Kentucky looks good following Camp Cal

If John Calipari was looking for a positive endorsement for “Camp Cal,” he found it on Saturday night.

After spending the majority of the past week working through grueling practices multiple times a day, the Wildcats used improved conditioning and suffocating defense to propel them to a convincing 83-61 win over Ole Miss in the SEC opener.

Sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis posted career highs in assists (10) and steals (5) while dropping in 20 points -- the second consecutive game where he’s had at least 20 points -- to lead Kentucky to its 19th straight regular season SEC victory.

“For my money, I watch a lot of basketball and don’t want to misspeak, but he’s the best point guard in college basketball is what I think,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “He has the ability to run that team. When he makes shots, he’s very, very difficult (to defend).”

Kentucky’s defense was as good as it had been all season on Saturday night. The Wildcats forced 16 turnovers, held Ole Miss to 40 percent shooting from the field and just 21 percent from three.

Ole Miss’ Stefan Moody, who entered Saturday night averaging 23.8 points per game, was held to just eight points in the first half. He scored 15 in the second half to reach his season average, but it was nowhere near enough to keep the Rebels in the game.

The matchup of Ulis and Moody was one of the major keys going into the game, and Ulis stepped up to the challenge.

“He is a good player,” Calipari said. “He also took on a challenge because everybody is talking about their guard. And I knew did it, I laughed. After the game I said, I know what you did and in front team he smiled. But I don't have enough other guys that want to do that. I don't have enough other guys and I've had them in the past, like a team full of guys like that.”

Ulis said he had been looking forward to the matchup with Moody.

“You can’t just let someone come out there and just kill you,” Ulis said. “Because you could be the reason you lose the game. When it’s a matchup, you have to lock in like I tried to do defensively, and just try to stop them so you’re not the reason your team lost.”

Early in the game, with the score sitting at 12-10 with 11:10 left in the first half, Kentucky’s defense held Ole Miss without a field goal until 3:25 mark. The Wildcats went on a 25-4 run during that time which helped give them a 46-22 lead at the half.

The second half was much of the same as Kentucky led by as much as 29 points at one time.

While Ulis was outstanding and the defense was lights out, perhaps the most encouraging sign of the first half, and the night in general, was the performance of Skal Labissiere. The 6-foot-11 freshman only had 20 points and 13 rebounds combined in his last five games, but he broke out of his funk early against Ole Miss.

Labissiere grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed shot and slammed it back home to get him on the board. He then showed some fight and toughness to corral two more offensive rebounds in the first half. Labissiere fouled out late in the game but finished with nine points and three rebounds.

While it wasn’t a flawless night, Calipari did call it a step forward.

“He's been better in practice,” Calipari said. “He's got a bunch of guys cheering for him on this team. We do need him to play. We need his size and his ability to block shots.

“This whole state -- I believe the whole country wants this kid to do well. I told him, you’ve got to unpack the bags, live in the moment, enjoy this thing, don't -- there's no timetable of this. It's just go do the best you can and have fun.”

Notes

-Dominique Hawkins left the game with an ankle injury, but John Calipari expects him to be fine.

-Alex Poythress collected his 500th rebound of his career in the win on Saturday night.

-Kentucky now owns a 104-13 advantage in the all-time series over Ole Miss.