Eight stories from UK's bounce back win over Boise State

(Photo by Darrell Bird) So, it's like the Baylor game never happened, right? Well, maybe just a little. Kentucky was determined to put a terrible trip to Dallas behind them, and they did just that Tuesday night, putting away Boise State 70-55. Here are the eight things that stood out to me: 1. Consistently inconsistent It's becoming a familiar pattern: the Cats jump out to an early lead then let the other team drift back into until things get worrisome. Tonight, Willie Cauley-Stein started the game off hot, getting a layup, a block, and an offensive rebound to help the Cats to a 4-0 lead, only to have Boise State smack back with hot shooting to take the lead 14-13 at the 12:30 mark. Most of Boise State's moxie came from Aussie Anthony Drmic, who led the Broncos with 18 points, and even managed to steal some of the hair talk from Willie: [caption id="attachment_147272" align="alignnone" width="300"] "The painting was a gift, Todd." (Image by Finna_Go_HAM)[/caption] Kentucky's tendency to blow hot and cold is their most reliable trait so far this season. Calipari blames it on their youth and inexperience, and said that slowly but surely, they're getting better. [caption id="attachment_147258" align="alignnone" width="500"] (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)[/caption] 2. "Goldie-Blocks" backed it up He's had it for less than a day, but I'm already sick of hearing about Willie Cauley-Stein's hair. "Hairgate" swept the BBN on Tuesday, with the pictures of Willie's hair almost crashing the site. It was like "Felicity" all over again. No matter how you feel about Willie's hair, you can't deny that he had a good game tonight, turning in six points, seven rebounds, and nine blocks, tying his career high from a week ago. While his point total may seem low, his defensive presence in the middle made up for it. Willie didn't just block shots--by the way, he's only one off Anthony Davis' pace ten games in--he kept Boise State honest, altering their game plan and forcing them to shoot from the outside. Cal praised Willie for switching out and defending guards, which helped silence one of the best offenses in the country. What did Cal think about the hair? After the game, he had the most pragmatic response I've heard yet: "I'm not the tattoo police, and I'm not the hair police. I don't care how you make your hair look. But I'll say this Willie, 'Looking like that, you better play.'" Cal mentioned another flamboyant baller, Dennis Rodman, and told Willie "you can paint your hair all you want, just be like him." It's worth mentioning that Willie had a beanie on as he came out to talk to reporters and Julius Randle ripped it off, playfully shoving him into the first circle of reporters. No covering that up now, Willie. [caption id="attachment_147275" align="alignnone" width="500"] Photo by Darrell Bird[/caption] 3. Signs of life on defense Although the first half was a little shaky, the Cats pretty much shut down Boise State in the second, holding the second highest-scoring team in country to 31.9% shooting and only 55 points overall, 37 below their average. That was no easy feat, Cal said, calling the Broncos "as hard to guard as any (team) you'll play." A lot of Kentucky's success on defense was due to their size, which Boise State's Ryan Watkins admitted was "hard to simulate." After being humiliated by Baylor on the boards, the Cats outrebounded Boise State 43-27. Cal said he challenged his team to start taking things personally: "Whatever we do, you have to take it personal and look at the other guy and say 'I'm going after you.'" 4. Still sloppy on offense As encouraging as UK's defensive intensity was in the second half, their offensive execution was still pretty sloppy. The Cats has 19 turnovers to Boise State's 8, a number which Cal said was way too high, and blamed on poor passing:

"We turned the ball over way too much, just cross court passes, give it up earlier, holding onto the ball with three guys, bad post feed for no reason. We had a lot of turnovers. It was a sagging man to man. It was like they were out trapping us and going nuts."

[caption id="attachment_147265" align="alignnone" width="568"] Randle's frustration with double-teams led to some awesome facial expressions on the sidelines. [/caption] 5. Julius Randle is back to double-doubling Julius got back to being Julius tonight, notching his eighth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. His best play came in the second half when he was finally able to shake off some tiring Boise State defenders. Afterwards, Boise State coach Leon Rice said that he had to leave James Young open in order to put more defenders on Julius or "Randle gets 30." (Fortunately, Young made the most of it, leading scorers with 21.) Cal lamented about "Mob-a-Randle" after the game to Tom Leach: "Do you understand how good he is? Do you understand what the other team is doing to him?" Cal said. "He's going to have an easier time in the league than he's going to have here." Crazy, if true. [caption id="attachment_147276" align="alignnone" width="500"] Photo by Darrell Bird[/caption] 6. Andrew played well Andrew Harrison was the subject of a lot of criticism coming into tonight's game, but he played pretty well. He finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers in 31 minutes. Andrew told Mike Pratt on the radio show afterwards that he knew he had to step it up after a terrible performance against Baylor: "I know that Baylor game was on me because I didn't play good defense. I couldn't sleep after the game" Cal seemed pleased, but said that at times, Andrew pouted, and as a result, got yanked for Dominique Hawkins.

"I thought he did a good job. I thought there were times that if he dropped that head, I was taking him out. That's just how it is. I need him to play. you know when you have that ball in your hands, it's so important, we all feed off of him," Cal said. "He was better tonight, but there were still moments, when you drop your head, you're out. Dominique's going in."

You better not pout, you better not cry... 7. The bench didn't score any points Considering how big Kentucky's bench is, it's crazy that they didn't have any bench points tonight. Four players came off the bench (Dominique Hawkins, Jarrod Polson, Dakari Johnson, and Alex Poythress) to combine for 47 minutes and 0 points. Marcus Lee sat out the game with a stomach bug, and because Boise State plays so many guards, Cal said Dakari didn't get as many minutes as he would otherwise. While they didn't score, both Dominique Hawkins and Alex Poythress both brought intensity and hustle. Cal said afterwards that he liked having Alex in the game alongside Julius, which is something the team only started working on yesterday. 8. Still need to take it to the next level to beat UNC Tonight was a good way to shake off a bad trip to Dallas. By the end, we even got some dunks to remind us what this team is capable of. However, this team is still inconsistent, and will need a full 40-minute performance to beat North Carolina on the road. That being said, I feel a lot better about it now than I did on Saturday morning.