Coach Calipari had said he would learn a lot about his team prior to the three-game stretch that started with UNC, followed by UConn and ended with Indiana. What he learned was that his team had "a will to win."

Now, the Wildcats face another three game stretch (this one over five days) and it too will tell a lot about Coach Calipari's teams. The brand names of Tar Heels, Huskies and Hoosiers are replaced by Governors, Dragons and 49ers and the challenge for the young Cats is to realize these more generic brands are almost as dangerous.

"I'm not sure our guys understand that," said Coach Calipari earlier this week. "If any or all of these teams play their best and execute, they will beat us."

The message seemed to resonate loudest on Thursday, when Coach Calipari stopped practice and turned the session into what assistant coach, John Robic, termed, "old school conditioning."

Friday was a better practice, according to Coach Cal and the shootaround this morning was also crisp with good focus.

It's now time to see if UK can come out and play with the same intensity and desire against this triumverate of opponents as it did the previous three.

Patrick had the softest 21 and 9 I've ever seen

Best of Cal from Post Game:

- "It's a hard game to get up for - for the fans, for everybody. That's why we started off poorly."

- "Ramon goes straight into the 'Guiness Book of World Records' with six rebounds in seven minutes.'

- "Patrick had 21 and 9, but it was a soft 21 and 9, maybe the softest I've ever seen."

- "We played the way we practiced this week. But that's understandable because it was finals week. our guys were exhausted."

- "We're not creating enough turnovers."

RIM SHOTS

• The 18 of 18 from the free throw line was the third best effort from the charity stripe in school history. There had been two 19 of 19 efforst prior. "We haven't shot free throws in practice in two weeks," Coach said in his radio show.

• The win puts Kentucky one victory shy of the magical 2,000 win mark. The next chance to reach the mark comes on Monday night against a Drexel team coached by Cal's good friend and former assistant, Bruiser Flint.