 Still stinging from Tuesday's loss at South Carolina, many wondered how a young Kentucky would respond following its first loss of the season.
In a game that featured 58 fouls and 70 free throws, the Wildcats beat Vanderbilt from pillar to post, scoring an 85-72 win at Rupp Arena Saturday in handing Vandy its first league loss and snapping the Dores' 10-game win streak.
DeMarcus Cousins continued his dominant play, fighting through numerous bumps and bruises to notch 21 points and 10 boards in just 24 minutes of foul plagued action. Cousins posted eight offensive rebounds in his fourth straight double-double and his 12th of the season, breaking Chris Mills' freshman mark of 11.
"He's a beast," UK coach John Calipari said. "How about 21 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes? It's stupid. Ridiculous You have to foul him to keep him from scoring, you have to foul him to keep him off the glass and now he's making free throws. If he could stay our of foul trouble he'd be scoring 40 points and 23 rebounds a game. He is a beast."
 After surrendering 20 offensive rebounds to a smaller Gamecocks team Tuesday, the Cats bounced back on the glass, owning a 41-22 advantage on the boards and outscoring the Commodores 20-2 in second chance points.
"We outrebounded a good rebounding team by 19, but we've got a ways to go," Calipari said. "We beat a good team. They remind me of my Massachusetts teams. They're not going to beat themselves. They're not going to have bad turnovers. You have to grind them out."
That's exactly what the Cats did. Leading by as many as 19 on several occasions, Vanderbilt cut the UK lead to 11 at 73-62 with 7:46 remaining. But Darnell Dodson, who started for the first time since the season opener, hit back-to-back three's and hit a pair of free throws down the stretch in scoring eight of UK's last 12 points. On the night, Dodson buried 4 of 8 3-pointers in scoring 16 points.
The Cats, who came into Saturday's game shooting 30 percent beyond the arc in league play, connected on 12 of 23 three's (52.2 percent).
"It was all of their shooting," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. "Patterson made them. Dodson made them. They had a bunch of guys making perimeter shots. What were they shooting in league play going into the game? You hope that when the crushing comes it's not against you, but it was."
John Wall added 13 points and nine assists and Eric Bledsoe came off the bench with 13 points and seven rebounds. Patrick Patterson joined five Wildcats in double figures with 12 points.
King James pays a visit
After plenty of speculation about a visit earlier in the season, Lebron James' visit to Rupp Arena finally came to fruitition Saturday. James even served as the honorary 'Y' at center court.
“I forgot he was there and I am losing my mind in the first half and then I saw him in the hallway. I forgot,” Calipari said. “I was worried about him coming because it would be another distraction (like when the president called Tuesday before UK lost at South Carolina). I was hoping with the snow that maybe he would not come.
“He is a good friend and great guy and great ambassador for basketball. We wear his shoe and he is proud of this team. It would have been better if was an alum who played here and came back to watch a game. There would probably be about four more national titles up there.”
Wall breaks freshman assist record
With his nine assists on the day, John Wall broke Dirk Minniefield's freshman record of 126 set in the 1979-80 season.
Bledsoe sits
After starting 20 of 21 games on the year, Calipari started Darnell Dodson in place of Eric Bledsoe.
"It was my decision," Calipari said. "That's the great thing about being a head coach."
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Still stinging from Tuesday's loss at South Carolina, many wondered how a young Kentucky would respond following its first loss of the season.
