Kentucky 72 Kansas 40: Wildcats Put the Nation on Notice

I, for one, welcome our new Wildcat overlords.

That, in case you were wondering, was a statement game. Last year the Champions Classic served as notice that Kentucky had a very long way to go. This Champions Classic announced that Kentucky has arrived. No assembly required.

The scary thing? Kentucky didn't even play all that well. They still turned the ball over too much, missed too many easy shots and gave up 20 offensive rebounds. And they still won by 32. Yikes.

The big takeaway from this game is going to be the blocks, as well it should be. Eight in the first half and 11 on the game. Kentucky was relentless on defense and it clearly affected Kansas. When they weren't getting their shots thrown, they were thinking about getting their shots thrown. The Jayhawks were so rattled that it felt like they had never even heard of a ball fake.

This was the kind of game where you knew that Kentucky's veterans had to come up big. It couldn't be another game like Buffalo, where the freshmen had to carry the team. And come up big they did. Andrew Harrison scored 10 points and had four assists, and Aaron went for eight, but it was the playmaking at the moments Kentucky needed it that really sealed things for the twins.

Kentucky is still shooting too many threes. The team went 4-of-13 in the first half, highlighted by an 0-of-5 effort by Devin Booker, who mercifully hit one in the second half, thankfully. And for the first time this season, it didn't close out a half strong. The White Platoon, which had done such a good job of that in the past let Kansas pull to 10 before halftime. But then that same platoon went right back out there and went on a run in the second and shut the Jayhawks down at the same time.

Honestly, no individual stat line is going to stand out. Nobody scored more than 11 points and only one player had double-digit rebounds, but the team as a whole hits you over the head with sheer volume. All 10 players scored in the first half. Twelve scored in the second half.

After a full offseason of hype, Kentucky had a chance to show the world it was for real. That the team wasn't just a great team on paper but a great team on the court. I think this game did that...maybe a little.

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Key Takeaways

- Dakari Johnson is a man. Widely considered the third best center on this team, he is often overlooked, but he had some big moments in this game. He led the team in scoring with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was just a force down low. His power is such a great change-up to go with the length teams have to deal with as well.

- John Calipari alluded to it after the game in the post-game interview on ESPN, but the Wildcats fouled too much. Twenty-one team fouls. Not that a player fouling out is the worst thing in the world, but allowing 27 free throws is too many free throws. 

- Trey Lyles continued the streak of Calipari players not playing well at their homecoming. He forced some shots and wasn't a huge impact player, but he did make a great steal late in the game as the Cats were pulling away.

- Offensive rebounds weren't big for Kentucky this game. They did rebound 15 of their 33 misses, the first time they've been under 50 percent this season.

- Not enough can be made of the Wildcats' defense, though. Not just the blocks, they contested just about every single Kansas shot. At one point in the second half, the referees just straight up called fouls on clean blocks. I think they were starting to feel bad for Kansas.

You can't really say enough about Kentucky in this win. They were dominant from tip to whistle. They are going to be very, very tough to beat this season.