With victory over NKU, Cats prepare for Michigan State matchup

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By David Schuh | Basketball columnist

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UK head coach John Calipari has spent three months preparing his team for this season. But in reality, he spent that time preparing the Cats for Michigan State University.

UK’s 93-63 win over Northern Kentucky University on Sunday was a formality after the opening 10 minutes. The in-state Norse were out-sized and had no answer for the Cats’ depth and athleticism.

In addition to any adjustments he made to combat NKU, Calipari showed some strategy that may have told us what Tuesday ‘s game, and many in the future, could look like.

For much of the game, Calipari played what some would call his “big” lineup. He often stacked the court with three guys 6 feet 8 inches or taller, some combination of sophomores Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein and freshmen Julius Randle and Dakari Johnson.

Randle, Cauley-Stein and Poythress all played at least 20 minutes in Friday’s win.

“It’s unbelievable — their size,” NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. “We couldn’t simulate it in practice and we tried … Kentucky is so big and skilled at every spot. And they keep coming in waves at you.”

Michigan State is a quality, experienced team. And they also boast a big lineup, with four players 6 feet 9 inches or taller that played 10-plus minutes in the season opener.

They may be the biggest team UK plays all year, which is all the more reason for the Cats to start utilizing their height advantages now.

Calipari experimented a lot with that throughout the game, and the different combinations seemed to click with a great deal of success.

Randle and Cauley-Stein were virtually unstoppable again, totaling 29 points and 25 rebounds between them.

Randle had a double-double at halftime, and Cauley-Stein’s 11 rebounds marked the sixth double-digit rebounding game of his career.

The Cats’ depth has been of constant popular bragging point for their fans early this season. And it’s apparent to the players as well that their attributes together can put opponents at an immediate disadvantage.

“(We’re) very versatile, physical and athletic,” Randle said of himself, Poythress and Cauley-Stein. “It’s not really often you have three guys with our capabilities on the court.”

University of North Carolina-Asheville and NKU are both inferior opponents for UK, even at this point in a young team’s season.

But Calipari showed a concerted effort to play the biggest guys he had in his team’s two wins, often at the same time.

UK will have height mismatches at most positions for the majority of the season. And those advantages may be the key to matching up with the No. 2 team in America.