Defense features in Cats’ victory over Boise State
UK forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) shoots a layup during the second half of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball game vs. Boise State at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday, December, 10, 2013. Photo by Jonathan Krueger
December 11, 2013
By Nick Gray | Sports editor
Boise State scored 37 points less than their average and shot well below their season average of 50 percent. Boise State head coach Leon Rice credited the Cats’ size for the Broncos’ limited offensive output.
“You just can’t simulate their size in practice,” Rice said. “They can make mistakes and then make up for them, and that’s what they did a great job of tonight.”
Leading UK’s charge around the basket defensively was sophomore forward Willie Cauley-Stein, who matched a career-high with nine blocks.
UK freshman guard James Young contributed for the Cats in the first half. He scored 17 of UK’s 41 first-half points, including four three-point baskets.
UK’s defense stiffened and Young heated up on offense. The 6-foot-6-inch guard hit three consecutive field goals as the Cats lead fluctuated from five to nine in the first half.
“I was just really feeling it tonight,” Young said. “I got some extra shots up before practice, and as I got here, I got a little bit better.”
The Cats finished the first half with five straight points to go into halftime with a 41-31 lead.
UK broke the game open on a 14-2 run in the middle of the second half, sparked by Cauley-Stein’s defense. The 7-foot forward had one block during the run and changed several shots, as he did throughout the game.
The Cats’ lead reached 19 points at 62-43, and Boise State did not get closer than 11 points for the final eight and a half minutes.
Young finished with 21 points, his second 20-point game of the season. Young, Randle and freshman guards Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison finished in double figures for the Cats.
Randle added a team high 11 rebounds to his 17 points for his eighth double-double of the season. UK out-rebounded Boise State 43-27 after being out-rebounded by 16 versus Baylor University on Friday.
Boise State junior guard Anthony Drmic was limited to four points in the second half and finished with 18 points overall, struggling from beyond the arc (2-for-8 in the game).
As a team, the Broncos had averaged more than eight three-point baskets per game on 40 percent shooting. Tuesday, Boise State made 5-of-17 three-point baskets (29.4 percent).
UK’s next opponent, the University of North Carolina, averages less than three three-point baskets a game, a fact not lost on Cauley-Stein four days before the Cats travel to Chapel Hill.
“We have to know that we’re probably going to get no calls, because we never do. We have to play just as physical right from the (beginning),” Cauley-Stein said. “We have to match their intensity. We have to match their physicality.”
