Kentucky basketball gets revenge in route of Mizzou
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky basketball team played quite possibly their best game of the season against Missouri. The Cats routed the Tigers 88-66.
The Kentucky basketball team played quite possibly their best game against Missouri. The Wildcats defeated the Tigers 88-66. Kevin Knox led the Cats in scoring with 21. Jarred Vanderbilt had a double-double and a career-high 15 rebounds. The Wildcats grabbed their 20th win of the season, and 6 players scored in double figures.
First Half
John Calipari kept the same starting lineup he’s had for the last two games. However, PJ Washington and Jarred Vanderbilt came off the bench early to replace Wenyen Gabriel and Nick Richards. Hamidou Diallo knocked down an open triple to tie the game at 5 before the first TV timeout.
Back-to-back-to-back three-pointers by Kevin Knox, Quade Green and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped UK build a 16-8 lead. Mizzou stormed back with two straight triples of their own, closing the gap to only 3 points.
An 8-0 Tigers’ run midway through the first half tied the game at 16 before the under-12 minute timeout. The teams went back and forth throughout the first half. Kentucky trailed 21-24, when Vanderbilt slammed home an alley oop. Green hit a transition three-pointer and the Wildcats took a 26-24 lead which prompted a Missouri timeout.
Green knocked down a mid-range jumper with a little over 4:00 in the half to give UK a 30-26 lead. Gabriel hit a contested triple, Kentucky’s seventh of the first half, and the Cats opened up a 33-26 lead. A half-court alley oop from shai to Washington gave the Kentucky basketball team a 37-29 lead. Diallo slammed through a fast break dunk to punctuate the first half performance by the Cats. Kentucky led Missouri 44-32 at halftime.
Second Half
A breakaway dunk by Knox started the second half with a bang. The Wildcats scored 14 points in the first 5 minutes of the second half and opened up a 58-41 advantage over Mizzou. Knox hit a baseline jumper off a Gabriel screen and UK upped their lead to 18.
Another baseline jumper by Knox out of a timeout ran UK’s lead to 20. Diallo knocked down another three-pointer, his third of the night, and Kentucky went up 69-47. With 4:39 left in the game, Vanderbilt drove the lane and converted an and-1 opportunity to give UK 76-56 lead.
The game got a little testy late when Reed Nikko took an incidental elbow to forehead from Vanderbilt. The Kentucky basketball team coasted down the stretch, Brad Calipari, Jonny David and Dillon Pulliam all checked in and put the game on ice. This was far and away the best game in-conference that UK has played all season.