By David Schuh | Men’s basketball columnist

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UK head coach John Calipari talks regularly about the “process” of a young team’s improvement over the course of five short months.

So much of that process is dependent on defense, something these Cats have somewhat struggled to consistently excel at this season.

On Saturday, against a University of Georgia team that was 4-1 in SEC play, UK finally played a complete defensive game, holding the Bulldogs to 54 points in a 25-point win.

The offense, for the most part, has been there most of the year. When you have the number of scoring weapons that the Cats do, the points will come from somewhere.

Granted, early on this year, the flow on offense wasn’t always there. Regardless, the offense always showed up.

Defensive stops, however, did not.

The Cats have struggled mightily throughout the season with help-side defense. With the exception of sophomore forward Willie Cauley-Stein, when a teammate got beat off the dribble, rarely did adequate help come from others. They simply weren’t a cohesive defensive unit.

“Most of it is mental discipline now. That’s the next level of the process,” Calipari said. “Now we have to be more like a team … that means play with energy off the ball. On the ball — that’s fine — but what about off the ball?”

The proof of the Cats’ development is on Saturday’s tape. After a three-game mini-slump, Cauley-Stein was back to his normal self, racking up six block and six steals in 26 minutes.

Georgia shot 32 percent from the field, and if you take its leading scorer away, the other Bulldogs finished a measly 11-38. They had players injured, but that’s good against any team of reasonable SEC-caliber talent.

“Defense wins game,” freshman guard Aaron Harrison said. “Of course we can score — everybody can score. But we just have to stay focused and lock down on (defense).”

And UK has the tools to do it. With three 6-foot-6-inch guards on the perimeter and more shot-blockers than the Cat knows that to do with, the physical attributes have always been there on defense.

But like Calipari said, it comes down to discipline. When you have the skills to defend, the only thing that keeps you from excelling is a mental fortitude to play hard for 40 minutes.

It isn’t glamorous, but it’s the truth: Defense is now the key to the Cats’ development.

I’m not saying it will happen, but if they want to get to Dallas, it will be by locking teams down.