LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins saw Rider's Brandon Penn pull up from well behind the 3-point line and stretched every last inch of his 6-foot-11 frame in an effort to get a hand on the ball.

Guarding an opponent 22 feet from the basket isn't something Cousins does often. And he plowed into Penn as the ball clanged off the rim, but Cousins' effort perhaps the surest sign that Kentucky coach John Calipari's message to his team that it needed to get serious about defense had come through loud and clear.

Playing with the kind of intensity sorely lacking in its first three games, No. 4 Kentucky roared past the Broncs 92-63 on Saturday, hardly looking like the club Calipari called the "worst" defensive team he's seen in 20 years following narrow escapes against Miami (Ohio) and Sam Houston State. (MORE)