(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)
The wrap-up on Kentucky’s 74-50 win at LSU:
What it means: Kentucky improved to 21-1 overall and 7-0 in the SEC with a convincing 24-point win at LSU. (It was UK’s biggest conference road win since it beat LSU 81-55 in Baton Rouge in 2010.) The Cats have now doubled last year’s conference road win total, going 4-0 away from home in the SEC after finishing 2-6 last year.
What I liked: Terrence Jones was the Terrence Jones of old. Maybe even better. The sophomore scored 27 points in 30 minutes on 10-of-16 shooting and also snatched nine rebounds. Moreover, he battled, grabbing a game-high five offensive rebounds. In one instance, he re-jumped four times — by John Calipari’s count — to finally make a put-back basket. He was aggressive on both ends of the floor, blocking three shots as well. Glad to have you back, TJ.
Props also to Anthony Davis, who was beaten up, knocked down and even tackled, yet produced his 11th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman was a perfect six-of-six from the floor. And, of course, he blocked three shots. Whenever the team arrives back in Lexington, Davis will no doubt be calling a whirlpool home.
What I didn’t like: If we have to nitpick, the Cats made just 15 of 26 fee throws for 57.7 percent. That’s a bit misleading, since the team missed its first four tries from the line. It went 15-for-22 after that. Not great. But not awful. Davis made just four-of-10 at the line, but give the guy a break. He had to be shooting a few of those through pain.
What the numbers say: Kentucky averaged 1.29 points per possession, it’s highest average since a 1.375 against Samford on Dec. 20. It is the highest average by UK in an SEC game since the Cats posted a 1.347 against South Carolina on Feb. 19 of last season.
(BTW, LSU averaged 0.889 points per possession.)
UK also took care of the basketball, turning it over just six times. That figured out to a ratio of 10.5 turnovers per 100 possessions, the best by the Cats since ratio of 5.7 turnovers per 100 possessions against Portland on Nov. 26.
One more thing: The Cats got 47.1 percent of their offensive rebound opportunities, their best in an SEC game since 47.5 on Feb. 23 last year at Arkansas.
No wonder John Calipari said afterward that this was probably his team’s best performance on the year.
What’s next: Tennessee comes to Rupp Arena on Tuesday night, and not just to see the Cats in those Nike “platinum” uniforms. The Cats beat the Vols in Knoxville 65-62 back on Jan. 14. The Vols are coming off a 64-49 win over visiting Auburn today.
Talk about your scheduling quirks. The Cats will have completed their series with Tennessee before they have even played Vanderbilt or Florida.
Click here for the Herald-Leader photo gallery from Baton Rouge.
