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The Kentucky Wildcats welcomed Kentucky Wesleyan into Rupp Arena for the annual in-state exhibition game. This was the twelfth time the teams have went head-to-head and after tonight’s win UK leads the series 9 to 2 with one tie. The tied game happened in 1918 it is the only game that the Wildcats ever ended in a tie.
The Big Blue Nation were excited to see their Wildcats play against some outside competition and get the season started. The Cats roster contains nine upperclassmen which is the most by any Calipari team and the Wildcats start the season ranked in the top ten for the 12th time in Calipari’s 13 years coaching at UK. Needless to say, the BBN has many reasons to look forward to this season.
Both teams opened the game playing fast pace. Keion Brooks was on fire early making 8 of the UK’s first ten points in the first 4 minutes of the game. UK continued to play upbeat and pushed the lead to 23 to 9 before KY Wesleyan called a timeout to regroup. The timeout seemed to work and the Panthers went on a 5-0 run to pull within 9 points of the Wildcats 23-14. However, the run didn’t last for long and after a UK timeout the Wildcats went on a 12-point run of their own. They continued putting the pressure on the Panthers for the rest of the half and pushed their lead to 48 to 30 to end the half.
It didn’t take long for the lead to be pushed further than what Kentucky Wesleyan could reach in the second half. The Wildcats were led in the second half by TyTy Washington who scored 10 points in the first ten minutes of the half. The rest of the second half was dominated by the Wildcats and the game ended with the score 95 to 72.
Keion Brooks and TyTy Washington led the Cats in scoring with 18 points each. Oscar Tshiebwe led the team in rebounds with 10 and had the only double-double of the night with 11 points.
My biggest take away from the game is that Calipari is going to play fast this season and has the roster to do so. Not only is it a fun style of basketball to watch, but it should be effective with number of talented players on the bench they should be able to wear their opponents down. The Wildcats have one more exhibition game against Miles College Friday Nov 5th at 7pm before they take on Duke for the season opener.
