Kentucky Basketball Survives Against Wichita State, Advances to NCAA Sweet Sixteen

The Wildcats defeated the Shockers 65-62 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis.

That makes 13 straight wins for Kentucky Basketball. Nobody thought this one would be easy, and it wasn’t. Here are the highlights from a win that puts the Cats in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the sixth time in John Calipari’s eight years in Lexington.

A Defensive Battle

Both teams made it hard for the other to get baskets. Kentucky shot only 42% from the field, but held Wichita State to 39%. The Shockers shot 8-24 from behind the three point line. The Cats made 7-18 from long range, making just enough needed improvement over their 3-17 effort Friday night versus Northern Kentucky.

This was close contest throughout. There were 11 lead changes and the score was tied three times. The largest lead by either team was seven points. That came when De’Aaron Fox made a steal and drove for a dunk to put the Cats up 58-51. Wichita’s Landry Shamet led a comeback that ultimately cut the lead to one, but the Wildcats made some key plays late to seal the victory.

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Big Time When It Counted

Kentucky Basketball got timely contributions from several players to pull out the win. Some of those are listed below:

• It has become a constant that Dominique Hawkins comes off the bench to provide a spark. Today he came in early and scored all seven of his points in the first 8:49 of the game.
• Derek Willis had nine points and eight rebounds. He hit two big three-pointers in the second half and scored five straight points during a key stretch in the middle of the half. He also bounced back from a sub-par performance on the defensive end in the last game with a block and three steals.
• De’Aaron Fox led the Cats in scoring for the fifth straight game with 14 points. One of the biggest plays late in the game was his driving dunk out of a half-court set with only 1:25 to go. That put the Cats up 63-59 and provided what were ultimately the winning points of the game.
• Malik Monk tied Fox for scoring honors with 14 points. He still needs to find his shooting stroke, as he only went 3-10 from the field. But he hit a huge three with 2:10 left to extend the lead to five and made all six of his free throws. His biggest play though, strange as it may seem, came on defense. Ahead by only one, he blocked a three point shot by Markis McDuffie. He came up with the ball, was fouled and made both free throws. It is a credit to the freshman that he is finding other ways to contribute when his shots aren’t falling.
• Bam Adebayo notched yet another double-double, with 14 points and 10 boards. He was matched up against a tough, physical, experienced big man in Wichita’s Shaq Morris. Bam more than held his own in the battle. And the game ended with Bam, aided by Hawkins on a double team, making a huge block on a Shamet three point attempt that would have sent the game to overtime if good.

Kentucky Basketball Says “Meet Me in Memphis”

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Coach Cal as the Wildcats advance to the next round.

Kentucky Basketball will take the court Friday night at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN against the winner of the UCLA/Cincinnati game later tonight. If they win that one they will be playing for a berth in the Final Four a week from today.