Patterson fine, other leftover Cancun notes

Here are a few leftover notes and quotes from Kentucky’s championship run in the Cancun Challenge:

– UK big man Patrick Patterson shrugged off an ankle sprain in playing well against Stanford in the championship game. He had 12 points and 11 rebounds to post his fourth double-double of the season and 25th in his UK career. That moved him out of a tie with Pat Riley for 10th on the program’s all-time list.

Next up: Jamal Mashburn with 26 and Sam Bowie with 27.

Patterson’s gotten his 25 double-doubles in 65 career games. Riley played 80 for UK, Mashburn 98 and Bowie 96.

Patterson took a cortisone shot before the Stanford game to ease the pain of an ankle sprained the previous night against Cleveland State. After the Stanford game, he said the ankle would be fine by Monday, when UK plays UNC Asheville in Louisville.

– UK Coach John Calipari saluted Stanford, a team that finished ninth in the Pac 10 last season but blessed with a standout player in Landry Fields.

“We didn’t play that bad,” the UK coach said. “They played really well.”

– Stanford seemed to visably tire down the stretch. The Cardinal scored only three baskets in the game’s final 14 minutes, none in overtime.

Stanford Coach Johnny Dawkins noted that Fields played all 45 minutes. “We had to have him out there,” he said.

– John Wall and Eric Bledsoe received praise from both coaches. Calipari called them two “killers” who can inspire a team to victory.

“We have a couple guys who are just killers to win,” the UK coach said. “Other guys have never played that way. What you want is to have the guys with killer (instincts) to bleed to the other guys. Just have the will to win.”

Noting the long three-pointer Bledsoe made to put UK ahead 69-65 with 33 seconds left in overtime, Dawkins said, “That just shows talent level. It was a deep three. Give the kid a lot of credit. He wanted it.”

– Dawkins suggested UK will benefit greatly from the experience of such a close game.

“It’s huge,” the Stanford coach said. “What they gained will carry them a long way. The coach sees who’s capable.”

– After the game, Calipari said he learned a few things from watching the Cats in an entertaining and tense game. In those situations, UK will want the ball in Wall’s hands, Bledsoe taking clutch perimeter shots and gutty Ramon Harris and Patterson on the floor.

There are many reasons to want the ball in Wall’s hands at crunch time. Here’s one: He made eight of eight free throws against Stanford, including two of two with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

In two games at Cancun, Wall made 17 of 18 free throws. In the last three games, he’s made 22 of 24.
That near perfection moved his season’s accuracy to 80.4 percent (37 of 46).

No wonder Wall chuckled when asked if he was nervous stepping to the line to try to tie the game with Stanford. “I wasn’t that nervous,” he said with a smile.

UK’s other freshman ballhandler, Bledsoe, has been no slouch at the line. He’s made 15 of 17. His 88.2-percent accuracy is best on the team for players who’ve shot more than four free throws.