BOZICH | Kentucky shows it's time to quit talking about Duke (unless it's a rematch) | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Stop talking about the Duke game — unless you want to discuss how much Kentucky would make the Blue Devils squirm if the teams met in a rematch when the stakes mattered in March.

Kentucky did more than achieve an easier than expected, 71-58, victory over Louisville Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center. Under John Calipari that happens every year.

Think bigger picture. Think about how Kentucky has changed the gloomy narrative that sagged around his team from the moment the Wildcats left Indianapolis with a 118-84 loss to Duke 53 days ago.

Beat North Carolina by eight on a neutral court.

Beat Louisville by a dozen on the road -- for the Cards' first home loss this season.

Suddenly, the Wildcats look the way they were supposed to look, like a team that belonged in the discussion with Kansas, Virginia, Tennessee and, yes, Duke as a squad you do not want to play in March.

Will these last two performances stop the constant drumbeat about Duke 118, Kentucky 84?

“Probably not,” said Ashton Hagans, the Wildcats’ point guard. “But hopefully it will. That’s something we can’t be focused on right now.”

“Today we made another big step in the right direction,” said Tyler Herro, one of UK’s freshmen guards.

Flawless? Nobody is flawless in December.

Blessed with overwhelming depth? Not really.

Lacking an elite inside player? Yes.

But it’s time to stop dwelling on what Kentucky does not have or has not achieved and credit the Wildcats for the substantial improvement they have made in the last two weeks.

Until Saturday, only Tennessee shot better than 50 percent against Chris Mack’s team. The Wildcats made nearly 51 percent of their shots.

Before Saturday, Louisville had made nearly 36 percent of its three-point attempts. Against Kentucky, the Cardinals made 5 of 20 shots from distance, the first time Louisville converted less than 30 percent of its threes this season.

“I got a good team,” Calipari said. “I mean, I’ve had a good team.

“I know our fans have loved this. All season our fans have bragged about these kids and talked up how good (they are). There’s no room on the bandwagon.”

My translation: Calipari watched the bandwagon empty after UK lost to Duke and Seton Hall. He thought that was silly.

The Wildcats handled the ball with care (only nine turnovers), won the battle on the boards and overwhelmed Louisville in area where they were supposed to overwhelm the Cardinals — 42-22 in points in the paint.

“When you play that many freshmen, they are at the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential and getting better,” Mack said. “You could see they got punched in the mouth early in the Duke game and they didn’t respond very well …

“… they sort of, at least what I’ve seen over the last three, four, five games, sort of been a thing of the past. They’ve done it in two environments that aren’t their own.”

But there was more to this victory than numbers. Kentucky played with confidence. Kentucky played without fear. Kentucky played with swagger.

I’ll say it simply: Kentucky played as if the Wildcats believed they were the better team and that they expected to win.

That’s worth noting because that was not how the Wildcats played in that season opening loss to Duke. Or against Seton Hall.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m comparing a game against Duke to a game against Louisville. Duke is in a group of one when you’re assessing the most talented teams in college basketball this season.

But beating Louisville by a dozen on the road and beating North Carolina by eight on a neutral floor is something elite teams do.

Kentucky looked elite against Louisville. Duke wouldn’t beat Kentucky by 34 again.

Herro shot the ball as if he expected every attempt to go in, and 10 of 13 did, including four from distance. Subtract the unnecessary shot that Herro launched before the end of the first half, and Herro gave Calipari nothing to criticize.

“He’s a great shooter,” Hagans said. “He can attack the basket. If he’s going, they can’t stop all of us, so as we attack it’s going to be open. If Tyler’s open he’s going to make the shot.”

“Give him credit,” Mack said. “I don’t think I’ve seen a game where he made two threes in a row all year and he did tonight. He’s a good player.”

Two other Kentucky players scored in double figures — and they were also freshmen. Credit Keldon Johnson with 15 and Hagans with 11. Blend in the minor contributions from E.J. Montgomery and Immanuel Quickley, and Calipari’s latest batch of recruits scored 54 of the Wildcats’ 71 points.

Scoring is not always the best way to evaluate freshmen. Did they defend?

Yes, they defended. Not only did Kentucky force the Cardinals into their worst shooting performance of the season (36.4 percent), they limited not one (Dwayne Sutton), not two (V.J. King), not three (Ryan McMahon) but four (Malik Williams) Louisville players to two points.

In other words, Louisville got eight points from a quartet of players who average 30.9.

The important defense was played on the perimeter by Hagans, Johnson and Herro. They made Louisville uncomfortable as the Cardinals tried to initiate offense.

“These past couple of games we’ve been going great,” Hagans said. “We’ve just got to leave what happened in the past, in the past and just focus on that.”