Coach John Calipari says his team "grew up" in the way it beat Tennessee yesterday in Knoxville and there are some stats to back up that feeling.  Until last week's wins over Vandy and Tennessee, the Wildcats had won only one time in five games in which the opponent shot a higher field goal percentage.  That suggests the Cats have finally grasped the notion of winning with rebounding and defense instead of relying so heavily on hitting their shots.  Secondly, UK is now 3-6 when it trails at halftime but they won the last two times they've been in that situation (Miss State and Tennessee yesterday).  That suggests a team that is getting mentally tougher, as do all of the intangible hustle plays that they made late in the wins over Vandy and UT.  Yesterday, it was something like Darius Miller tipping a rebound he couldn't get over to Harrelson to save a possession or Harrelson being active enough to at least get a hand on a missed shot that led to a loose ball scrammble won by Terrence Jones and that led to free throws for Brandon Knight.  Kentucky was losing most of those 50-50 battles in those close games they lost earlier this season but now that they've won a couple of those barnburners, maybe that habit of making those plays becomes contagious.  If so, these Cats become a lot more dangerous in the postseason.  We kept saying it was getting late but it wasn't yet too late for this team to catch on.  It took to the final week of the regular season but that might just be soon enough.

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May 17th, 1975
Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore led the Kentucky Colonels to a 3-0 lead in the A...
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