By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky coach John Calipari wanted to see how his team would respond on the road following two straight blowouts.
Although Calipari didn’t witness the final 37 minutes of the Wildcats’ 89-62 rout of South Carolina Saturday, the Kentucky coach had to be pleased after hearing the final result in the team’s locker room.
Calipari was ejected after receiving a double technical at the 17:34 mark of the first half and assistant coach Kenny Payne guided the team for the remainder of the contest.
Payne said Calipari’s ejection ignited the Wildcats.
“I thought it set a fire within our guys,” Payne said. “I thought they played with, ‘You tried to take one of our guys out, we’re coming out and we’re going to play with more energy, more effort, we’re going to fight more,’ which is what we should be doing anyway.”
Calipari missed a career performance by point guard Tyler Ulis, who scored 27 points and dished out 12 assists, both career-highs. Ulis provided the calm and shelter the Wildcats needed to weather the storm following Calipari’s ejection.
“Tyler Ulis ran the offense,” Payne said. “Every now and then I may have interjected something, but at the end of the day, it was his show. The only thing I cared about was that we rebounded the ball, played great defense and shared the ball.”
BOXSCORE: Kentucky 89, South Carolina 62
Ulis said Calipari’s early ejection was a “shock” but said the Wildcats wanted to finish strong for their coach.
“It was crazy,” Ulis said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. But we all just responded. We tried to take over as a team and just stick together and do it all for coach (Cal).”
Jamal Murray followed Ulis with 26 points and knocked down four 3-pointers. Murray, Ulis (4) and Willis (3) connected on all 11 of Kentucky’s shots from long range.
“(Murray) played a hell of a game too,” Payne said.
Marcus Lee posted his first double-double in conference play with 11 points and 13 rebounds. It was Lee’s first double-double since a 75-63 win over Illinois State on Nov. 30. It was his first double figure scoring game since Jan. 2 against Ole Miss.
Like the rest of his teammates, Lee, who slammed home an impressive ally-oop off the glass from Ulis in the second half, said the early chaos provided an inspiration for his performance.
“Seeing Coach (Cal) fight for you, changes your whole mentality,” he said. “So when we see him with all that energy, it kind of just picks you up, and after you tell the coach we’ll be alright. We kind of just took the energy and were like, “Alright, we got this.’ ”
Isaiah Briscoe rounded out four Kentucky players in double figures with 10 points. Willis just missed double digits with nine points.
Although the team’s offensive showing was instrumental in the team’s third straight blowout victory, Payne credited Kentucky’s defensive effort.
“We had great offense, great movement and ball sharing,” Payne said. “But at the end of the day, we defended and rebounded the ball. That’s the difference.”
Although Calipari wasn’t available postgame, he sent out a tweet praising his team’s effort against the Gamecocks.
“I have never been more proud of a team,” he said. “They are now empowered. They’ve proven that they don’t need me and I love it.”
Payne said Calipari apologized to the team at halftime and added Calipari had a big say in the outcome even though he wasn’t present on the bench.
“His influence coached this game,” Payne said.
Game tracker: Tennessee at Kentucky, 7 p.m., Thursday. TV/Radio: ESPN, 98.1 FM WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports writer who covers University of Kentucky athletics for KyForward.com