Kentucky coach John Calipari wasn’t entirely caught off guard by Tennessee’s defensive surprise.
The Volunteers used a 2-3 zone and a variety of defensive schemes in an effort to slow down the Wildcats Saturday night at Rupp Arena, but Kentucky found a way around Bruce Pearl’s bag of tricks by connecting on seven shots from long range during a 73-62 win over Tennessee.
“I’ll be honest with you, we didn’t work on it,” Calipari said afterward. “I knew they had ran it and I knew they had it in their arsenal, but I didn’t know they would run it, because I hadn’t watched it in all of the tapes I had watched. We came out in the first half and didn’t know what the heck we were doing.”
However, that changed in the second half.
The Wildcats (24-1, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) countered the Vols’ defensive attack by draining several shots from behind the arc, including three by guard Eric Bledsoe. The freshman guard connected on three shots from long range and finished with 16 points, with all of those coming in the second half.
“Eric showed so much courage in what he did and how he played,” Calipari said.
At the break, Calipari emphasized the importance of making shots from the corners to counter the Vols’ scheme. The players listened and responded to the call issued by Calipari.
“We started flashing our center in the middle to make one of those low guys guard them and then our corners we open,” the Kentucky coach said. “We just made open shots.”
The Volunteers zeroed in on DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and the rest of the Cats’ inside attack, but Bledsoe and Wall made Tennessee think twice about the decision to use a zone against the Cats.
Wall and Bledsoe combined for 40 points, with Wall scoring 24, one shy of a career high.
“When the other team is frustrating DeMarcus, we have to step up,” Bledsoe said. “DeMarcus is one of the key players in the offense, They were kind of beating him up on offense and defense, and he was getting frustrated. John and I just had to step it up.”
Bledsoe and Wall did so down the stretch, combining for a big chunk of points in a 20-4 scoring spree in the second half to put the Volunteers away.
“It was intensity and hustle,” Bledsoe said. “I think playing hard is half the battle. That is what we did.”
Photo: Kentucky's John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins celebrate during the Cats' win over Tennessee Saturday night at Rupp Arena. Photo by Victoria Graff.