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Two records fell for UK in its matchup with Stony Brook. In the 85-57 win, Ulis was able to break UK’s single season record for assists – something for which the 5’9” point guard was destined once he was handed full reigns of the offense at the beginning of the season.

The other record that was broken was NCAA Tournament record of blocked shots in a single game – something that fans could have hoped for but never expected, considering Skal Labissiere’s growing pains adjusting to college basketball.

At this point in the season, there are very few accolades left for Ulis to check off his list. The 5’9” point guard capped off the regular season by winning SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player awards. He averaged 24 points and five assists per game en route to an SEC Championship in which he won MVP honors.

Ulis has lead and sometimes carried UK to the point it is now, and breaking the assist record held by John Wall is something that is unsurprising when taken into account how much he influences UK’s offense.

“It’s a great feeling but it hasn’t really hit me yet,” Ulis said. “I’m most focused on our team goal and we are just trying to get to the next round.”

The other record is arguably what should scare the other teams the most; the 15 blocked shots UK had against Stony Brook that broke the previous record of 14 set by UCLA in 1998.

“They were being Kentucky,” Stony Brook’s Jameel Warney said. “They are a great defensive team. They were really athletic.”

Labissiere spearheaded the Cats defense by swatting six shots himself, which tied a career-high and nearly broke UK’s  NCAA tournament single player record of seven held by Anthony Davis.

The activeness Labissiere has shown on the defensive end is just one aspect of his game that has been trending up as the post-season drew near, along with his offense and rebounding. His rim protection helps anchor UK’s whole defense and leads to run outs and easy points that UK doesn’t get if he is not blocking shots.

“He blocked some shots today, this has been a hard go for him, but I tell you, he’s making strides,” head coach John Calipari said. “The one thing I told them afterwards, it’s not just about being consistent. You’ve got to keep growing throughout this tournament.”

With Labissiere starting to put it together on the defensive end, UK showed that it can not only win but still dominate a game with a poor offensive showing, but it also helped that everybody else was contributing on that end as well.

Alex Poythress and Jamal Murray, surprisingly, added two blocks a piece. Murray’s contribution can be attributed to him making up for his poor shooting first half. Marcus Lee when he was on the floor showed what he was capable of.

The lengthy forward faced foul trouble in the first half, but had a nice stretch in the second where he was able to block a shot and come up with a steal on back-to-back possessions.

“I would say that Kentucky’s bigs are more athletic,” Stony Brook guard Carson Puriefoy said. “You know, they switched on ball screens and they could cover me at the top, which you don’t see that often.

The record setting performance helped shed some light on what to expect from the Cats in the tournament. Ulis is always going to be in control of the offensive, and that will play a big part in UK’s second round matchup with offensive powerhouse Indiana.

But the other part is that with Labissiere protecting the paint and the effort it got from everybody else, UK proves to be a dangerous threat on defense.