Wall breaks single game assist record in 104-61 win

During UK’s first defensive posession in Tuesday night’s game against Hartford, freshman guard John Wall chased a loose ball toward the baseline and flung it behind him without looking. He jumped over two rows of cheerleaders seated on the floor, a row of media members in chairs, and landed on his feet on top of a table on press row – almost 10 feet out of bounds.

He was just getting started.

In leading UK (14-0) to a 104-61 rout of the Hawks (2-10), Wall broke Travis Ford’s school record for assists in a game. He finished with 16 assists and just one turnover.

“It’s a game where he could have tried to have 30 points and he chose not to. He chose to pass to his teammates,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “He’s a pleaser. He’ll defer to his team.”

Wall deferred to his teammates to the tune of just nine points scored for himself, a career low. The record-breaking assist came with 4:45 to go in the game, when Wall dished to senior Perry Stevenson, who drained a shot at the top of the key.

“When I passed it to him, I said ‘Shoot it!’ and he said, ‘Huh?’ ” Wall said. “I had to yell it. Luckily he made it, and I was happy for him.”

Five Cats finished the game in double figures, and UK registered 30 assists on 41 field goals. But all that was overshadowed by Wall. UK’s starters spent the better part of the second half on the bench, but Calipari was all but forced to play the star freshman until he broke the record after he had 11 assists in the first half.

“I normally don’t do it, but they told me he needed two more for the record and I stuck him back in and ran everything I could to get him to pass it to someone to get the two,” Calipari said.

The previous record, held by former UK great and current Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford, was 15 assists, set Dec. 8, 1993 against Eastern Kentucky.

DeMarcus Cousins led UK with 19 points and 12 rebounds and finished the game with no fouls, but didn’t even realize it until after the game.

“I didn’t have any fouls, did I?” Cousins said. “That should be the storyline,” he said jokingly, one eye trained on a crowd of media members who had surrounded Wall.

Darnell Dodson had 19 points and eight rebounds, making six 3-pointers. He led UK’s shooters from outside, who found themselves open time and time again. Calipari said the Cats ran his Dribble Drive Motion offense about 60 percent of the time once Hartford switched to a man-to-man defense. That led to alley-oop after alley-oop and several open looks from outside.

“The way we play and the way we drive makes the 3-pointers like a turkey shoot,” Calipari said. “They are wide open … If we are making them, we are going to blow you out of the gym.”

By surpassing Ford and etching his name in the UK history books, Wall moved closer to becoming another UK basketball legend. Wall said there’s nothing Calipari doesn’t trust him to do at this point, and that the team is well on its way to where it needs to be to compete in the postseason.

Calipari, examining the stat sheet after the game, seemed to think Wall was setting the pace for the rest of the team.

“My thing is to get on the guys to just make easy plays,” Calipari said. “Don’t try to make hero plays. Don’t try to throw look-away passes if you don’t have to. Throw it to the guy where he can handle it and make a basket.”

GAME NOTES

Senior Ramon Harris started for UK in place of the injured Eric Bledsoe, who was recovering from an ankle injury. Calipari said he asked Bledsoe if he wanted to sit and get healthy or play, and Bledsoe decided he’d rather wait and make sure his ankle recovers … 11 Cats scored, including walk-on Mark Krebs, whose 3-pointer was his first basket of the season. Jon Hood was the only player who clocked in but did not score for UK … UK shot 60.3 percent on the night, including 67.9 percent in the second half. UK also was 14-28 from 3-point range … Freshman forward Daniel Orton finished with 10 points, three rebounds and two blocks in 13 minutes.