Kentucky freshman center DeMarcus Cousins is tearing up the SEC, and the NCAA for that matter, by averaging nearly 17 ppg, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks and reeling off a double-double streak in points and rebounds that stretches 7 games. He along with John Wall are the backbone of a Wildcat squad which has ruffed up the competition en route to a 25-1 overall record and a #2 national ranking.
Along the way, Cousins’ sometimes brutish, all out style of play, and penchant for trash-talking has rubbed his opponents the wrong way. He has been known to let his emotions get the best of him by taking a swing at Louisville’s Jared Swopshire and even allegedly punching a fan after a loss to South Carolina.
It appear that Mr. Cousins is the type of player you don’t neccesarily like,……………unless he is on your team.
More recently, some wily Mississippi State fans were somehow able to get ahold of Cousins’ cell phone number. As you can imagine, a number of those fans preceded to send hundreds of prank calls and text messages to the Kentucky star that were so vicious that some of them even contained racial epithets and profanity.
To his credit, Cousins took it all in stride and actually found some humor in the pranks. Instead of getting angry and lashing out, he chose to get even……….on the court. He dropped a ho-hum 19 points, 14 rebounds, including 7 offensive, and 1 block on Bulldogs All-American candidate Jarvis Varnado, who was in foul trouble all night by trying to contain Cousins.
In addition to another monster night statistically, Cousins couldn’t resist showing up the fans in attendance at The Hump. by following up a John Wall miss with a rim rocking two handed slam over two defenders and giving the fans under the basket the “call me” sign as he ran backwards towards his own basket. By the way, Kentucky won the game 81-75 to remain one game ahead of Vanderbilt for the SEC East lead.
Check out video of Cousins asking,”Can You Hear Me Now?”:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
