Kentucky uses 18-0 run to win at Indiana
December 12, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP)—Indiana took its best shot at No. 4 Kentucky onSaturday.
The Wildcats retaliated with a shrug and a knockout punch in a 90-73victory.
John Wall got the offense in sync, setting up a decisive 18-0 second-halfrun that gave the Wildcats their first win in Bloomington since 1981. It wasjust what Kentucky coach John Calipari thought his team needed.
“What I was so happy about is how Indiana came out and tried to run us offthe floor and made every shot and just played with unbelievable energy,”Calipari said. “We played well. I just want to tell the people of Indiana:We’re not better than that.”
Calipari was so impressed with his team’s effort he even credited it with awin on his personal log, which now lists Kentucky at 5-5. Officially, theWildcats are 10-0, off to their best start since 1992-93, and Calipari hasmatched the best start for a first-year Kentucky coach since Adolph Rupp in1930-31.
Kentucky moved within two wins of becoming the first Division I school with2,000 all-time victories, and perhaps more importantly to Calipari, proved theycould fight back when challenged.
Wall, the freshman with the mesmerizing moves, adapted by doing more of thedirty work Saturday. He finished with 11 points, eight below his average, eightassists and seven rebounds. Another freshman, Eric Bledsoe, led Kentucky with 23points, including four 3-pointers, and junior forward Patrick Patterson was hisusual self, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. It was Patterson’s fifthdouble-double of the season.
But when the Wildcats found themselves in need of a boost in the secondhalf, they used their advantages in size, speed and depth—under Calipari’sinstructions.
“We just wanted to keep the pressure on, continue playing basketball,”Patterson said. “It started on the defensive end, we was talking,communicating, switching, contesting shots. DeMarcus (Cousins) and Ramon(Harris) had some rebounds and John and Eric were starting the break, pushingit.”
Not surprisingly, the game between the border rivals came with some newtwists.
The frenzied Indiana crowd welcomed Calipari to the series with repeatedreminders of his NCAA trouble. Students chanted “S-A-T, S-A-T,” a response toquestions about who took Derrick Rose’s standardized tests during Calipari’stenure at Memphis, and “Hello Cheater.” Another student held a sign reading:“Calipari borrowed my SAT.”
Though the fans fed the Hoosiers energy, the distractions couldn’t preventKentucky from its eighth win in the last 10 meetings in the series. The teamshave been playing on an annual basis but had played 15 straight years on neutralcourts in Indianapolis and Louisville before going to back to home courts in2006.
Clearly, Indiana (4-5) was better than it was in last season’s contest, inwhich they trailed 14-0 and 32-6 in the first half. The Hoosiers led 12-4 after4 minutes, nearly matching their 13-point first-half total from last December.
They just didn’t have enough to contend for 40 minutes.
Freshman Maurice Creek scored a season-high 31 points and hit five 3s forIndiana. Nobody else scored more than seven points, and the Hoosiers wereoutrebounded 49-24 overall, 21-8 on the offensive end.
“We’re making progress,” coach Tom Crean said. “Where we didn’t makeenough progress was on the boards. We’ve got to do a much better job of keepingthem off the glass. Last year we played at Kentucky, it was a stunned lockerroom. Today, it’s a a hurt locker room and that’s progress, too.”
In fact, the Hoosiers led for the first half of the first half, right untilPatterson missed the second of two free throws, Darius Miller grabbed therebound and Bledsoe hit a 10-foot fallaway on the baseline to make it 21-19 with9:33 left. The Wildcats then extended the lead to 38-30.
Three Indiana freshmen responded quickly. Bobby Capobianco put in a layup,Jordan Hulls hit a 3 from the left corner and Derek Elston hit a 15-footer fromthe right wing to make it 38-37.
Things changed quickly in the second half.
After Jeremiah Rivers made a nifty driving layup to give Indiana a 48-47lead, Wall scored on an athletic alley-oop dunk. Kentucky then hit a 3 orconverted three-point plays on four of their next five scoring possessions tomake it 65-48.
“I said our job is to make it hard for them in the second half because theymay come out and shoot 70 percent in the second half, but let’s just make ithard,” Calipari said. “In the first they shot 63 percent, 62 percent from the3 and 100 percent from the foul line and we’re up one. Well, guess what, weplayed well, too.”