Not bad for a player who on Friday had refused to go back into the game when coach Billy Gillispie asked him.
Since he was allowed to play the next game and helped UK beat West Virginia, all seems forgiven. Even the Rupp Arena faithful gave Liggins a big ovation when he came into the game in the first half.
"I knew he would change. He was probably just having a bad day (in Las Vegas). People are entitled to that," said UK junior Perry Stevenson. "We are trying to handle all that. But if we didn't like somebody on the team, Coach would see that because we wouldn't play well. We are a tight team and Dre is part of that."
Patterson, UK's best all-around player, says it was not hard for the players to want Liggins back playing.
"We know we need him to win," Patterson said. "We know how much we need him the rest of the season. He's a great point guard. He can defend, knock down shots and finish plays.
"We are all a big family. We need everybody on the team playing together. We need that from everybody and he understands that."
That would include junior Jodie Meeks, UK's leading scorer and the player who is trying to be the team leader. That leadership was tested by Liggins' decision in Las Vegas, but Meeks said he gave the freshman some simple advice.
"I just said, 'Don't worry about what happened in the past. Go out there and play the best you can,'" Meeks said.
Meeks said the incident "was no big deal" to him or his teammates.
"He's a freshman and you are going to make mistakes, so after finding out what happened it was no big deal. We wanted him to play, obviously, because he is a great player. He ended up helping us win Saturday and again tonight," Meeks said.
Tougher competition ahead
He could be the biggest key for Kentucky continuing to win as the competition gets better. He's bigger, faster and a better scorer than Porter. Junior college transfer Kevin Galloway, who played well in his first extensive action with five assists, three rebounds, two blocked shots and two points, is not the scorer Liggins is, either.
But Gillispie wasn't as glowing in his praise of Liggins only two days after lauding the "courage" the freshman had shown for just playing the second game in Las Vegas.
"I thought he did well. I thought they all did well," Gillispie said. "There are a still a lot of little details we've got to eliminate. But I thought he played well."
While Gillispie thought Kentucky played at a faster pace that suited the Cats better, he didn't want to give Liggins any extra credit for the style of play. Instead, he said he thought the pace was good the entire game no matter who was at point guard.
"I thought he did a good job pushing it until he got tired from his lack of playing time (in previous games). He did not guard as well as he has to," Gillispie said.
Patterson - and anybody else who watched the game - had to believe Liggins' play increased the tempo.
"I definitely think so. That is one thing he will do no matter what," Patterson said. "He will push the ball from the baseline and force the bigs to run harder because you know he will pass it to us."
Stevenson agreed.
"He's going to be a special, special player. I have not seen him take a day off. We just feed off point guard play. When he takes off, we have got to go to. He doesn't give you any choice but to run hard," Stevenson said.
He'll get better, too. His defense is already improving. He can pull a rebound off in traffic. He's shown he can hit long-range shots. He's not afraid to take a charge.
"I think he is more and more comfortable. He is getting better each game and is showing what he can do," Meeks said. "His personality is kind of quiet, but on the court he will talk sometimes. That is just part of him being comfortable. He has to get used to everybody on the team. As he does, he will talk more."
Maybe that will even include getting to talk to the media, something he's not been allowed to do since UK's media day in mid-October. No one will say why he's not available, but he did more than enough talking with his play Wednesday.
