UK Uses Defense, Pace to Get Past UCLA

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – De’Aaron Fox took a turn as a prognosticator on Friday, saying Kentucky would be in line for a victory if the Wildcats could keep UCLA in the 70s.

A glance at the scoreboard after the buzzer sounded on a victory that sent UK to its 33rd Elite Eight revealed Fox was onto something.

“Our first two games weren’t the best, but today we really picked it up defensively,” Fox said. “That’s why we won, not because of our scoring. That team averages like 90 points a game, and we held them to 75, 15 less than their average. We attribute that to our defense today.”

Like Fox said, UCLA was averaging 90.2 points entering a Sweet 16 game matching the two programs with the most national championships in men’s college basketball history. Moreover, the Bruins put up 97 points in a regular-season victory over Kentucky back in December.

Clearly, the second-seeded Cats (32-5) took that to heart and used it as motivation in dispatching No. 3 UCLA (31-5), 86-75.

“It’s about defense and we stepped up today,” said Fox, even though he had just scored 39 points, the most ever for a freshman in an NCAA Tournament game. “Like I said, they scored 97 points against us last time and today they scored 75. That’s a (testament) to how much we’ve grown.”

UK-UCLA was a track meet four months back. The game was seemingly played in a constant state of transition and the Bruins flourished. That, combined with a handful of other losses in December, January and February served to show the Cats what they would need to do to become the team they have.

The result is a group that’s won 14 games in a row and hasn’t lost in almost seven weeks.

“We had to do a better job of coaching defense, and we had to get them to understand transition defense better, playing elbows and blocks better, taking more pride in defense,” John Calipari said. “Because we lost to Kansas, UCLA, and at Florida, all in a stretch. You know, again, you’re talking, I mean, they’re really good teams, but it was our defense that hurt us.”

Now, UCLA still did plenty of damage against UK’s improved defense. The Bruins scored 1.13 points per possession – the most UK has allowed since its last loss, a blowout at fellow Elite Eight qualified, Florida – and shot 63 percent in the second half, but the Cats’ ability to make life difficult in a half-court game made all the difference.

“We talked through everything,” Bam Adebayo said. “We executed. We listened to the coaches’ plan and it worked out for us.”

UK isn’t afraid to run and proved that fact at various points Friday, but the Cats also aren’t afraid to grind it out. The win over UCLA featured just 67 possessions, down from 83 in the first matchup with the Bruins, and UK has now played in four games with fewer than 70 possessions in its last nine games after not playing in a single one in its first 27.

That limited the effectiveness of Lonzo Ball, who thrives in an open-floor game. The freshman point guard did his damage with 10 points and eight assists, but committed four turnovers and shot just 4 of 10 from the field.

“That was one of our biggest focuses,” Dominique Hawkins said. “We know how good of a player he is. We wanted him to make tough shots, and we knew that he was going to get in the lane and try to pass the ball more than try to score because he’s an elite passer and makes people better.”

Hawkins is the exception on this UK team in that he’s a veteran. That hasn’t stopped the Cats from becoming the kind of defensive unit capable of winning three more games in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think right now people are looking and saying, he’s got all these freshmen, he’s playing freshmen, and they’re defending like they’re seniors like they’ve been around,” Calipari said.