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The twist to Saturday's impressive UCLA upset at No. 1 Kentucky was how UK won the battle of the point guards.

We are three weeks into the college hoops season, and Lonzo Ball's been one of the most discussed players. But UK's De'Aaron Fox is right there with him. It was great for the sport to have two of the top-five point guards in the country clash on a national stage while playing for blueblood teams. The event was made even better by the fact that Ball and Fox are traditional point guards. They are pass-first in mentality. They make college basketball more fun to watch due to their creativity and unselfishness.

And it's easy to see how those attributes translate to the NBA. That's not always the case with lottery picks. (A lotto pick like Marquese Chriss being an example from the most recent NBA Draft.)

Fox, who is considered a better pro prospect and right now is higher on many a GM's draft board than Ball, showed why that's the case during his team's 97-72 loss.

I want to be clear: neither player was at their peak. Both showed nice flashes. From start to finish, Fox was better, and when they were guarding each other, Fox was mostly better. In a nice outing, the Kentucky freshman had 20 points on 20 shots (that has to improve), nine assists, two rebounds and just two turnovers in 34 minutes. Ball was on the floor for 38 minutes, scoring 14, earning seven dimes and grabbing six rebounds -- but had six turnovers and was 5 0f 12 from the field.

The highlight play of the game for Fox is what you see below, with Fox throwing a hesitation deke on Ball, the sick crossover coming before he dishes to Derek Willis for two.


Elsewhere, a primal and clear-cut difference between the two is speed. Ball is not near the athlete Fox is. We didn't even see Kentucky really run today (which is crazy, considering how many points were scored) and so this is Fox only in third gear on the break.

Fox is yet to score fewer than 12 points in a game. He's averaging 15.3 points, 7.6 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.7 turnovers. Compare that to Ball: 14.6 points, 9.6 assists (leads the nation), 4.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 2.3 turnovers.

Sometimes a missed basket can still give us a lot to see when looking at a player's attributes. Nothing matters more than making shots, but the elements that surround a player's scoring ability is the stuff that formulates an overall profile. Look how Fox can't be stopped on the run here. Nobody in the sport will be able to check him in the open floor.

Ball had a few simple things, like "passing guys open," to borrow an NFL term, as teammates came off screens. He also had some ill-advised shots. Thankfully, UCLA is so loaded that Ball doesn't really need to score in order for this team to be exceptional.

Ball got better as the game went on. His first 10 minutes were a little rough, but I can't fault him given he was likely the No. 1 item on UK's scouting report, it was his toughest opponent to date, and Fox is the best player he's faced this season. Both players break the game in a good way for their teams, it's just their styles are different. When it comes to using speed, Fox is going to win out every time. In terms of half-court sets and constant ball movement, Ball clearly has the upper hand.

Fox came out on top individually, but UCLA got the win, and obviously that's the most critical takeaway.

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Fox got the better of Ball, but Ball's team won the game. USATSI