NEW ORLEANS – Just short of getting in a fight — one thing DeMarcus Cousins vowed not to do Saturday — Kentucky might want to bring everything it has when it squares off with Wake Forest on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Wake Forest is long, athletic and physically imposing. Four players stand 6-foot-11 or taller, and that list doesn’t include potential NBA lottery pick Al-Farouq Aminu (6-9), the Demon Deacons’ best talent and only Atlantic Coast Conference player to average a double-double (15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds) this season.
That list does include 7-footer Chas McFarland, a player quickly becoming notorious for getting under players’ skin.
“I knew that question was coming,” Cousins said when asked how he would handle the emotional McFarland. “I’m just going to go play basketball. I’m telling you now, I’m not trying to get in a fistfight (and) I’m not playing dirty or nothing. I’m just going to play ball.”
But he may want to bring the wood, energy and muscle it will take to match up with the Demon Deacons in what expects to be an old fashioned slugfest at approximately 8:20 p.m. ET in New Orleans Arena.
Wake Forest took Texas to the woodshed Thursday night on the boards, outrebounding the Longhorns 59-34. That beat-down included 20 offensive rebounds, 42 points in the paint and 25-second chance points. Aminu and 6-foot guard Ishmael Smith, known more for his speed than size, combined for 27 rebounds.
“You’re playing a team from the ACC who did damage,” said head coach John Calipari. “They’re physical. They outrebounded Texas by 25. Think about that — 25 rebounds. They got 20 offensive boards against Texas, who prides itself in that toughness and that rebounding. That’s the one thing you’re not going to beat them with, and they did. …
“I just watched tape and you get sick to your stomach. I hate watching too much tape because you start like, ‘Oh, my gosh, how are we going to even stay on the court with these guys.’ “
In the 19 games Wake Forest won prior to Thursday night’s rebounding shellacking, the Demon Decaons averaged 7.7 more rebounds than their opponent. In the 10 games they lost, they were outrebounded by 1.4 a game.
That means the key for Kentucky will be crashing the glass.
“(We will) need a total team effort,” junior forward Patrick Patterson said. “They’re pretty big, so it’s just all about who wants it more when it comes off the rim and who is the tougher team out there.”
UK, the nation’s tallest team, was one of the top rebounding teams in the country this season but struggled mightily down the stretch. Entering Saturday’s primetime affair, the Cats have been outrebounded four of their last six games.
Against a much smaller East Tennessee State team Thursday night, UK just barely outrebounded the Buccaneers by four.
“We were just ball watching,” senior guard/forward Ramon Harris said. “The shot went up and we weren’t going to get contact with anybody. We were seeing if the ball was going in and out and not getting the opportunity or the chance to get the rebound.”
Patterson was asked what makes a good rebounding team.
“Moving your feet and not accepting being boxed out, just wanting the ball more,” Patterson said.
There’s a strong misconception that forwards and centers are responsible for most of the rebounding, but it’s been the guards Calipari has pointed to when the rebounding numbers aren’t where they should be.
“If you look over the course of the season, when our guards rebound, we get out and get a fast-break and either get a three or a quick post-up or even a layup,” Harris said. “If we get all five guys rebounding, we’re a hard team to beat.”
Wake Forest runs a similar attack to that of South Carolina, who shocked Kentucky in early February with a rebounding bombardment.
Speedy guard Devan Downey ran circles around the Cats and drew attention away from the basket. That opened up the rim for key second-chance opportunities.
The end result turned ugly.
“They’ve got their little point guard, Smith, who is as good — he’s Devan Downey that beat us at South Carolina,” Calipari said.
Cousins, who welcomed the opportunity to quite possibly play one-on-one for the first time this season, said their misfortunes at South Carolina were a long time ago.
“In that game there was a lot of bad placement and was a situation where we were still learning the pick-and-roll defense,” Cousins said. “But we’ve been doing a lot of drills since that game and it’s helped with our rebounding. We didn’t have anyone crashing the boards and you’ll see a better effort. You saw how we were the second time against South Carolina.”
