SPORTS

Sullivan | Kentucky chasing perfection and improvement

Tim Sullivan
@TimSullivan714

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The one team Kentucky can't beat is a team that exists only in its imagination.

It's an idealized version of the same bunch that has been cutting a Big Blue swath through college basketball this season; a director's cut Wildcats simultaneously on the same page, concurrently clicking on all cylinders, chasing perfection while banging their heads against their competitive ceiling.

Though UK extended its unbeaten season to 32 games Friday afternoon with a 64-49 flattening of Florida in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, the prevailing sentiment among the victors was that this is a team still scratching its surface.

"I think we're pretty far (away)," freshman forward Trey Lyles said. "There hasn't been a game where everybody has clicked at one time. Offensively or defensively."

"Not close at all," said center Dakari Johnson. "Everybody still hasn't played the way they can play. Who knows how good this team can be? That's the question."

Kentucky opened Friday's game admittedly short on energy and ended it inarguably flawed in execution. The Wildcats missed 35 of their 56 shots from the field, went more than 27 minutes with no assists from anyone other than Tyler Ulis, and were still mired in a two-possession game less than eight minutes before the final buzzer.

But as has so often happened with this abundantly blessed group, the Wildcats worked through their issues, shifted out of neutral, slammed down on the accelerator and sped away with tires squealing, smoke belching and potential glimpsed. Just when you start thinking the 'Cats are incomplete and vulnerable and overhyped, they summon the strength to show who they are and who they could be should the planets ever align properly.

Just when you've compiled a long list of UK's nagging nits, you look up to see the Wildcats walking off the floor following a 15-point win.

With 7:40 remaining in regulation, Friday's SEC quarterfinal was a five-point game, 50-45. During the next six minutes, however, Florida would score only two points while yielding 14. Like so many of UK's games this year, this one was reminiscent of a skilled fighter tormenting an overmatched opponent for several rounds before the word finally came from the corner to "finish the bum."

"Mentally, when it comes to crunch time, we really want to win and that's when we throw all of our marbles into the basket, I guess," freshman forward Karl-Anthony Towns said. "And then, also, I think that's where talent comes in. We know we have to be real sharp, especially crunch time."

Given the embarrassment of riches that is John Calipari's roster, and the way the Wildcats have played their best games against their highest-profile opponents, it's tempting to view UK's close calls and some of its uninspired first halves as the product of boredom. When your most challenging competition occurs in practice, rising to lesser occasions sometimes requires an act of will.

Lyles confessed Friday that the Wildcats, "came out kind of lackadaisical as a whole, offensively and defensively." Point guard Andrew Harrison attributed the difficulties to a week's layoff between games and said, "We kind of started slow and that's on me. (But) We came back in the second half and started putting more pressure on them."

That this pattern has repeated itself with some frequency is not much of a mystery. Calipari's aggressive substitution patterns and his unequaled depth allows him the luxury to maintain a stable of formidable fresh legs. No other college coach can rest his regulars with so little slippage. No other team has won so handily and so often without approaching its peak.

"We can let teams stay (close) for 20 minutes," freshman Devin Booker said. "But can they play a full 40 minutes with us?"

So far, only Mississippi and Texas A&M have been able to match Kentucky for 40 minutes, only to lose in overtime. So far, Kentucky's "B" game has been good enough for 32 straight wins -- matching the season record of the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers, Division I's last unblemished team.

"Our ceiling is really high," Towns said. "We definitely have not clicked on all cylinders this season at all. If we could do that, it would be really scary. I'm hoping we can find that groove during the NCAA Tournament.''

The goal is at least elusive and perhaps unattainable. The best teams can always play better. None, however, are playing better than Kentucky.

Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, at tsullivan@courier-journal.com or @TimSullivan714 on Twitter.