We all doubted that anyone could truly rival Anthony Davis as a shot blocker, let alone surpass him. Somehow, Nerlens Noel is on his way to doing just that. And as far as single game performances, Nerlens delivered the sort of defensive domination last night that was truly superior (in every way but the size of the stage) to even Davis's superb national title game in 2012.
With 12 blocks, Noel:
- broke the UK single-game record of 9 (held by Andre Riddick and Sam Bowie)
- tied the SEC single-game record of 12 (held by Shaquille O'Neal)
- utterly demoralized every member of the Rebel opposition.
Somehow, Nerlens managed five of the blocks AFTER his fourth foul. During the first half, when he was bricking free throw after free throw, it was difficult to imagine him earning forgiveness. Instead, he rendered Kentucky's continuing charity stripe struggles temporarily moot, and had the first game by a 2012-13 UK player truly worthy of national praise.
Remarkably, Noel is now ahead of Davis's BPG pace - 4.75 to 4.65. With just six more blocks, he will become the 18th Wildcat with 100 for his career.
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