Today on KSR: Don't Call it a Comeback!

@savannahpattKSR

Good morning friends! How's your Sunday morning going? I for one am still pretty pumped about last night's game and I don't see that going away anytime soon. Let's relive the game together, shall we?

Don't call it a comeback....except it totally was.

All night I had the line "don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years" from LL Cool J's famous song "Mama Said Knock You Out" in my head. But it was a comeback, and the greatest one in Cal era at that. I was in Nashville for the day yesterday and our plan was to wait until the end of the game to drive back to Lexington. With about two minutes left in the first half I said "we can go ahead and leave at halftime to get home earlier." I'm glad I got talked out of that. During halftime, if you had told me Kevin Knox would start playing with more emotion, we'd go 18-18 for free throw shooting, and four of those would've been from Nick Richards - I'd have requested a psych evaluation for you. Yep, I'll admit it I was pretty down at halftime (you should see some of the texts to my dad) but once again, the Cats proved me wrong.

I LOVE my team

If you're still on the fence about this team, you're wrong. How can you not love this team? Maybe this post-game locker room video will help.

These dudes love each other. And we love them. They earned that tonight, especially this kid. pic.twitter.com/3IODj6SEaS
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 28, 2018

I mean. come on....you gotta smile at that. I finally feel like this team is FUN, and I love it. It feels like almost every Cal team has some sort of defining "lore" - the John Wall dance, the brow, Aaron Harrison saying "this is going to make a great story", Jamal Murray's arrow, and so on. This team didn't really have anything like that, until last night. Sure, the shades had their moment, but that quickly died out. Last night was our defining game, it gave us our lore.

Kevin Freakin' Knox

Piece of lore number 1 - Kevin Knox and his "dance" (if that's what it's called). The man was INSANE. Many have criticized Knox for being soft and whether you think that's right or wrong, clearly he isn't anymore. Knox scored a whopping 34 points, the most scored by a freshman in a true road game (not counting Fox last year against UCLA in March). Knox truly came into his own last night and when he's hitting shots like that, we're unstoppable. Knox started showing off in the second half and let people know what he was packing and I LOVE this.

Kevin Knox doing his “dance” after hitting the late 3 (pic @gbbcountry) pic.twitter.com/oNeQozi63L
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 28, 2018

Poor West Virginia....not really though. In the post-game, Knox also said he loved talking trash.

Here's what Kevin Knox said the locker room was like after the game. #BBN pic.twitter.com/90RztRj9yP
— KSTV (@KSTV_Sports) January 28, 2018

I don't think the man has a soft bone in his body. Do y'all?

Casual Cal

Coach Cal out-dadded himself again last night and went totally casual in a quarter-zip, aka the Bob Huggins tuxedo.

On Gameday, Huggins claimed to have better hair than Cal, but other than that...I don't really see that much of a difference here. Quarter-zip Cal is our second "defining thing" and I may like this one more than the dance. Besides me not being able to find him during the game sometimes (I'm used to seeing the suit), I think this look works. I mean, we're 1-0 when he wears it. I think we need an emergency windbreakr at every game for him to change into if we're losing. Get on that, UK Athletics.

SEC won the challenge!

For the first time since the challenge started in 2014, the SEC outright won against the Big 12. Because, you know, the SEC...it...just...means...more. I think I've heard that phrase somewhere. Here's how it all broke down:

No. 20 Florida 81, Baylor 60
Alabama 80, No. 12 Oklahoma 73
No. 22 Tennessee 68, Iowa State, 45
Vanderbilt 81, TCU 78
Arkansas 66, Oklahoma State 65
Kentucky 83, No. 7 West Virginia 76
No. 14 Texas Tech 70, South Carolina 63
Texas 85, Ole Miss 72
Kansas State 56, Georgia 51
No. 5 Kansas 79, Texas A&M 68

Sexton vs Young wasn't much of a matchup as the Tide rolled over the Sooners. Tennessee absolutely destroyed Iowa State making them look even scarier to us, South Carolina showed they aren't quite the team they were last year.

Duke and UNC both went down, too.

For the first time since 1973, Duke and UNC both lost at home on the same day. UVA absolutely gave it Duke beating them 65-63 and running them all over the court. I know, a lot of people say watching Virginia basketball is boring, but with a 9-0 ACC record and 20-1 overall, it's time to get on board. UNC lost their second straight in overtime to State rival NC State 95-91. The Wolfpack is rollin' too, y'all. With three top 10 wins this season, they could make a big run here soon. But the biggest loser from yesterday's games is this Auburn player.