State-Journal.com - Cats roll with some assistance from Wall

Kentucky guard John Wall is congratulated by teammates after handing out a school record 16 assists against Hartford at Rupp Arena Tuesday. Kentucky won 104-61. (AP photos/Ed Reinke)

LEXINGTON – Saturday’s Kentucky-Louisville basketball game (3:30 p.m. on CBS) could be the most hyped battle in the history of this great rivalry, but UK freshman guard John Wall took some air out of that hype for at least a few hours when he dished out a school-record 16 assists Tuesday night in the Wildcats’ 104-61 romp over the Hartford Hawks at Rupp Arena.

Wall’s legend seems to grow by the week, it not by the game, and he added another chapter in another great performance Tuesday in breaking the UK assist mark of 15 set by Travis Ford against Eastern Kentucky in December of 1993.

Wall had just one turnover to go with his wide array of assists.

He earned his 16th assist on a basket in close by Perry Stevenson with just under five minutes to go.

Kentucky improved to 14-0, while the Hawks fell to 2-10.

“It feels great,” Wall said of the record. “It means a lot. There’s a lot of history at this school, so to get the assists record means a lot.

“It’s not a record I could have made by myself,” Wall added. “My teammates did a great job making shots. I was dealing the ball on time, and they were making shots.”

Indeed.

The Wildcats shot 60.3 percent from the field on 41 of 68, including 14 of 28 from three-point range. Five Wildcats scored in double figures, led by freshman center DeMarcus Cousins and sophomore guard Darnell Dodson with 19 points each. Cousins and Dodson were also 1-2 for Kentucky on the boards. Cousins grabbed 12 rebounds and Dodson eight.

Sophomore forward Darius Miller broke out of a scoring slump with 16 points, Patrick Patterson had 11 points and Daniel Orton 10.

Dodson was six of 10 from three-point range, and Miller was four of six from the three-point line.

This was, ironically, the first time Wall did not score in double figures as a Wildcat. He finished with nine points.

UK coach John Calipari said it was Wall’s unselfishness that prompted him to put Wall back in the game late, needing two assists, even though the outcome of the game had long been decided.

“At halftime (with UK leading 57-31), he (Wall) had 11 assists and one turnover, and what I said to the team was, in a game like this, he (Wall) could try to get 30 points and not pass you the ball, and none of us would really say anything,” Calipari explained. “And here he is, and the only thing he’s asking you guys to do is guard like you do in practice, and if I was him, I’d just tell you I’m not throwing you the ball if you don’t guard ... I’ll just shoot it.

“I normally don’t do it,” Calipari added of chasing records in such a circumstance with the game out of hand. “But they told me he needed two more assists for the record, so I stuck him back in and ran everything I could to get him to pass it to somebody to get him the two, and then I’d get him out of the game. I did it because he could have had 30 points and he chose not to...he chose to pass to his teammates.”

Asked about Wall after the game, Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz spoke to the choir, so to speak.

“Like everybody else, I’m very impressed with John Wall,” Leibovitz said. “Not just for his ability, which I think speaks for itself, but I just like the way he carries himself. He seems to be a good teammate. He seems to be someone who’s respectful of referees. He seems to be respectful of the game.

“And, yeah, it all starts with him,” Lebovitz said of Kentucky’s attack, which can be lethal on a night like Tuesday when the Wildcats are hitting the 3-pointers and opening up their inside game. “You have to commit two people to him because he’s that good, and then you’re playing with fire because everybody else is so good.”

Calipari likened the Kentucky offense Tuesday to a turkey shoot.

“You see, the way we play, the way we drive, the 3s are like a turkey shoot - they’re wide open,” Calipari said. “There are games where we miss them, but there’s no one near us sometimes. The guys are shooting them without a hand in their face, and we have good enough shooters who can make those three-point shots. It’s dangerous, because if we’re making them, we’ll blow you out of the gym.”

Lebovitz said these Wildcats are even more lethal offensively than Calipari’s talent-laden teams at Memphis.

“Coach Cal at Memphis played the dribble-drive, but it was different because they did not have the 3-point threats there that he has here,” Lebovitz said. “We had to hope they wouldn’t make them, but it seemed like they all went in.”

If there is a red flag for Kentucky on this night, one that Louisville coach Rick Pitino will eye carefully, it’s that Kentucky can also be generous in giving up 3-pointers. The lowly Hawks were 12-of -29 from 3-point range against the Wildcats. Though Calipari tried to dismiss that problem by saying, “If somebody wants to try beat us by shooting the three-pointer, fine.”

He later added, referring to Louisville, “It’s going to be a hard game for our team. The way they (Cardinals) shoot the ball...they are probably the best shooting team that we’ll play all year.”

So now, let the hype begin. And no doubt a lot of hype will surround the clash between the two larger-than-life egos of the coaches - UK’s great of yesterday day and U of L coach of today, Pitino, against UK’s current beloved son, Calipari.

Calipari talks as if he will try mightily to put the focus where it should be, on the players.

“Let me say this, it’s going to be a great game for our state, for the Commonwealth,” Calipari said Tuesday night. “It’s a great game for college basketball. It’s also a great game for our program. It’s a rivalry game. It’s important for both programs.

“My thing is, and I’m asking our fans, let’s just show the country that we are the classiest fans in the country,” Calipari added. “This is about their players and our players. It’s not about the coaches. It’s about their players who are McDonalds All-Americans and good kids, and ours. We have a few McDonalds All-Americans who are good kids, too. Please, no posters, no chants ... we don’t need it.”

“It’s going to be crazy, but we can’t get too excited,” Wall cautioned. “Hopefully we’ll have good practices this week and come out and play like we can play.”