Guards Ulis, Booker keep undefeated UK hungry

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Complacency is the enemy now for University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari and his steamroller of a team. But Calipari believes he has two weapons with which to guard against that, in the form of freshman guards Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker.

They're second-teamers good enough to start and sparkplugs who push the first unit so hard every day that the top-ranked Wildcats might actually manage to forget for a few minutes that they're undefeated and largely untested in real games. After all, with a 10-deep roster, half the squad takes a loss each afternoon inside the Joe Craft Center on campus.

"The biggest thing those two add to this team is their absolute competitive fire," Calipari said. "Every day in practice, whatever drill, however we scrimmage, they want to win. When you see how hard these kids play, you see them compete in games, it's because they compete that way in practice, and Devin and Tyler have really driven that part of our culture that we have here."

That's good news for Kentucky (13-0), which has won by an average of 27.5 points. While many wonder whether anyone in the Southeastern Conference can beat the Cats — who open league play Tuesday night at Rupp Arena against an Ole Miss team that has lost to Charleston Southern, TCU, Western Kentucky and Dayton — they'll have to work to keep their edge.

The 5-foot-9 Ulis, who perpetually plays like he's ready for a fight, is in charge of keeping the intensity cranked up.

"It's very heated" in practice, he said. "Everybody's going at each other. It's like a game — like a game against ourselves — and we're just competing out there and making each other better. It's important, because we don't want to get complacent as a team. We want to keep going out there, working hard, and just having something to look forward to working at."

That shared mentality is what brought him and Booker together at UK. Ulis, who grew up in Ohio and moved to Chicago for high school, and Booker, who grew up in Michigan and finished in Mississippi, met at a basketball camp in St. Louis when both were in eighth grade.

In a chance encounter, they were paired on the same team, discovered they "liked each other's games," Ulis said, and instantly noticed a familiar competitive streak in the other. They exchanged numbers, stayed in touch and, remarkably, ended up on the same team in two future camps. They were roommates at one.

Over time, they became best friends. They formulated a plan.

"We figured we'd make sure we went to college together," Ulis said. "We have an understanding. We're both competitive and we want to win every time we're on the court, so we feed off each other."

As do the rest of the Wildcats off both Ulis and Booker. Calipari said others — sophomore Dakari Johnson and fellow freshman Trey Lyles — have pushed the pace in practices lately, but it's more impactful when ball handlers take charge.

"It kind of feeds everyone else," the coach said. "When they really are going at each other, what happens is it's, like, touch and go. It gets physical and they get emotional and they talk."

Like a game. By tipoff of Tuesday night, Kentucky will have had nine days between its last actual game, a win at fifth-ranked Louisville, and this one against the Rebels (9-4), who despite some inexplicable losses have also beaten Cincinnati and won at Oregon.

Normally, such a long layoff could spell trouble for the Cats.

"But we've played each other at least four of those days," Calipari said, "which is a heckuva game."

Ulis and Booker, the Cats' backup point guard and shooting guard, combined for 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting with zero turnovers at Louisville. And that isn't necessarily the most valuable thing they've given Kentucky.

"Both platoons go at each other hard. I think that's what is making us better each and every day," Booker said. "It's just something that's always been instilled in (him and Ulis). It was before we even got here, like when we were on the same team in camps. We never liked to lose, and it just went from there."

And now it's here. And maybe, in part because of him and Ulis, the Wildcats will never have to experience a real loss this season.

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.

TODAY'S GAME

OLE MISS AT NO. 1 KENTUCKY

7 p.m., Rupp Arena

TV: SEC Radio: WHAS-840 and WAKY-103.5