This was really Kentucky’s first true road game of the season – playing on an opponent’s home court. It was also Kentucky’s third game in eight days and all three games were against programs that are generally considered to be among the top 10 in history – North Carolina, Connecticut, and Indiana. John Calipari likes to say that his Cats should be 4-4, or 4-5, or 5-5, but fact is fact – the Cats are still perfect at 10-0.

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Turnovers - UK only committed 13 turnovers. That’s a great number considering this game was on the road and considering UK had been close to averaging about 17 turnovers a game and had turned it over more than 20 times in four different games. Assembly Hall can be a tough place today, and this game was no different. It was packed. It was loud, and the UK players didn’t get rattled and make a lot of “silly” turnovers.

Rebounding - UK outrebounded IU by 25 rebounds – 49-24. The “bigs” played big in the paint. After the game DeMarcus Cousins said that they “should outrebound everybody because they’re bigger and stronger than everybody”. Any time UK has a size advantage, like they did against Indiana, Cousins, Patterson, Orten and Stevenson should be able to outrebound opponents at will.

Eric Bledsoe - Bledsoe was “on fire” in the first half. His hot hand helped get Kentucky back into the game after IU built up an early eight point lead. Bledsoe always seems to be so “calm and cool”, it was good to see him really become aggressive offensively and look for his shot. He hit a couple from out in the parking lot. It was also good to see him get free for a wide-open slam dunk. He said after the game that he told Coach Cal that he was going to get one (a dunk) since he hadn’t had one since the first game. I think this also shows that his injured ankle is feeling much better.

Ramon Harris - I’ve never been a big Ramon Harris fan, but you can’t deny his hustle and defense is a main reason UK continues to stay undefeated. UK won’t get any offense out of Ramon, but they don’t need it. I felt like he outplayed Darius Miller and Darnell Dodson and played 15 productive minutes. He was the best player off the bench in the game.

18-0 run - You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know that any time you can bury somebody with an 18-0 run, you are going to win the basketball game. I loved the fact that the big run came right after Indiana had battled back to take a 1-point lead early in the second half. After IU took the lead, it was almost like Kentucky decided “enough is enough….let’s put these guys away”.

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Darius Miller - Not his best game by any means. He just wasn’t a factor. I don’t think this is any reason for concern. I think he has been getting better and better and he’ll “be there” when the Cats need him. They didn’t need him in this one.

Free Throw Shooting - The Cats continue to struggle at times from the free throw line. It didn’t make a difference in the score, but I would really like to see UK knock down the free throws more consistently, although it was nice to see DeMarcus Cousins have some success at the line.

Eruption Zone - I agree that the Eruption Zone at Rupp Arena has come a long way in recent years, but the UK student body is still “light years” away from student bodies at other arenas. The students at Assembly Hall were incredibly loud, several came in costume, there was lots of posters and signs (some very hilarious), and the “big heads” were a big hit. If you didn’t see it, the IU students had cardboard cutouts of celebrity heads that were as big as a car hood – Tiger Wood, Shaq, Lisa Simpson, George Clooney, Mr. T. It was light hearted. It was fun. It was a great atmosphere for a college basketball game. Assembly Hall also brags that it has the “largest student section in the country”.

At the Buzzer

On a final note, this game meant a lot to me. I grew up about an hour or so away from Bloomington. I grew up a huge Indiana Hoosier fan. I went to Bob Knight’s basketball camp as a 6th grader, 7th grader, and 8th grader. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to play point guard for Bob Knight at Indiana. I spent many hours during my youth watching Indiana basketball on TV. When I began my broadcasting career in Evansville, I often had to go cover IU basketball games, especially when Calbert Cheaney was playing for IU. Cheaney was from Evansville. If I couldn’t play for the Hoosiers, at least I could “cover” them professionally.

After a few “run ins” with Bob Knight on the professional level, I quickly soured on Indiana. A new job in Lexington that allowed me to cover the Cats in the 96, 97 and 98 Final Fours made it easy for me to “jump ship” and become a Kentucky Wildcat fan. Working with Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith made it easy to enjoy Kentucky basketball. Getting to know the fans made it even better.

With that said, this UK/IU game was the first time I had been to Assembly Hall since the early 90’s. I spent a lot of time before the game just walking around the court and the corridor looking at and reading about the history of Indiana basketball. Although it made me recollect fond memories of my childhood discussing Indiana basketball with my dad, it was even better when I got to call him after the game to “rub it in” that MY Wildcats had kicked his Hoosiers butt!