Kentucky basketball: Cats dominate Kentucky State despite injuries, grief

Kentucky basketball shorthanded but the reserves play solid in blowout win

With the injuries to Tshiebwe and Wheeler and Collins back in Texas with his family, the Wildcats only had 8 scholarship players but they united and played a solid 40 minutes of basketball. A vast improvement over the previous exhibition game.

Against Missouri Western State the Wildcats scored 56 total points in the game. Against Kentucky State, they put up 61 in the first half and sailed past the 56 points with three minutes still left in the half.

It’s clear this Kentucky team is loaded with talent even three players short and against a way overmatched opponent.

But these are the games now that will pay dividends later in the season. Calipari is forced to play different lineups and reserve players are called upon to step into the spotlight now. All good things to deal with now instead of late February and March like last season.

The five that started the game would be scary for any opponent. The Cats starters were Cason Wallace and CJ Fredrick at guard and Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware were listed as the forwards.

The Wildcats allowed their visitors to score the game’s first two points and then we watched them reel off a 16-2 run and that was it for the Thoroughbreds. Big Blue would put string-together runs of 25-2 and a late 11-0 burst allowed the lead to balloon to 43-14.

https://twitter.com/KentuckyMBB/status/1588327339393355776

The bright spots just kept coming as the game continued to grow and grow.