Kentucky Basketball leaves the State Farm Champions Classic with more questions than answers. Way more questions, at that. The Kansas Jayhawks systematically dominated Kentucky, 89-69, handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season in decisive fashion, blowing them away as violently as the wind can blow off Lake Michigan in Chicago in the Winter.
Then again, there was definitely a feeling amongst Big Blue Nation that it could be another frustrating winter if this is how the Cats are going to
perform in marquee games.
Aside from a decent start, including a 10-5 lead just over three minutes into the game, Kansas dominated Kentucky for most of the night in the Windy City. The Jayhawks splashed in threes, they crashed the boards, they got out and ran, they swarmed Kentucky on defense, and they were just overall the better team Tuesday night. They seemed to be on another tier compared to Kentucky. The Wildcats clanked shots off the rim, turned the ball over, and lacked serious movement on the offensive end.
MVP: Zoom Diallo
Easy choice here. Diallo was by far Kentucky’s best player Tuesday night. Diallo finished with 24 points on 10-15 shooting and 3-6 from three-point range.
Box Score
First Half
Kentucky got off to a blistering start, making their first five shots to build a 10-5 lead 3:11 into the game. All five shots were two-point shots, and they were good high-percentage shots. Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins each scored four points in the first three-plus minutes, with Milan Momcilovic adding a bucket to get the Cats out to an early lead.
Things got chippy out of the timeout. With the Cats on offense, Taylen Kinney appeared to steal the ball from Franck Kepnang. Kinney fell to his backside, and Ousmane N’Diaye attempted to tie him up by diving on top of him to simultaneously possess the ball. The officials called a personal foul on Kinney, and that’s when Kinney and N’Diaye got into it with some shoving and an exchange of words. Kentucky’s five on the floor immediately sprinted in to get Kinney away from Stokes and try to calm him down as he was still incredibly riled up.
Not only was it chippy, but Kentucky was also in heavy foul trouble early. Malachi Moreno and N’Diaye both picked up two fouls just over five minutes into the game. Reece Potter checked into the game with 12:35 remaining in the first half. Let that tell you about the foul trouble Kentucky was in.
Kentucky held its own, taking a 15-11 lead at the 12:32 mark, but the Jayhawks answered with an 11-2 run to lead 22-17 when the Cats called a timeout with 10:41 left in the first half. Kansas only extended the lead out of the timeout, stretching it to nine at 28-19 with 8:50 left in the first half.
Kansas kept the pressure on Kentucky throughout the first half, knocking down five three-pointers and shooting 46.3 percent from the field to build a 46-36 lead. The Jayhawks had 11 second-chance points on eight offensive rebounds, and they had 14 assists to just five turnovers.
On the other side, Kentucky only had three offensive rebounds and had nine turnovers to just six assists. The Wildcats were 2-9 from three-point range, and Milan Momcilovic did not attempt a single three-pointer in the first half.
Second Half
It went from bad to worse to start the second half. An 8-0 Kansas run pushed the lead to 18 at 59-41 just 3:36 into the second half. Tyran Stokes and Tre White were just toying with Kentucky, and Trey Kaufman-Renn was also doing damage inside.
Besides Zoom Diallo, nobody was consistently contributing any points for the Cats.
On the other side, Tyran Stokes and Tre White were having their way with Kentucky. Both players eclipsed 20 points, with White hitting 30 points on 11-16 from the field and 4-8 from three-point range. Stokes finished with 23 points and was 4-8 from three-point range. Kansas shot 46.4 percent from the floor and 10-26 from three-point range on the night. They had 24 assists on 32 field goals and only turned the ball over 10 times.
Kentucky shot 45.8 percent from the floor but were a dismal 4-21 from three-point range and 11-18 from the free-throw line. The Cats had just 13 assists to 15 turnovers. They were also out-rebounded 40-35 and 12-8 on the offensive glass.
Kentucky vs. Kansas Twitter Reactions
Big Blue Nation was voicing their frustrations loud and clear on Twitter Tuesday night. Here are the best Twitter reactions that got progressively negative as the game unfolded.
Sad scenes.
