As Marcus Lee's play is on the rise, so are his minutes

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Berry Westerman I ukathletics.com[/caption] Against Auburn on Saturday, Marcus Lee may have had one of the best plays this year as he soared over fellow teammate Dakari Johnson to dunk a missed shot from what seemed like the free-throw line. While Willies dunk against Florida was jaw dropping; Marcus's dunk literally made me jump out of my seat. That was an Alex Poythress type play, which is just what we need from Marcus as we make a push for banner #9. Over the past 6 games, we have really seen 2 different Marcus's. The first half of those games, we saw a Marcus who was barely getting any game action; averaging a little over 7 minutes per game. He also only attempted 1 shot in those 3 games. The latter half of those 6 games, we've seen a Marcus that is averaging 16 minutes per game and dunking everything around the rim. He is also doing things that do not necessarily show up on the stat sheet such as defending the perimeter exceptionally well and contesting shots. Similar to Willie Cauley-Stein, for Kentucky to win, they do not need him to be a consistent scoring threat, but a player who is going to catch a lob for a dunk or block a shot out of bounds. He can give us those “momentum-changing” plays we have seen Alex Poythress make so many time over his career. Without Alex, Lee needs to step into that role, and has of late. Against Michigan last year in the NCAA tournament, Marcus came out and dominated; surprising everyone. As we get closer to the tournament this season, we are seeing that same type of effort, but expect that from an ''experienced'' sophomore. While Marcus has elevated his play at a key point in the season, it looks like his Kentucky teammates may very well be on their way to doing the same. Just in time as we hit the home stretch to what could be the greatest season in Kentucky basketball history. @PerkiliciousKSR