Kentucky's Calling Card of Defense Will Help Carry Them in Foul

We'll be hearing whistles in our sleep for the next few days after watching No. 1 Kentucky outlast No. 6 Texas by a score of 63-51 in a physical battle that featured 51 personal fouls.

This game was ugly.

For large stretches, it was downright unwatchable.

That was maybe the worst half of basketball I've seen all year. And I watched all of Rutgers-UVA.

- Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) December 6, 2014

Yet there was really never a doubt that Kentucky's defense and depth would prevail in the end-as always.

First things first, Texas deserves a ton of praise for fighting as hard as it did.

Playing without starting point guard Isaiah Taylor as he continues to recover from a broken bone in his wrist-and effectively playing without big men Cameron and Myles Turner, who combined for seven points, seven rebounds and 10 fouls in just 34 minutes of action-the Longhorns at least had the illusion of a chance at pulling off an upset.

Win or lose, Texas has proven tonight they'll be top 10 team all year. Especially when Taylor's back.

- Reid Forgrave (@ReidForgrave) December 6, 2014

When fully healthy and not playing in games being officiated like it's November 2013 all over again, Texas really might be the team most suited to beat Kentucky. Even with all those fouls, the Longhorns still grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and beat Kentucky on the glass by a margin of plus-11.

However, Kentucky's defense was just too much for them to handle.

Texas had eight more turnovers than made field goals. Kentucky blocked 'only' four shots in the game, but Johnson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie -Stein altered at least half a dozen other shots.

The Longhorns worked hard on the offensive glass. But it really felt like the only reason they got so many second chances is because the first chances were thrown so haphazardly at the rim that it was a coin flip for who would come up with the loose ball.

Without Taylor, their offense has certainly been a work in progress. In their last game before this one, the Longhorns shot 30 percent from the field in a 63-53 win over Texas-Arlington.

Suffice it to say, the last team you want to see when you're already struggling to make shots is Kentucky.

Coming into this game, the Wildcats ranked first in the nation in defensive effective field-goal percentage, turnover percentage, block percentage, and two-point field-goal defense, all according to .com (subscription required).

Considering Texas shot less than 30 percent from the field and committed 22 turnovers, there's a pretty good chance the Wildcats will remain top dog in all of those categories.

-Stein was equally outstanding on the other end of the court, finishing the night with 21 points, but as Jay said near the end of ESPN's broadcast of the game, 'You've got to put him right up there for National Defensive Player of the Year. It's awfully early, but who has been a better defender than he's been?'

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Actually, before tonight Towns had the best case for that honor. He didn't do much of anything in this game, but he was averaging 6.5 blocks per 40 minutes and leading the team in defensive rebounding percentage.

If all three of them happen to have an off-night, how can you argue with Trey -the team's second-best defensive -as the fourth-best interior defender?

You get the idea.

Even when you get Kentucky into all sorts of foul trouble-those five big men combined to draw 19 whistles on Friday night-the Wildcats are still impossible to score against.

James Crisp/Associated Press

If there exists a blueprint to beating Kentucky, Texas followed it to a T and still couldn't even cover the 12-point spread, according to .com.

The sad and funny thing is that there are people out there who think Duke has the best chance of beating Kentucky. What is Duke going to do against this juggernaut when Okafor gets into foul trouble, other than hope and pray that Marshall doesn't get too many times?

Even when the Wildcats are dealing with foul trouble and missing shots-they were 0-of-11 from three-point range until Andrew Harrison finally made one near the end of the game-they are just too big, too deep, too good at defense and too talented to be beaten.

Maybe- maybe -a team could get hot from three-point range and nullify Kentucky's great interior defense.

However, opponents are shooting just 25.4 percent from beyond the arc against Kentucky this season, thanks in large part to a 6'8' small forward and a pair of 6'6' twins manning the guard positions for more than half the game.

No, the only team that can beat Kentucky is Kentucky.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: There are a good number of teams out there that can hang with the Wildcats for 30 minutes, but it would take something truly incredible to have the lead over this team after 40 minutes.

Unless they start turning the ball over left and right and sulking through games the way they occasionally would in the first four months of the 2013-14 season, the Wildcats will go 40-0.

Not might, could or should-will.

They can thank the nation's best, deepest and most athletic defense for that.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.

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