A tale of Two Halves: Kentucky Wildcats storm back in second half to dump Penn Quakers 86-62
By Paul Jordan
For several minutes in the first half against the Penn Quakers, ghosts of of Gardner Webb and VMI floated in the rafters of hallowed Rupp Arena seemingly possessing the dark blue uniforms of the visitors from the Ivy League. If there was a game that had the feel of a classic letdown game, it was this game against the Quakers, sandwiched in on a rare Monday night after a heated showdown against the Louisville Cardinals and the opening of conference play against the 11-2 Georgia Bulldogs.
With shutdown defender DeAndre Liggins covering the Quakers top player, Zack Rosen, Penn had to find an unlikely hero if they were to put the scare into the tenth ranked Wildcats. And so Tyler Bernardini, of the 7.7 ppg average and 18% 3-point shooter stepped forward. Bernardini nailed his first three shots, two of them treys to stake the Quakers to an early 11-6 lead. Freshman Miles Cartwright hit two straight three pointers to put Penn up 17-10 with 11:59 left in the first half.
Sloppy play, cold shooting, and turnover by the Wildcats ensued, allowing the Quakers to continue their wide open shooting and to take an unthinkable 32-21 lead with just 3:43 left in the first half as the evil spirits of the Billy G era howled. Then the Cats finally woke up. Doron Lamb had a three pointer of the “and one” variety and DeAndre Liggins and Brandon Knight hit 3-pointers to lead a UK 12-0 charge to close out the first half and take a 33-32 lead.
One can only assume that John Calipari had a ear rattling exorcism at halftime as Terrence Jones scored the first four points of the half and Brandon Knight sank two treys and Kentucky found themselves with a double digit lead at 49-39 at the 15:00 mark. Kentucky then went on an offensive and defensive tear the next few minutes as Knight sank another trey and Doron Lamb threw in two more. When the dust settled, Kentucky was up 66-45 at the 10:00 mark thanks to 33-13 blitz to start the half. At this point, it was all over except for the fans yelling at Jarrod Polson to “shooooooot” and Kentucky held court the rest of the way, winning 86-62.
Brandon Knight was simply on fire, hitting 8-12 shots, including 4-7 three pointers. Knight also had 4 assists on the night with no turnovers. Knight has stepped up his game so much from the first game and he is really growing in his role of point guard. Doron Lamb was instant offense off the bench with 16 points and two three pointers. The role of the explosive sixth man is going to be key to how far the Cats eventually make it in the NCAA Tournament. Josh Harrellson was once again a presence in the post with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks. I know so many people doubted if Jorts could become a double-double performer and he is one of the feel good stories in college basketball.
Tonight was a good night for the two juniors, DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller. Liggins had 7 points and 4 assists, but more importantly hounded leading scorer Zack Rosen into a zero field goal night. Seriously, why are we not hearing any buzz for DeAndre Liggins being one of the top defenders in the country?. If you are suiting up against Kentucky and you see “34” across from you, well, you are in for a long night. Darius Miller had one of his better nights with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. All of this allowed Kentucky to win by 24 despite a quiet for him 10 points and 8 rebounds from Terrence Jones.
And now to the harsh reality about this Kentucky basketball team. Yes, they are a better shooting team than last year. Yes, they put teams away when they get them down unlike last year. But if this team does not develop more depth, they are going to run into trouble in the SEC and in the NCAA. Someone, either Eloy Vargas, Jon Hood, or Stacey Poole must step it up and become a consistent performer off the bench every night. we don’t need miracles, just a consistent 6 point, 4 rebound performance from someone, anyone. If Calipari is not going to get it from Hood or Poole, he should have been giving Polson significant minutes to see if he can contribute. And Vargas needs to spend some serious one on one practice time against Kanter. It obviously improved Harrellson. Vargas needs to develop confidence as well.
OK, I’m off my soapbox. If you had asked me if I thought UK would be 11-2 with no Enes Kanter, I would have taken that in a minute. I think we have the best top six players in the country right now, but we desperately need that seven and eight. But I am don’t nitpick wins. I like what I saw the last 23:00 minutes or so, so I will be thrilled with that.
For complete game stats, go here.
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