Game recap: Kentucky Wildcats escape A&M, 74-73

The Kentucky Wildcats escaped at home against Texas A&M. UK defeated the Aggies 74-73.

The Kentucky Wildcats survived a nail biter at home, 74-73, against the Texas A&M Aggies. The Wildcats poor free throw shooting almost cost them a victory. Kentucky shot 65% from the charity stripes, but survived a late push by Texas A&M when the Aggies threw the ball out of bounds on their final possession. Hamidou Diallo led the Cats in scoring with 18 points.

First Half

Quade Green sat out tonight’s game for the Kentucky Wildcats with a back injury meaning Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got the start. In the starter’s role, Gilgeous-Alexander had a productive first half with 12 points and 3 assists.

Early in the first half both Kentucky and Texas A&M shot the lights out. In the first 8 minutes of the game, the Aggies were 8-for-12 while the Cats shot 5-for-7 from the field.

A 12-2 run midway through the half saw Kentucky take a 26-20 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander effectively drove to the basket and the Cats crashed the offensive glass. Sacha Killeya-Jones emphatically put back a missed three-point attempt from Wenyen Gabriel with a thunderous dunk.

Rupp Arena erupted with 4:21 left in the half. Hamidou Diallo picked up his second foul and Brad Calipari entered the game for the Cats. Tyler Davis, who was dominant for the Aggies in the first half with 14 points, left with 1:27 after being tagged with his second foul.

A questionable foul call on Killeya-Jones late in the half allowed Texas A&M to take a 35-34 lead after converting free throws. However, Kevin Knox, who only played limited minutes due to foul trouble, canned a three-point shot to close out the half and gave the Kentucky Wildcats a 37-35 halftime lead.

Second Half

The Aggies came out of halftime on fire, scoring 6 points off turnovers and forced John Calipari to call an early timeout after taking a 44-39 lead. Whatever Cal said worked because UK went on a 6-0 run punctuated by a fast-break dunk by Diallo.

The UK offense became stagnant until PJ Washington put through a layup to cut the Aggies’ lead to 4. Diallo received a beautiful outlet pass from Washington and converted a fast-break layup narrowing the gap to 2. But, Savion Flagg came right back for Texas A&M and grew the Aggie lead back to 4.

A turnover by Texas A&M resulted in a layup for Knox making the score 61-59. Diallo converted two free throws with a little less than 4 minutes left to tie the game at 63. The Aggies scored on the ensuing possession, but Killeya-Jones converted his foul shots and tied the game once again.

With the game tied at 67, Washington poked the ball away from Texas A&M and Knox put through a layup on the other end to give the Cats a 2 point lead. Washington knocked down 1-of-2 from the free throw line and took a 70-67 lead. After two missed free throws by the Aggies, Washington drove the lane on the Cats next possession. He converted a difficult shot that increased the Wildcats’ lead to 5.

The closing minutes saw free throws, a fast-break dunk by the Aggies and two late turnovers by the Kentucky Wildcats. Knox knocked down 1-of-2 free throws late to put UK up 74-71. A putback by the Aggies with 3.9 left cut the Wildcats lead to 1. PJ Washington missed both of his free throws at the other end, Texas A&M turned the ball over on their final possession allowing the Cats to escape with the victory.