WILDCATS

Cauley-Stein looks to bounce back against Gators

Kyle Tucker
Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein drives past Alabama’s Riley Norris in the first half of a game Jan. 31 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If the University of Kentucky basketball team is to vanquish the Ghost of Gainesville Games Past, the top-ranked Wildcats will need a big Saturday-night showing from the only member of the team who experienced the last two nightmarish trips to Florida.

Inconveniently, junior 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein happens to be stuck in a slump as UK (22-0, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) visits the Gators (12-10, 5-4). But at least he's aware of it now, and thinks he knows why, and is trying to shake it before a national-TV tipoff at the O'Connell Center.

"I just haven't been playing like I should be playing – not scoring, not playing defense like normal," Cauley-Stein said. "I've just been in the gym after every practice, before practice, trying to get back to the stuff I was doing at the beginning of the year and got away from.

"As the season goes on, you start to get wear and tear and you stop doing what got you there."

Coach John Calipari revealed Thursday that Cauley-Stein's surgically repaired left ankle – there's a plate and four screws in it – has been bothering him lately, but that specialists have double- and triple-checked him and found no structural damage. He's just hurting.

So are his stats. Through 14 games, he was averaging 9.9 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals in just 25.1 minutes. He was a legitimate contender for National Player of the Year. But in the last eight games, his numbers have nosedived: 6.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and two-thirds of a steal in an average of 25.5 minutes.

The last four games, he's virtually disappeared, recording three steals and two blocks total. This after Cauley-Stein had established himself as the most active and versatile defender in all of college basketball and cemented himself as a top-10 pick in most NBA draft projections.

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"When you're doing all that stuff, your energy is so high, because you're doing the right things," he said. "The other way around, you're just kind of out there. Just out there. Maybe you'll make a play one time and then another 10 plays will come by (before you) make a play. It's just slow for you."

His ankle is part of the problem. But his mentality has as much to do with it, Calipari thinks. Teams try to bully the slender Cauley-Stein inside – "That's been the game plan for three years now," he said – and sometimes he lets them.

It seemed he'd answered that question about his game with a monster performance against a brutish Texas team that could not push him around. Cauley-Stein went off for 21 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocks against the Longhorns back in December. But old habits die hard.

"It's kind of like you're in a boxing match. You walk in and the other dude's knocking you around, it's just not fun," Calipari said. "If you're moving and sticking – in and out – you say, 'Man, am I having fun.' Yeah, because you're being the aggressor and you're beating him up. If you're standing there and you're not the aggressor, it's not fun. It's hard.

"World-class athletes figure out how to enjoy all of this, and we're trying to get these guys to know that."

Cauley-Stein is trying to find his joy again. He knows what it looks like when he's playing well, and it starts with his face. Is he smiling? Roaring after a big dunk? Staring down his opponents, as he did Louisville's Montrezl Harrell earlier this season.

"It just feels fun. I feel like I'm having fun. I look like I'm having fun," Cauley-Stein said. "When I'm not playing good, I don't look like I'm having fun. That's the biggest part."

Kentucky, which has lost its last two games at Florida by a combined 36 points, needs him to have a ball Saturday night.

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

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