There are nights in college basketball where everything goes your way. Then there are nights like the one Kentucky experienced in its final exhibition game.
Doron Lamb fired a pass in Kentucky's 125-40 exhibition victory over Morehouse College
The Cats put on a clinic, dispatching of Morehouse College with such ease and speed even the most hardened observers couldn’t help but to shake their heads in disbelief. Things got so out of hand so quickly in the 125-40 blitzkrieg even Rupp Arena favorite Jarrod Polson heard the familiar ‘Shoooot!’ chant earlier than expected – in the first half.
“We played really well and that’s why the score was what it was,” UK coach John Calipari said. “Morehouse lost to Georgia (in an exhibition) by 24. We hit them in the mouth to start the game. They’re not a bad team, it’s just that we were really good.”
So good that the Cats matched the 74 points Georgia scored against Morehouse by halftime. So good that they built a 30-point lead before eight minutes dissipated off the clock. So good that they would have re-established the tradition-rich program’s all-time margin of victory had it not been an exhibition game.
As warning shots go this was firing a missile right across North Carolina and Ohio State’s practice facility.
“We weren’t too happy with the last exhibition game,” Polson said. “Obviously, we won, but we know we could have played a lot better.”
If it seems as though the Cats were being a bit overdramatic about a 97-53 victory over Transylvania in their exhibition opener you wouldn’t be alone. But Calipari’s latest band of future NBA players trailed 11-4 in that game and didn’t take a double-digit lead until the final two minutes of the first half. It took just 99 seconds to accomplish that feat against Morehouse.
“I think everyone realized we can’t play like that and can’t come out slow like that so we really knew we had to step it up,” freshman guard Sam Malone said. “We looked sloppy in the first game and we realized we’d fall behind in games if we come out like that. I could never have envisioned that. I don’t think anyone could, but when you get on a role you just have fun.”
While the Cats were running and gunning their way to victory their coach kept a critical eye on the proceedings. Even Calipari acknowledged it may be difficult to find much flaw in such a thorough beating.
“I told them I’m not even looking at the score,” Calipari said. “I want to see them staying in a stance. I want to see them physical going after rebounds. I want to .. make sure we’re attacking. I thought we made easy plays, which is hard to do in a game like this.
“We’re going to have to sustain effort and do all of those things (against better opponents). I will watch tape and take what I can from it.”
What Calipari will see is a long, athletic, defensively suffocating squad whose versatility is off the charts. How that relates when the Cats face the North Carolina, Louisville, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Florida and others is difficult to predict but for one night Kentucky looked like a potential champion in the making.
“I’ve seen AAU games kind of (get out of hand) but I’ve never seen anything like that,” Malone said.
