(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)
Some thoughts on Kentucky’s 73-65 overtime win over Stanford in finals of the Cancun Challenge:
- Kudos to Ramon Harris, the Star of the Game, especially in overtime. Harris scored, got rebounds, played good defense. No wonder John Calipari has been bragging on the senior of late. He came through in the clutch. Without Ramon, Kentucky doesn’t remain undefeated.
- UK outscored the Cardinal 10-2 in overtime.
- John Wall led the way with 23 26 23 points. (UK posted a box score on its site that said 26 points, but now that box has been taken down. Box score in the paper this (Thursday) morning says 23.) The freshman made eight seven of 16 15 shots, and was a perfect 8 of 8 from the line. He hit the two big free throws near the end of regulation. Wall also had five rebounds and five assists.
- Good and bad from DeMarcus Cousins. He scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds. But the big rookie was also 3 of 9 from the foul line, and intentionally missed a second free throw late, when, judging by Calipari’s reaction, that wasn’t what was called for at the time.
- After playing just six minutes the first half, Patrick Patterson was very active the second half. He ended up with 12 points and eight 11 rebounds.
- UK made just 6 of 18 three-pointers, but Eric Bledsoe buried a huge three in overtime to seal the victory. Darius Miller was 3-of-6 from behind the line.
- After shooting 48.1 percent the first half, Stanford shot 36.4 percent on the night. The Cardinal ended up making just seven of 23 three-pointers.
Second half defense was the best I have seen the Cats play this year. Still a long way to go, but improvement.
As Al McGruire use to say, 33% from the 3 pt area is the same as 50% from the 2.