In the midst of an offseason of unprecedented hype, there was one question John Calipari kept asking because he wasn’t sure of the answer.You see, he remembered the two national championship games he’s coached in the last three seasons. He remembered how the outcome was decided.”When we played Connecticut, who was the best player on the court? (Shabazz Napier) And that’s why they won,” Calipari said in a preseason interview. “When we played Kansas in that final game, who was the best player on the court? (Anthony Davis) My guy. And we won.”The question, then, as UK worked toward another trip to college basketball’s biggest stage bearing a preseason No. 1 ranking, was whether the Wildcats would have such a player when the games got big. Immediately, a candidate, Willie Cauley-Stein, came to mind.”So now, on this team, when we play in that kind of game, are they going to have a player better than we have?” Calipari said. “And so who would that be? Can it be Willie?”It’s still only December, but Cauley-Stein answered resoundingly yes in No. 1 Kentucky’s first close game of the season, a 63-51 win over No. 6 Texas on Friday night in Rupp Arena.”He was ridiculous today,” Calipari said.Ridiculous to the tune of a career-high 21 points to go with 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocks as UK (8-0) survived what Texas head coach Rick Barnes aptly termed a “big-boy game.””It was crazy,” said Alex Poythress, who had eight points of his own. “He was everywhere blocking shots, getting steals, offensively he was real good at getting rebounds. It was the best I’ve ever seen him out there.””He affected the game in every way he could affect it,” Barnes said.The game was one in which Cauley-Stein would likely have struggled in his first two seasons. He would often dominate against smaller opponents, but not in more bruising contests. The messages Calipari delivered about staying low and negating physical play just weren’t sinking in, at least not until recently.”The biggest thing was before I wasn’t seeing success at it. So I’m like, ‘Why do I gotta play like this? I’m not even seeing success.’ I started seeing success at it and I’m like, ‘Well…’ “The Longhorns came close to matching UK’s incredible size and strength inch-for-inch and pound-for-pound, but the junior 7-footer didn’t back away from the challenge. Cauley-Stein called the matchup one between two teams with the top bigs in the country, and he was the best of the bunch.Not only did he sky for rebounds, swoop in for blocks and streak into passing lanes for steals as he’s become known for, he was also UK’s primary offensive option, even in the clutch.After battling to a 26-26 halftime draw, the Cats came out of the locker room fired up and used an 18-2 run to build what appeared to be a safe lead considering the suffocating defense they were playing and had played all season. Instead, the Longhorns charged back, twice cutting UK’s lead to five points in the final five minutes.Both times, it wasn’t Aaron Harrison, he of the game-winning 3-pointers, who stepped up. It was Cauley-Stein. The first, with 4:19 left, came when Cauley-Stein grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer by Tyler Ulis. In one motion, he gathered himself and rose again for a basket.”I’ve just been working on that shot and working on those shots in the paint,” Cauley-Stain said. “They just played off me the whole time so I just shot it.”Minutes later, Cauley-Stein scored five points in a row with three made free throws in four tries and an alley-oop from Andrew Harrison on which he jumped and seemed to keep rising to bump UK’s lead back to double digits.”I’ve just been working on my game so the confidence is going to continue to come the more and more I work on it,” said Cauley-Stein, who played 33 minutes, the most for any UK player this season. “That’s just the biggest thing, is doing it. Tonight I just did it.”Unsurprisingly, his performance drew rave reviews from all around, including ESPN NBA Draft guru Chad Ford. Cauley-Stein would have been a lottery contender had he not defied expectations and left UK last spring, but he opted to return. He’s looking like a smart man after being the best player on the floor in a game that featured more than a few future pros.”That’s one of the biggest reasons why I came back is just to develop myself more as a basketball player,” Cauley-Stein said. “I feel like I’m starting to do that. And the good thing is I’ve got so much more time. It’s only December. I’ve still got like three months of that.”