Four words can sum up the first half between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Sam Houston St Bearkats, “terrific offense, horrible defense”.  The Kentucky Wildcats shot for 62.5% in the first half, 20-32, for a total of 53 points.  The only problem is that they gave up 42 points, including twelve 3-pointers.  Sam Houston State shot for only 40% total in the first half, but went 12 for 21 behind the arc for 57%.  DeMarcus Cousins had a monster half, recording a double-double in the first half with 18 points and 10 rebounds.  Corey Allmond, for the SHS Bearkats, went 8 for 11 behind the 3-point line and finished the half with 24 points.  Kentucky led at half-time by the score of 53-42.

The second half proved to not be much different.  The offense was still there, but the defense lacked again.  The Bearkats ended with eighteen 3-pointers made on the night, 18-39, for 46%.  The Wildcats were good behind the 3-point line as well, hitting 11 of 22 for 50%.  Overall, the Wildcats shot 60%, going 36 for 60 from the field.  A great offensive night where all starters scored in double-digit points, but not one single bench player scored a point for the Kentucky Wildcats.  The final score of the game was 102-92 in favor of the UK Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
DeMarcus Cousins - 27 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals (4 turnovers)
John Wall - 21 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals (5 turnovers)
Patrick Patterson - 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists (3 turnovers)
Eric Bledsoe - 19 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks (6 turnovers)
Darius Miller - 15 points, 3 assists (No turnovers)

Corey Allmond (Sam Houston), finished the game with 37 points, going 11 for 16 behind the 3-point line.

As you can see by the turnovers listed above, the Kentucky Wildcats committed way too many turnovers for the game, 21 turnovers and 21 assists.  The Wildcats had excellent performance on the offensive end, but lacked the 3-point defense needed to put the game away.  The Cats once again were mediocre from the free throw line, going 19-29 for 65%.  The Wildcats are inexperienced and will get better as more games are played, so this should be taken as a learning experience, because Coach Calapari will have a lot to improve on before the next game, if they even have time to practice with such a short turnaround.

The next game in the Cancun Challenge, puts the Kentucky Wildcats against the Rider Broncs on Saturday, 21 November 2009, at 1:00 p.m. (EST).  Rider has already recorded a win against the Mississippi St. Bulldogs this year, so this will be a game to watch.

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My Oh My!!!  The first half of this basketball game did not go as the Kentucky Wildcats had planned.  Kentucky started out strong by scoring the first five points of the basketball game, but Miami came to play.  Miami went on a 19-4 run and led the game by as much as 18 in the first half.  Miami’s Nick Winbush was lights out behind the three-point line, going 6 for 6 in the first half and finishing the half with18 points.  The Wildcats were finally able to stop threes from raining against them and put on a run of their own, behind Darnell Dodson’s three 3-pointers.  John Wall finished the half with10 points while Patrick Patterson and Darnell Dodson both had 9 apiece.  The score at half-time was 39-36 in favor of the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks.  Miami was able to control the first half mainly on their ten 3-pointers posted by the half, and only three 2-point shots.

 If this basketball game didn’t have any hype before the game, the hype had arrived by half-time.  The game would only prove to get better as the clock ticked down in the second half.  During the second half, neither team could get more than a 5 point lead and the Redhawks led for most of the half.  Daniel Orton head-butted a Miami player unintentionally and had to go to the locker room to receive 6 stitches, but he did return to the game.  DeMarcus Cousins came alive in the second half after picking up 2 fouls early in the first half and sitting the rest of the half.

 If you are a Wildcat fan like me, you were sitting on the edge of your seat with your heart pounding, wondering if Kentucky was going to be able to grind it out or if we would have another VMI, Gardner Webb in the building.  As time ticked away, the game only had me closer to a heart attack.  The score was back and forth in the last few minutes and proved to be something amazing in the last minute. 

Kentucky was up by 2 points, and Miami had the ball with less than a minute to go.  Miami’s guard drove to the basket, met by a little contact, and shot an airball.  DeMarcus Cousins grabbed the rebound while on his back (on the floor).  Kentucky ran it down the court and called a time-out, with about 20 seconds to go in the game.  After the time-out, Miller inbounded the basketball to John Wall in the back-court.  Wall grabbed the ball from miller, which almost resulted in a turnover, but Wall got the foul call while falling to the floor.  John Wall was able to make the first free throw, but missed the second free throw as it seemed like the ball was sitting on the rim for eternity before it fell off. 

Kentucky was up by 3 points, but Miami was a determined bunch and why not!!  Miami dribbled the ball up the court and immediately went for a three. GOOD!!!  Tie ball game at 70-70 with only 6 seconds left.  Miami was out of time-outs!  Kentucky inbounded the ball to John Wall who pushed the ball down the court in what seemed like a nano-second.  About 15 feet out, John Wall pulls up for the shot (2.5 seconds left) with a Miami defender in his face!  WHAM BAM!!! IT’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!  Only 0.5 seconds left in the game, Miami throws a desperation shot from about 85 feet with no luck.  GAME OVER!!  Wow, what a game!  I don’t think anyone had ever anticipated a game like this tonight.  For John Wall, his first official Collegiate game and he makes the winning shot with only .5 seconds left.  Final score, 72-70 in favor of the Wildcats.  I hope that is a sign for things to come from him!

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
John Wall - 19 points, 5 assists, 3 steals (5 turnovers, but had the game winning shot)
Patrick Patterson - 17 points, 10 rebounds
DeMarcus Cousins - 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks
Darius Miller - 9 points, 5 rebounds
Darnell Dodson - 9 points

Hats off to Nick Winbush and the rest of the Miami squad.  Winbush finished the game with 26 points, going 8 for 10 from behind the three point line.  Kentucky really needs to improve their free-throw percentage, shooting only 56% for the game.  Kentucky’s next game is versus Sam Houston St. in the Cancun Challenge on November 19th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. (EST).

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The Kentucky Wildcats started slow in their men’s basketball season opener.  The game was only 7-5 in favor of Kentucky at the first time-out, but Kentucky turned on their burners and started pulling away after the time-out.  Then, the Morehead St. Eagles turned it up and made it a game before the half with the help of a lot of Kentucky turnovers.  The half-time score was 33-25 in favor of Kentucky.  The Wildcats missed the talent of John Wall, who was ineligible for this game due to him serving his last game of a two-game suspension.  Patrick Patterson and Darnell Dodson were leading scorers in the first half, both scoring in double-digits before the half.

Kentucky was able to pull away in the second half and maintained a lead between 15 and 20 points for most of the half.  Eric Bledsoe was the main scorer in the second half, including a ridiculous circus shot that went in the basket for him (#1 on ESPN Top Ten Plays).  The final score of the basketball game was 75-59 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
Eric Bledsoe - 24 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks (7 turnovers)
Patrick Patterson - 20 points, 12 rebounds
Darnell Dodson - 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists
DeMarcus Cousins - 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks
Daniel Orton - 4 points, 5 rebounds

Kentucky’s downfall for the basketball game was their 24 turnovers, including Eric Bledsoe’s 7.  Kentucky will have Freshman John Wall back for the next game versus Miami (Ohio) in Rupp Arena on November 16th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. (EST).

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The Kentucky Wildcat Men’s basketball team defeated the Clarion Golden Eagles on November 6th, 2009 by a final score of 117-52 in their final exhibition game of this season.  It was the first game for Freshman John Wall.  The Kentucky Wildcats came out strong and John Wall did not seem to be nervous at all.  He gathered his first assist within the first 30 seconds of the game.  Wall finished the first half with 17 points and the Cats led going into half-time by a score of 58-22.

The second half seemed to mimic the first half.  John Wall and the Wildcats came out strong and put up points in a hurry.  It was a team effort and the dribble-drive seemed to be working and used more in this game.  However, it should be noted that Clarion’s biggest guy on the court was only about 6 feet 8 inches.  The UK Wildcats need to work more on the defense and their cohesiveness as a team.  They aren’t quite where they need to be, but John Calapari should have them there before the big games start.

Eric Bledsoe did not play in the game due to a sore ankle.  Daniel Orton left in the first half with a minor shoulder injury that shouldn’t affect his play in the future (listed day-to-day).  He did not re-enter the game in the second half.  John Wall finished with 27 points and 9 assists.  DeMarcous Cousins finished with 20 points.  DeAndre Liggins did not play in this game or the last exhibition game for unknown reasons.

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The Kentucky Wildcat Men’s basketball team defeated the Campbellsville Tigers by a score of 74-38 on November 2nd 2009, but it was not a pretty basketball game at all.  As expected, both teams committed many turnovers in a sloppy, low-scoring game.  UK did look very good at times, but other times, it was obvious that these players have not practiced together very much.  There wasn’t much set-play calling and not very much dribble-drive for that matter.

Darnell Dodson was the top man for the Kentucky Wildcats.  He scored 19 points and had 5 rebounds.  Perry Stevenson and DeMarcus Cousins added 11 points a piece.  Eric Bledsoe show signs of greatness at times, but other times, rushed and didn’t make good decisions.  He will be fine, he just needs more time to feel everyone out to get better.  John Wall did not play due to a suspension he is currently serving for the “Agent Incident”.  He is expected to play the next exhibition game, but will also have to sit out the first game of the season against Morehead St. in the final game of his 2-game suspension.

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John Wall has finally been cleared to play!  The NCAA set out a small punishment for the Kentucky Wildcat Freshman.   Wall must sit out 2 basketball games and repay around $800 in expenses while he was conducting unofficial visits to colleges during his Junior year of high school.

John Wall will miss an exhibition game against Campbellsville as well as the season opening game against Morehead State.  The punishment stemmed from Wall’s involvement with a “so-called” agent during his high school years.  It is nothing to be concerned with and hopefully we can move forward now.  Is everybody ready for the season to start like I am?

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The Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team come in at number 5 on this year’s College basketball pre-season top 25 (USA Today/ESPN Poll).  The entire preseason rankings can be viewed below:

1.  Kansas
2.  Michigan St.
3.  Texas
4.  North Carolina
5.  Kentucky
6.  Villanova
7.  Purdue
8.  Duke
9.  West Virginia
10.  Butler
11.  Tennessee
12.  California
13.  Washington
14.  Connecticut
15.  Michigan
16.  Oklahoma
17.  Ohio St.
18.  Minnesota
19.  Mississippi St.
20.  Georgia Tech
21.  Georgetown
22.  Dayton
23.  Louisville
24.  Clemson
25.  Syracuse

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The Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team come in at number 4 on this year’s College basketball pre-season top 25 (AP Poll).  The entire preseason rankings can be viewed below: