job keeping Ish out of the lane.

“I think we were really at our best and when we play like that, we are pretty hard to beat.”

So was this what Calipari meant earlier in the year when he said there would be a time this talented team would be unleashed?

“I think so. We all played well,” Wall said.

Calipari did not let his players watch any other tournament games during the day. They did not know Kansas had lost until after their game ended even the score was announced in the arena and posted on the scoreboard.

“I got some texts from friends telling me that after the game,” junior Patrick Patterson said. “We saw they were behind as we were leaving the hotel, but I just thought they would come back and win.”

Just don’t try to convince Calipari now that his team is the NCAA favorite.

“I don’t know if we are the overwhelming favorite. Everybody was picking us to lose today. They were saying we would be the first No. 1 (seed) out,” Calipari said. “We’re still a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. So all we are going to worry about is us.

“We’re going to get home, take a day off tomorrow, practice on Monday and Tuesday, and head up to Syracuse. The people that are going to be in that region, it’s going to be ridiculous. You are going to have four teams that are good enough, all four, to go win the national title.”

Maybe, but Kentucky certainly is the one everyone is going to watch and favor now — and should.

“They’re really, really good,” Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. “They played very hard on offense. A lot of teams don’t play that hard on offense. They really challenge your transition defense. They really challenged you on the backboard, and they’ve got a lot of guys that can really score the ball.”

Which is why when Kentucky plays the way it did here, it has everything it takes to be a national champion.

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