Two straight games, two straight blowout wins for Kentucky MBB

11 days ago, Kentucky ran into adversity for the very first time all season long.

In what was the true road-opener on the 2021-22 schedule, the Wildcats were smacked around by a Notre Dame squad that played above its weight. Kentucky infamously shot 2-19 from beyond the arc, lost by four in front of a packed crowd of Fighting Irish fanatics, and received plenty of criticism for it–a lot of it justified.

UK had only been challenged in the first game of the year against Duke in Madison Square Garden, then playing seven “tune-up” games in a row at Rupp Arena where the average margin of victory was in the mid-20s. Up until that trip to South Bend, Kentucky was moonwalking through opponents.

But Notre Dame brought the team back to reality in demoralizing fashion. Sahvir Wheeler was played off the floor, wide-open shots weren’t falling, and Kentucky played not to lose instead of dealing the final blow. 11 days later, the entire conversation around this squad has been flipped on its head.

Kentucky has now beaten (nay, demolished) two good opponents in back-to-back outings. UK dominated North Carolina by 29 on Saturday in Las Vegas before embarrassing Western Kentucky by 35 on Wednesday at Rupp Arena. The ‘Cats were thrown into these games with little time to prepare as well; UNC replacing UCLA and WKU for Louisville, both due to COVID-19 protocols.

Despite the short two-day turnaround to watch film and develop a game plan for both opponents, Kentucky came out and played as if it had been preparing for two weeks. These weren’t games where UK stretched big leads in the final minutes, either. These were full-on blowouts just minutes into the second half.

In those two wins, which came by a combined 64 points, Kentucky has shot the lights out. 54.2 percent shooting overall and 8-15 from deep against UNC; 55.9 percent shooting overall and 9-20 from deep against WKU. Arguably more impressive though? 20 assists on 39 made shots against the Tarheels and 27 dimes on 38 made shots against the Hilltoppers.

Those are championship-level numbers. Now, it’s about maintaining consistency. Considering head coach John Calipari finally has some elder statesmen on his roster, that might not be as tough as the rosters that were riddled with freshmen.

“I’ve got a very, very smart basketball team,” Calipari said postgame. “And this is crazy, I’ve got some older guys that understand how to be engaged, how to be laser-focused. They know because they play. I got some young guys that are still learning, but I got a veteran group.”

Another aspect of these blowout wins has been Kentucky’s ability to step on the opponent’s neck when the scent of blood is in the air. UK allowed UNC to make a mini-run near the end of the first half that brought the score closer than it should have been heading into halftime. Immediately out of the intermission, the ‘Cats ballooned an 11-point lead to 20 in roughly five minutes, easily running away with the game down the stretch.

A similar situation happened against WKU. Kentucky was up by as many as 14 in the first half before settling on a nine-point lead at the break. The Hilltoppers even trimmed the Wildcat advantage to as few as four in the first few minutes of the second half. UK’s response? A 21-2 run over a five-minute stretch.

Lately, Kentucky has developed a killer instinct that is necessary for deep postseason runs.

“I think we’ve had an added chip on our shoulder,” Kellan Grady said after the win over WKU. “I think the Notre Dame game, I think when the season’s over and we look back at that game, we’ll be filled with gratitude. We didn’t play great. They played well enough to win. And we did some things, and it exposed some things that we just need to work on, and some of our weaknesses. We have responded and it’s frankly been a maturation process for us. I’m really proud to be a part of this team and to see the way we’ve responded.”

11 days is all that separated this team from its worse loss of the season to its two best. With a seven-day break now in effect, will they be able to keep up this effort when they return to the court?