No. 13 Kentucky makes statement with demolition of No. 5 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kentucky men’s basketball team traveled to Kansas wanting for a resume-boosting get. It remaining with the type of statement victory that will go away no alternative but to view the Wildcats as one of the favorites to acquire a national championship.
Driving a vocation-substantial 27 details from junior forward Keion Brooks, No. 13 Kentucky dominated No. 5 Kansas 80-62 in its residence arena.
Kentucky led by 20 details at halftime and hardly ever by less than 14 factors in the next 50 %. 7 different United kingdom players scored within just the to start with 8 minutes of the activity.
National Participant of the Year prospect Oscar Tshiebwe posted a further double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds while enjoying stout defense during. Tremendous senior guard Kellan Grady (12) and junior ahead Jacob Toppin (11) also concluded in double figures.
Below is what you have to have to know about the get.
Keion Brooks stars with vocation-best functionality
John Calipari has commonly pointed to regions other than scoring to choose Brooks’ overall performance, so it was probable a signal of fantastic matters to appear when Brooks grabbed Kentucky’s first two rebounds of the activity and turned one into a place-back again dunk.
It was Brooks who took in excess of the activity in the 2nd half to avoid Kansas from pulling back into the sport. Tshiebwe opened the next 50 percent with a jumper, but Brooks scored the Wildcats’ next 15 details. When Kansas mounted a mini 7- run to carry the ability Allen Fieldhouse crowd back again into the match, Brooks silenced the operate with a mid-selection jumper.
Brooks strike 9 of 16 photographs and 9 of 10 free throws on the evening. He grabbed 5 offensive boards and scored 9 2nd-opportunity details. Brooks was credited with just one particular support, but that pass, a feed to Tshiebwe in the post, could possibly have been Kentucky’s most effective move all year.
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Kentucky basketball has possibility for NCAA Match No. 1 seed
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi experienced slotted Kentucky as a No. 3 seed coming into the afternoon, but the biggest hole in the Wildcats’ resume was a absence of top rated-amount wins.
Kentucky missed the likelihood for statement wins at LSU and at Auburn when injuries to Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington left the Wildcats shorthanded down the extend of both games, but a full-energy Kentucky team undoubtedly glimpse like just one of the 4 most effective in the place in Lawrence. Kentucky is now 3-3 in Quadrant 1 games (Web best 25 at dwelling, top 50 in neutral web sites and leading 75 on the highway) with 6 extra Quadrant 1 game titles on the standard year agenda.
The NCAA Match variety committee simply cannot give Kentucky credit score for wins it did not make, but the team’s file when at complete energy is really hard to criticize. There are loads of alternatives left for Kentucky to just take that final decision out of the committee’s fingers. Consider treatment of company in the remaining highway games and marquee household contests towards LSU and Alabama, and Kentucky will have a resume that compares with just about any.
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TyTy Washington returns from ankle injury
Major up to the video game, much of the communicate centered close to no matter if Kentucky could gain with no Washington, who missed Tuesday’s sport from Mississippi Point out with an ankle injury. That concern was not answered because Washington played versus the Jayhawks, but he did not add to the United kingdom acquire in the way numerous could have predicted.
Washington scored just two details on 1-of-9 capturing, but his presence was felt in various areas. Not only did Washington, Kentucky’s next-top scorer and top NBA draft prospect, draw the notice of the Kansas protection for much of the night time, he also tallied a few rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Just after Washington was unable to engage in in the 2nd half towards Auburn or as the Wildcats blew a 16-level second-fifty percent lead against Mississippi Point out, Calipari pointed to Washington’s skill to get a a single-on-just one matchup when the recreation is on the line as remaining important to Kentucky’s potential customers. The rating was not shut plenty of to take a look at that idea at Kansas, but Washington proved his really worth however.
E-mail Jon Hale at [email protected] Adhere to him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.
This post at first appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky blows out Kansas at The Phog in Big 12/SEC Problem
