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Posted by eleem (Member # 884) on 02-28-2015, 09:03 PM:

“Be careful,” they said. “This will be a close game,” they said. Well, not so much. Kentucky was out for blood this afternoon, pummeling Arkansas 84-67 to clinch the regular season SEC title. But it wasn’t really that close. Not at all.

Let’s talk about it.

This was personal

In Starkville, Aaron Harrison told Mike Pratt that the Cats wanted revenge. Arkansas swept Kentucky last season and won four of the last five meetings, facts not lost on this team’s veterans. The famous picture of Rod Winkler getting in Aaron Harrison’s face after the Razorbacks beat Kentucky in Fayetteville hangs in the UK locker room, and the team has been circling the wagons around it all week. No wonder they got out to an 11-2 start. I don’t think we’ve seen this team “angry” until today, and man, it was scary.

“We beat them a couple of times. I’m sure they were kind of pissed off about that,” Mike Anderson said afterwards. “They came to play.”

Cal agreed. “I think they were looking forward to this game,” he said, mentioning a practice the team had in Starkville while they were stranded. “We had one of the best practices of the year. The spirit in the gym was unbelievable.” As Alex Poythress tweeted afterwards, when dogs sniff blood…

The normally stoic Harrison Twins showed more emotion this afternoon than I’ve seen from them all season. Andrew admitted this win felt good, but he’s got his eyes on a bigger prize. “You always want to avenge your losses, and that’s what we did today. I’m happy, not satisfied. Two more games to go in SEC play.”

Always focused. Always looking forward. Always a team.

This was big

Add Arkansas to the list of teams Kentucky has made an example of this season. In the first half of the game, I got those Kansas and UCLA feels. The bigger the stage, the bigger the performance from this group. Kentucky has outscored its six ranked opponents this year by an average of 17.2 points per game. Phew. With the stakes rising and history on the line, do you seriously think they’re going to lose? I don’t.

Willie’s face after his block will go down in screencap history

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Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 02-28-2015, 09:06 PM:

Happy but not satisfied is a perfect way to be!

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 02-28-2015, 09:07 PM:

THese boys seem to approach these bigger games all business like. Then the blow out is on!

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 02-28-2015, 09:08 PM:

It's games like this that make me think we play up or down to the potential of our opponent.

Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 02-28-2015, 09:44 PM:

I believe the opponent has a lot to do with it. I also believe this is the best game they have played this year.

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 02-28-2015, 11:16 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by m hamilton:
It's games like this that make me think we play up or down to the potential of our opponent.

No doubt. I've said before, I think our team gets bored playing inferior teams and that's why we don't beat most teams by 30 points. But they come to play for the big games.

[ 02-28-2015, 11:16 PM: Message edited by: PaulCat ]

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 02-28-2015, 11:53 PM:

Then they need to remember they have 11 big games left to play!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 03-01-2015, 10:34 AM:

The scarry part about this team is they can get better.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 03-01-2015, 10:35 AM:

I don't think Cal will let them rest on their past performances.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 03-01-2015, 10:36 AM:

Like MH says we have plenty of games left to play!

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 03-01-2015, 02:12 PM:

THey are still playing for each other. as long as that don't change we have nothing to worry about!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 03-01-2015, 02:19 PM:

Cal will make sure of that.