Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Quick Reactions from Last Nights Game
By Brian True
Last night, the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team played the Boston Terriers at Rupp Arena. Despite hanging around for much of the first half, and only being down five points heading into halftime, the Boston Terriers found that the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team was simply too much for them to handle. The final had the Kentucky Wildcats beating the Boston Terriers by 24 points, another blowout win for a team that looks too good for anyone to beat. Check out the reaction from the media below.
Quick, somebody conduct a poll: Can the Boston University basketball team play with the Philadelphia 76ers for a half? The Terriers gave top-ranked Kentucky all it wanted for a little longer than that before falling 89-65 Friday night at Rupp Arena, just three days after the Wildcats throttled fifth-ranked Kansas by 32.
Talk of an undefeated season and that nagging hypothetical about college basketball’s best against the NBA’s worst were fueled by how thoroughly UK (4-0) thumped a perennial power, but BU brought the hype back down a notch for the night. Despite the final margin, the visitors were within a bucket in the second half.
No doubt sore from two days of back-slapping after the 32-point win over Kansas, Kentucky basically went through the motions. There was nowhere near the energy and the intensity the Cats displayed against the Jayhawks in Indianapolis.
John Calipari mixed up his platoons in the second half, trying to get a spark. In fact, after Boston cut the lead to 46-44 with about 16:14 left, the Kentucky coach pretty much scrapped the platoons.
When Kentucky pushed out to a bit of a lead, Calipari relied on the second platoon and Devin Booker came through with a couple of nice lobs to Trey Lyles for dunks. Booker then buried a 3-pointer from left corner for a 66-52 Kentucky lead. During one stretch, Booker made 2 baskets and assisted on three others.
Down the stretch, Kentucky pulled away.
Mrs. Tyler Thompson, Kentucky Sports Radio
It seems crazy, but we still haven’t seen a complete performance from the Cats. Tonight, the offense finally flowed in the second half thanks to Aaron and Devin, but the defense struggled. On defense, Calipari said that against Kansas, UK looked like a “January team,” whereas tonight, they looked like a “November team.” He also issued his standard disclaimers, warning that this team isn’t as great as everyone is making them out to be. “We all expect this team to be world-beaters every time out, and let me say this, folks: they’re not going to be,” Cal said.
After throwing waves of stifling defense at No. 5 Kansas, top-ranked Kentucky showed that it could shoot the ball just as well against Boston University.
Aaron Harrison scored 19 points, Devin Booker added 15 along with seven assists, and the Wildcats shot nearly 59 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from the Terriers for an 89-65 victory Friday night.
Three days after holding the Jayhawks to 20 percent shooting in a 72-40 blowout, the Wildcats (4-0) followed up with their best offensive game to put away the determined Terriers (1-2). Kentucky shot 34 of 59 overall (58 percent) including 17 of 29 after halftime.