Hansbrough Regains Conscisousness; UK Pulls Away

Apparently the Ben Hansbrough Show is only a brief sitcom rather than a full-length drama, and it was a good thing for Kentucky. The second-most famous of all the basketball-playing Hansbroughs was playing Wildcat-killer in the first half Wednesday night. However, UK eventually managed to cool him off in notching a 72-58 win at Rupp Arena West (aka Freedom Hall).

The annoying little Benjamin was practically running wild and tossing in three-pointers from Papa John's stadium (or at least trying.....witness that little "heat check" 30-footer he chucked up)-- but reality bites us all eventually. In the second frame, Cal's young squad put 'Brough and the rest of the Notre Dame squad on lockdown, causing the Irish to go 1 for 15 to start the half. Could it have been smelling salts?

UK frustrated the Irish with some excellent help defense, closing down lanes and denying the ball to potential shooters coming off screens. I noticed that DeAndre Liggins in particular was "shading" his man while dropping into the paint quite effectively, and UK's young guards showed boatloads of footspeed in preventing any easy buckets on fast breaks. Notre Dame had a tough time getting any great looks, and to be fair, they did miss some jumpers during Kentucky's defensive run that probably would normally fall a good percentage of the time.

Quickly going up 6 to start the second half, and with the defense on full alert, the Cats really didn't have to do much more to earn the win. Super-frosh Terrence Jones decided that he wanted to do plenty regardless. Nearly giving Jimmy Dykes an announcer-gasm, Jones absolutely bulled his way to 17 boards, nicely complementing his 27 points on the evening. The display was impressive in its variety, with Jones showing a decent outside touch for a couple of threes, getting to the free throw line on slick moves to the basket, and hammering in a dunk or two for good measure.

The poise that Kentucky showed down the stretch was a nice bonus. They milked the shot clock just enough, and continued to force Notre Dame to work for their points at the other end. Slightly shaky I guess, with some turnovers and just being weak with the ball on some possessions-- but for a team with few upperclassmen, they salted it away pretty good. 17 for 22 from the charity stripe is a number that most any coach would love. And keeping Notre Dame under 60 on the night-- that's a solid defensive game.