LeBron James turned out to be a better good-luck charm than the
president for No. 1 Kentucky.
With the NBA superstar -- a good friend of coach John
Calipari's -- watching from the front row, the Wildcats bounced
back from an upset loss to South Carolina with an 85-72 victory
over No. 23 Vanderbilt.
Calipari secretly hoped James would get caught up in the
snowstorm that blanketed the region early Saturday. It's not that
he didn't want James at Rupp Arena, Calipari was simply fearful his
team would get caught trying to impress one of the world's most
recognized athletes.
"I ran into him in the hallway at halftime," Calipari said.
"I was worried he was coming. I thought it might be another
distraction."
Calipari had good reason to be concerned.
The Wildcats didn't do so well on Tuesday after receiving a
highly publicized phone call from president Barack Obama as a thank
you for helping raise over $1 million in relief for earthquake
ravaged Haiti. A few hours later Kentucky's 19-game winning streak
was snapped by the upstart Gamecocks.
Calipari didn't blame the loss on the phone call, but
acknowledged it was simply part of a combustible mix that led the
Wildcats to getting a little too full of themselves.
There were no such problems against Vanderbilt.
DeMarcus Cousins posted his 12th double-double -- the most
ever by a Kentucky freshman -- with 21 points and 10 rebounds to
lead a balanced attack as the Wildcats (20-1, 5-1 Southeastern
Conference) served notice to the Commodores (16-4, 5-1) that they
remain the team to beat in the SEC.
"We've got a ways to go," Calipari said. "We beat a good
team. We're getting balance."
And they're getting consistent effort from Cousins, who
shrugged when asked if he was nervous about playing in front of
James. Having James in the stands is nothing new for the freshman
big man, who said James was a regular at several summer camps
Cousins attended during his high school days.
"He was always around. I'm used to seeing him," Cousins said.
And James might get used to seeing Cousins in the NBA sooner
rather than later if Cousins can continue his precocious play.
Cousins almost single-handedly gave Kentucky an early
double-digit lead -- he converted four three-point plays in the
game's first eight minutes -- and did his best to stay composed
despite Vanderbilt's best efforts to rattle him.
"He is really quickly becoming a dominant inside player,
maybe the best dominant inside player in our league," said
Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. "We were trying to double-team
him and we told our players what he would do when he was
double-teamed, and he did."
When the Commodores tried to throw two or more bodies at
Cousins, he would spin toward the baseline for an easy basket or
kick it outside to an open teammate for a jumper -- the latest
facet in his quickly developing game.
And there were good looks aplenty for the Wildcats, who made
12 of 23 3-point attempts and dominated the boards, outrebounding
Vanderbilt 41-22, leading to 20 second-chance points.
Darnell Dodson had 16 points in just his second start of the
season. Eric Bledsoe had 13 points and seven rebounds while Patrick
Patterson chipped in 12 points.
Kentucky's supremacy in the lane helped make up for a less
than spectacular performance from freshman star John Wall.
The point guard finished with 13 points, nine assists and
seven turnovers in 34 minutes. He shot just 4 of 12 from the field
as the Commodores did a fantastic job of keeping Wall from getting
out in transition. The Wildcats failed to score a fast break basket
for the first time in memory.
"The last two weeks I haven't been playing well, I haven't
been having fun," said Wall. "I've kind of been frustrated with
everything. I've got to figure it out."
He'd like to do it while the Wildcats are winning. And
perhaps their ability to snap Vanderbilt's 10-game winning streak
without relying too heavily on Wall is a good sign of the team's
maturity.
"We're getting balance," Calipari said.
Jermaine Beal led the Commodores with 19 points, but
Vanderbilt couldn't pull off its second road upset of the week in a
physical, whistle-plagued game that featured 58 fouls and very
little flow.
"On the backboards, there were times we really fought and
still lost," Stallings said. "There were times when we probably
didn't fight like we needed to fight."
Kentucky's defense held Vanderbilt center A.J. Ogilvy to 12
points on just 2 of 4 shooting, though he did make 8 of 12 free
throws.
"I don't think we would have been so disappointed if we
didn't play so poorly," Ogilvy said. "Mainly we were all
disappointed in our effort. We weren't strong inside. We lacked in
rebounding."
The Commodores, who won on the road at No. 14 Tennessee on
Wednesday, fell to 7-15 all-time against the No. 1 team. Nearly
half of those losses have come at Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats will likely fall from the top spot when the new
poll comes out Monday, but avoided a precipitous drop by keeping
the Commodores comfortably at bay after building an early 19-point
lead.
