MEMPHIS, Tenn.– Kentucky’s 6-3 freshman De’Aaron Fox was generally considered the best point guard prospect in the country throughout his senior year at Katy, Tex. High School.

But it was hard to ignore the chatter coming out of the West Coast all season as Lonzo Ball’s outspoken father Levar was proclaiming his son, a 6-6 freshman point guard from UCLA, was better than Steph Curry and announcing to the world he would be the first pick in the NBA draft.

No one is denying Ball’s talent.

But there is more than one great player in college basketball. The 6-3 Fox proved that Friday night when he went off for 39 points and totally outplayed Ball in their match up as Kentucky defeated the Bruins, 85-77, to advance to a NCAA tournament South Region final against North Carolina here Sunday at FedEx Arena. Ball finished with 10 points but shot just 4 for 10, settling for three point shots in the second half. He had eight assists with four turnovers but never showed a sense of urgency in the second half and when his team needed him the most.

Fox was magnificent in the biggest of stages, shooting 10 for 13 and consistently getting to the rim against UCLA’s bigger defenders.He made 13 of 5 free throws, had 4 assists and committed only one turnover in 36 minutes, dominating a game between two blue blood programs before a sellout crowd that included Lakers’ new president of basketball operations Magic Johnson, who was the gold standard of point guards when he played for the Lakers.

“I saw him during warm ups, but I mean, it didn’t change it. We’ve had celebrities at games and stuff, so I mean, playing on this stage, there’s going to be a lot of people there, people we probably don’t even know that were there. We’re coming out to play basketball and that’s all we’re worried about. We’re not worried about who’s in the crowd and we’re trying to put on a show,but we’re trying to win the game at the same time.”

Fox had said all week he wasn’t worried about the individual match up and he was more concerned about beating the third seeded Bruins, who scored 97 points against the Cats in an early season victory that broke a 42-game home court winning streak at Rupp Arena.

It didn’t take long for Fox to establish himself.

“I think I scored like the first eight points of the game and after that, I was like, you know, it’s going to be a good night for me,” Fox said. “I mean I just attribute that to all my teammates. We knew what the game plan was. Nobody was going to help off (freshman guard) Malik (Monk), nobody was going to help off (senior forward) Derek (Willis) and literally every time, if I get it going, Malik and Derek are literally like, come to my side if you want a layup, if you want a floater and I listen to them. Even when I’m taking my guy one-on-one, it’s still a team thing because they’re telling me what do do and I’m just doing it.”
Fox set the tone but he got help from Monk, who finally came of his slump, heating up in the second half to make four threes and finish with 21 points. They also got eight points and eight rebounds from the 6-9 Willis, out rebounded the Bruins, 29-28, and scored 14 points off 13 UCLA turnovers.

Fox was so huge, he made Kentucky fans almost forget about Devin Booker, the 20 year old former Kentucky guard from the Phoenix Suns who who exploded for 70 points last night against the Boston Celtics. “How do you get 70? Like, he showed up our team,” Calipari said with a smile. We just got a great win and all they’re going to be talking about in the Commonwealth is Devin Booker..”

Not really.

This was one of Calipari’s best wins at Kentucky, the type of game that should have had Final Four billing.

Instead, second seeded Kentucky still has to go through top seeded North Carolina, a team they beat 10-3-100 in the CBS Classic in Vegas in early December when Monk went off for 47 points, to advance to the Final Four in Phoenix.

Kentucky coach John Calipari has had his share of tough tournament roads since he arrived at Kentucky, but he found a way to get the Cats past Ohio State and North Carolina to win the East Region when the Cats were a 4 seed in 2011 and again in 2014 when they were an eighth seed and had to get by top seeded unbeaten Wichita, arch rival Louisville and Michigan in the 2014 Midwest Region.

But they seem ready for the challenge. For one thing, the Cats are much better in transition defense than they were in December. For another, they have been steeled by playing in the underrated SEC against teams with great athletes that do not mature until the last month of the regular season.

The SEC took its shots this year. But there are still three teams from the conference– Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida– still standing as the tournament enters the Elite Eight stage.

“No,” Calipari said sarcastically. “There are not three SEC teams in the Elite Eight. We’re supposed to be a bad league. That’s got to be all these other leagues, right?

”Well, let me tell you, every game we play is a Super Bowl, not just this one. Every game in our league is a sold out war, different shirt, coat, hat day. And I think that helps South Carolina, Florida and Vanderbilt. Vandy should have won its first round game against Northwestern. And Arkansas should have won its game last weekend against North Carolina. Our league had 11 teams in the Top 100 and seven in the Top 50. But again, well, that’s the SEC, they play football. We’re got terrific coaches, terrific programs and we’re the youngest team in the country out of 32 leagues. So it’s only going to get better.”

“Now I have a feeling my young guys (Fox, Monk and 6-10 Bam Adebayo) won’t be around next year, but I have another crew coming in

The Cats finished 14-2 in league play and won the SEC regular season and conference tournament.

“We lost two games in conference play, and everyone wants to say other conferences were better or our conference isn’t as strong,” Fox said. “But when the tournament comes, the best teams win, sometimes it takes luck. But Florida blew us out by 22 at their place. We found out then that they were a good team and South Carolina was ranked when we played them. Right now, they’re just showing them how strong our conference is. Three teams in the Elite Eight. That’s pretty good.”