Kentucky has spent the last few weeks hearing the same thing from everywhere: not tough enough, not physical enough, not wired for the kind of street fight you have to win in March.
Mouhamed Dioubate, in his first real game action since going down in the blowout loss to Michigan State, didn’t just check back into the rotation, he changed the entire feel of the game. When Kentucky needed a spark, it didn’t come from a step-back three or a cute set. It came from an undersized forward throwing himself into every collision on the floor.
He finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 5 steals and 6-of-10 at the line in 22 relentless minutes on 4-of-7 shooting.