Season Never Ends Calendar Wants 7 Things We Learned in Kentucky's Big Win Over Providence

Free Shipping-- use the code "FreeShip"!!! Order the Kentucky Basketball 2014 Calendar by Season Never Ends and you’ll be entered into a drawing for two tickets to UK-Florida on February 15 in Rupp. ESPN College Gameday will be there, and so could you! KSR fans will love this best-selling UK calendar. It's all-new, with more games, more quotes, more big shots, and more fan-friendly pages than ever. Look for 1978 Final Four MVP Jack “Goose” Givens on the cover. Get it at UK retailers everywhere or from SeasonNeverEnds.com Follow model Kindly Myers | twitter @kindly0083 | facebook.com/kindly0083 ------------------------- [caption id="attachment_146604" align="alignnone" width="500"] Photo © Noah K. Murray[/caption] What an awesome way to end the weekend. Kentucky put together their best game of the season tonight in Brooklyn, storming by Providence 79-65. Here are seven things we learned: 1. Willie Cauley-Stein is more than just potential "In West Olathe, Kansas born and raised, on the gridiron where he used to spend most of his days, chilling out max and relaxing all cool, started shooting some bball outside of the school..." Big Willie style was all in it tonight. The seven-footer followed up an impressive performance against Eastern Michigan with an even better game against Providence tonight. Willie flirted with the elusive triple double tonight, putting up 15 points, eight rebounds, and a ridiculous nine blocks. He joins Sam Bowie, Andre Riddick, and Nerlens Noel as players to block nine or more shots in one game for UK, with the record belonging to Nerlens Noel, who had 12 against Ole Miss last season (surprisingly, Davis is not on this list). For most of his short basketball career, Willie has mostly been described in terms of potential, and after two excellent back-to-back games, it's clear that he's realizing it. Willie's offense is catching up to his defense, and thankfully, he's given up on that hook shot that failed him several times this season, focusing instead on taking it up strong or hooking up with James Young or the Harrisons for a lob. After the game, Willie said his offense fed off his defense, and he's no longer hesitant on either side of the floor. Cal couldn't be prouder of him, telling reporters that Willie is an example of what the rest of the team team needs to do to get better:

"Willie is just getting so much better," Cal said. "What is Willie doing different? He's playing harder, longer. He's pushing himself, pushing through."

Willie's best moment? After Providence pulled to within one at 39-38, he spurred an 8-0 run, putting up six points, three rebounds and two blocks in a three-minute span. Willie's goal tonight? "Go block everything." Mission accomplished. 2. This team can survive an off-night from Julius Randle For the first time in his career at Kentucky, Julius Randle did not finish with a double-double. Randle had 12 points, eight rebounds, and an impressive four assists. Randle's streak of double-doubles will stay at seven, leaving him tied with Jim Andrews for the UK record. Julius was obviously frustrated with himself during the game, but as Cal pointed out, Providence was all over him:

"Julius, they're just beating the crap out of him and he's hanging around there. There are balls that he could have gotten and rebounds that he just didn't go after."

Regardless, Julius helped his team in other ways, dishing the ball out four times to his teammates for easy baskets. At times this year, it's looked like Kentucky lived and died by Julius Randle, but tonight proved that even if he's triple-teamed or just having an off-night, others are ready to step up in his place. 3. Full court press = fast start Finally, Kentucky came out of the gates at a sprint. Kentucky jumped out to an early 6-0 lead to start the game, which was their best start of the season. What happened? They pressed. With this team's length, the full-court press was lethal, and hopefully we'll see more of it going forward. [caption id="attachment_146602" align="alignnone" width="500"] Photo © Noah K. Murray [/caption] 4. Aaron Harrison can be a lock-down defender While Kentucky lapsed into some poor perimeter defense in the first half, they locked things down in the second, with some of their best defense of the year. Cal singled out Aaron Harrison for his strong performance, calling him "unbelievable defensively." After Bryce Cotton torched the Cats in the first half, Cal shifted Aaron over to guard him instead of Andrew, and the result may have been the difference in the game: "I don't know if you understand, Aaron Harrison is the one that changed the game." Dominique Hawkins was excellent as well, and also got some major kudos from Cal. By the way, don't worry too much about Andrew. He tweeted this after the game:

Just gotta keep moving

— Andrew Harrison (@DrewRoc5) December 2, 2013

gotta stop fouling

— Andrew Harrison (@DrewRoc5) December 2, 2013

He will be fine. 5. When the shots are falling, the Cats can crack the zone Kentucky looked better than they have all season against the zone. Why? They shot better than they have all season. The Cats shot a season-high 64% (27-of-42) from the field. That's the third best shooting percentage in the Calipari era, and includes a smoking 75% (6-8) from behind the arc. Calipari said that his guards are finally listening to him and not taking as many threes, which is the secret to their success tonight:

"We didn't shoot as many threes. I told them Doron Lamb was the best three point shooter that I coached, and the most he would take was five. These guys are trying to take eight threes, we can't play that way."

[caption id="attachment_146593" align="alignnone" width="500"] The Beer Throggles were out in force in Brooklyn tonight (Image via Finna_Go_HAM)[/caption] 6. Cal is tired of the NBA rumors The New York media seized the opportunity to grill Cal about the rumors about him going to the Knicks after the game. Color Cal annoyed. He went on a lengthy rant about how happy he is at Kentucky and how long it's taken him to get where he is today. Here's just a snippet:

"I don't listen to any of it, and I don't think my team does. It took me 20 years to get a job like Kentucky."

Cal added that while he loved his previous jobs at UMass and Memphis, Kentucky is "a different deal." However, he can't do it forever: "Now, I don't know how long I can stay in this seat and live." Someone get him a cushion. [caption id="attachment_146603" align="alignnone" width="500"] Photo © Noah K. Murray [/caption] 7. Today was a big step forward When asked what they've learned since playing Michigan State three weeks ago, Willie Cauley-Stein and James Young showed off the lessons Cal's been preaching in the past few weeks. James said that the team's doing better because they're communicating more, and when asked, Willie said that last season, they "very rarely" talked, fired each other up, and clapped as much as they do now. Willie Cauley-Stein pointed to better defensive stances as the reason for his recent success, which means that all of those wall sits must be working. Calipari was pleased with his team's effort tonight, calling it a "good step" the team needed. There's a ways to go, but according to Cal, the team "knows we could be special if we do this right," and those last four minutes are a good sneak peek:

"I love how we ended the game today. We ground it out like a team that's been doing it for two years. I was so proud of them, how they finished those last four minutes."

Me too. Next up: Dallas.