The Kentucky basketball team surges past Buffalo in the 2nd half
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky basketball team used a 21-6 run late in the game to end Buffalo’s upset bid. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Hamidou Diallo led the way for the Wildcats.
The Kentucky basketball team knocked Buffalo out of the NCAA Tournament and punched their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Cats with 27 points. The real story was the reemergence of Hamidou Diallo. He had 22 points, 16 of which came in the second half.
Kentucky’s second-round match up against Buffalo got off to a fast start. The Wildcats took a 12-7 lead early over the Bulls. Quade Green‘s alley-oop to Sacha Killeya-Jones put the Cats up 14-7. After a Buffalo basket at the other end, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put in an easy layup, giving UK a 16-9 advantage.
Hamidou Diallo‘s throw-down dunk put the Wildcats up by 7, and then a pair of free throws by PJ Washington gave the Kentucky basketball team it’s largest lead at 9. The Bulls and Wildcats both found themselves in early foul trouble. Washington sat with about 11 minutes left after picking up his 2nd foul.
Gilgeous-Alexander started 4-of-4 from the field, and had 11 points early. He finished the first half with 17 points. Kevin Knox was 4-of-5 himself for 8 points, but he picked up his 3rd foul with just under 4 minutes left in the first half. Killeya-Jones picked up a cheap 3rd foul himself with 2:47 left and sat the remainder of the half.
Wenyen Gabriel knocked down a triple late in the first half, and Kentucky took a 13-point lead. At halftime, the Kentucky basketball team led Buffalo 51-42. UK shot 19-for-34 (55.9%) in the first half, and held Buffalo to 35.1% shooting. The Cats scored 22 of their 51 points in the paint.
Gilgeous-Alexander began the second half with two straight buckets, giving UK a 55-42 lead. However, John Calipari was forced to call a timeout after sloppy play led to a 7-0 Buffalo run and the Bulls closed the gap to 6 points.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Gabriel and Diallo helped stop the bleeding and got Kentucky back up by 9. At the under-12 timeout, Buffalo cut the Cats’ lead to 5. Gilgeous-Alexander made some impactful plays midway through the second half, and helped the Kentucky basketball team grow their lead.
The Wildcats went on a 12-2 run late in the game and took an 84-69 lead. Gabriel, Washington and Diallo put the coffin nails in the Bulls chances. Wenyen nailed a triple, PJ flushed home a putback dunk and Diallo threw down a windmill dunk. Kentucky led at that point by 20 and closed out Buffalo Bulls.