Freshman Anthony Davis flirted with the second triple-double in Kentucky basketball history as the Cats smothered St. John's 81-59 Thursday night in Rupp Arena.

Davis set career highs with 15 rebounds and eight blocks while also scoring 15 points. Before exiting with 4:44 left, he appeared to block a ninth shot, which would have equaled a UK individual record (shared by Andre Riddick and Sam Bowie). But a foul call nullified the block.

"Even Coach Cal said that wasn't a foul," Davis said.

Davis' blocks fueled a defense that made St. John's live up to its billing as the nation's youngest team.

"Without him, we probably lose the game," UK Coach John Calipari said. "He changed everything about the game."

All the defense, which included a school-record 18 blocks, obscured Kentucky's continuing evolution on offense. Before the game, Calipari said the Cats were not yet "in sync" offensively. He said much the same after the game.

"We were just inept offensively," Calipari said.

Terrence Jones, who equaled a career-high of four blocks while scoring a game-high 26 points, explained how Kentucky could be so dominant defensively and struggle on offense.

"I feel it's easier," he said of defense. "You can help. We're long. It takes less thinking."

Davis' replacement, Eloy Vargas, got the record-breaking block with about two minutes left. That broke the previous mark of 17 blocks against Morehead State on Nov. 20, 1997.

For Davis, the defense and shot-blocking is a matter of personal pride. When asked why he pays so much attention to defense, he credited an AAU coach.

"He told us, if (the opponent) gets in the lane, they're getting into your mom's kitchen," he said.

With less than five minutes remaining in the first half, St. John's had been guilty of as many 35-second shot clock violations (five) as it had scored baskets (five). No wonder Kentucky led at halftime.

UK rode defense to a 31-20 lead at intermission. The Cats blocked 10 shots and limited St. John's to 8-for-27 shooting.

Asked to comment on Davis' shot-blocking, St. John's assistant coach Mike Dunlap said, "Well, he has really long arms, and he's very good at it. We wish we had one of those."

The defense came in handy because Kentucky did not get the more efficient offense that Calipari sought. The Cats made only 11 of their first 29 shots, which helped explain why St. John's trailed by as few as eight points with less than three minutes left in the half.

Kentucky finished the half with a flourish. Leading 29-20, Marquis Teague stepped to the foul line with 5.9 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Jones took the rebound in front of the rim and dunked it home. That set the halftime score and gave Jones, the only scorer in double figures at the break, 13 points.

Kentucky's stingy defense came without much contribution from Michal Kidd-Gilchrist. The high-energy freshman picked up his second foul at the 14:29 mark and had little to show in the first half (no points, three turnovers in 10 minutes).

Both teams lived down to their track records for slow starts. Kentucky made only two of its first 12 shots.

St. John's, which came into the game shooting 47 percent (against a schedule ranked 230th toughest in the nation by Collegerpi.com) made five of its first 20 shots.

Worse, the Red Storm did not get off a shot on five possessions.

St. John's two leading scorers — Nurideen Lindsey and D'Angelo Harrison — missed all seven of their first-half shots.

Except for UK's increased efficiency, nothing changed in the second half.

A good start to the half got even better when Davis swatted away a driving shot by Lindsey. That fueled a fast break that Davis punctuated by dunking a lob from Teague to put the Cats ahead 42-27, prompting a St. John's timeout with 16:26 left.

The only unknown was the final score and whether Davis would achieve a triple-double. His teammates urged him to get the UK rarity. Only Chris Mills, another freshman, did it, scoring 19 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and handing out 10 assists against Austin Peay on Dec. 27, 1988.

Davis said he had "seven or eight" triple-doubles as a high school player.

"This is way different from high school," he said. "Players know how to adjust to it."