But for the third game in a row, the Cats appear to be in a different gear than they were at the beginning of January. Last Saturday, they beat LSU by 24 in Baton Rouge. Then they went home and beat UT by 25. And tonight they won in Columbia by 34. Even UK doesn't put up margins like that very often. For example, two years ago the John Wall team's biggest road win in SEC play was a 26-point win at LSU. Wall's team also beat Arkansas by 31 in Lexington. But those were UK's only wins by 20 points or more in conference regular season play. Last year, UK went to the Final Four. But that team only had three conference victories of 20 points or more, and they were all at home. So to win three conference games in a row by 24 points or more is quite impressive, even for the Cats.
Furthermore, it's hard to see how UK could play much better than they did tonight. If you're one of those fans who tapes a lot of the games, this is probably the tape you will want to save for this season. You'll want to preserve the dominant performance of Anthony Davis, who went 9-10 from the field, 4-5 from the line, and finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Tonight Davis broke Shaquille O'Neal's record for blocks by an SEC freshman, and no one has ever deserved a record more. He may be the greatest defensive player UK has ever had.
You'll also want to save Terrence Jones's game. In my opinion, Jones's return to form is the main reason UK is on such a tear. He was all over the place tonight, coming up with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in only 27 minutes. And you'll want the tape of one of my personal all-time favorite Cats -- Doron Lamb. He went 6-7 from the field, 3-3 from three point range, to finish with 18 points in only 28 minutes.
Kyle Wiltjer will definitely want the tape of this game. With the Cats up by close to 40 and about 8 minutes to go, UK started running play after play for Wiltjer, and he looked pretty good. He went 2-4 from behind the arc, finishing with 12 points and four rebounds in only 18 minutes.
With four Cats in double figures, there weren't that many possessions left for everyone else to score. But Michael Kidd-Gilchrist continued to show great energy, scoring 7 points and picking up five rebounds while playing his usual ferocious defense. Marquis Teague kept everyone happy distributing the ball. And Darius Miller pitched in five points in 20 minutes.
So there was something for everyone tonight, and I hope everyone had a good time -- because now UK's schedule is about to get much tougher. Presumably in order to set up a more dramatic finish to the season, the Cats' conference schedule is extremely unbalanced. The Cats have now played most of their SEC games (9 of 16), but they have yet to play Florida, Vandy, or Mississippi State -- the three SEC teams most likely to join UK in the NCAA Tournament. Five of the remaining seven games will involve those teams, starting Tuesday night when the Gators come to Lexington. UK hasn't had to play a really great three-point team since UNC and Indiana torched us from the outside, and I hope the Cats are ready. Tonight, at least, they certainly looked it.
Shooting note: My goal is for UK to shoot over 40 percent from three point range and over 72 percent from the free throw line. Tonight they accomplished both goals, going 6-14 (42.9 percent) from three-point range and 16-21 (76.2 percent) from the line.
The Best Fans on Earth: Kudos to Big Blue Nation for taking over South Carolina's gym tonight. On TV it honestly looked as though most of the folks at the game were rooting for Kentucky, and on the radio you could clearly hear the fans chanting "Go Big Blue" throughout most of the game. Kentucky fans believe they are the best fans on earth, and tonight they acted like it.
And speaking of the fans, the coach they wanted -- John Calipari -- coached his 100th game for UK tonight. His record so far is 87-13.
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