Photo - Vicky Graff
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the anti-Samson. Samson was the Biblical figure with immense physical strength to perform superhuman feats provided his long hair was not cut. Once he was tricked and his hair was cut, his strength went away. Gilgeous-Alexander cut his long hair before Kentucky’s game with Louisville Saturday. Coincidence or not, he responded with a career-high 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting along with five rebounds, four assists and three steals in Kentucky’s stunning 90-61 win over the Cardinals.
“Shai was ridiculous,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “What you see on is face is a smile. That kid smiles. I don’t know if it is a Canadian thing or what. He doesn’t feel the weight of the world on him. I have some guys feeling the weight of the world on them. He doesn’t. He just plays.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was an easy choice as the Bluegrass Sports Commission most valuable player of the game. He was 5-for-6 at the foul line and had just one turnover in 33 minutes. He was one of four Wildcats in double figures — and Kevin Knox was not one of them. Knox was just 2-for-8 from the field with eight points and seven rebounds before fouling out after playing just 17 minutes. Yet even with Knox well off his offensive game, the Cats dominated the final 30 minutes of the game.
P.J. Washington had 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 at the line along with seven rebounds.
“P.J. played, in my opinion, his best game of the year,” Calipari said. “I am telling him to shoot balls. I am telling him to drive. You’ve got to have a spirit about you. I am proud of him.”
Quade Green bounced back from an abysmal performance against UCLA with 13 points and five assists while Hamidou Diallo had 14 points and six rebounds.
A week ago it was UCLA attacking the basket and Kentucky settling for jump shots when UCLA took control of the game in New Orleans. This time it was Kentucky that was attacking and attacking and then attacking some more. That’s why UK shot 30 free throws — and made 24 — to just 13 for the Cardinals. Louisville was passive — much like UK was a week earlier when it lost to UCLA.
“The final score speaks for itself. They came ready to play. I am not saying we didn’t. But you have to give them a lot of credit. They obviously made a lot more plays than we did,” interim Louisville coach David Padgett said.
How bad were the Cardinals? They were 3-for-25 from 3-point range, missed 17 of their final 20 shots in the first half and gave up more points to UK than they had any team this season. Kentucky shot 56.7 percent (17 of 30) in the second half.
Calipari said he was happy with the defense because the Cats contested shots and took things away from Louisville.
“We were able to go zone and man. We have some bullets in the gun. We are not stuck (if one thing doesn’t work),” Calipari said.
This was UK’s biggest win over Louisville since a 103-89 win in 1992 and the 32-point lead midway of the second half was the largest in the Calipari era over Louisville. Kentucky took advantage of Louisville’s foul woes — three starters had two fouls in the first 13 minutes — and pulled away late in the first half to take a 41-27 halftime advantage.
“Foul trouble is not an excuse. That’s when they made their run and we just couldn’t answer it,” Padgett said. “We wanted to protect the paint because we knew they were going to drive the ball. Just have to give them a lot of credit. They were just the much better team today.”
Kentucky opens SEC play Sunday by hosting Georgia. Calipari doesn’t want his team to feel arrogant because of one win.
“If you want to do this for a living, you better fight for what you want,” Calipari said. “We got a lot of guys in there who have been told how great they are but the guy playing against you doesn’t believe it.” “We are not freshmen any more. The other thing I said (before the game) is that we have to start smashing people. We have a good team. I am not trading my team for any team. This shows you if these guys fight, they can do this. But we have no easy games left. Every game is going to be a war.”
