No. 9 Kansas Finds Revenge in 77-68 Toppling of Kentucky in Lexington
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — It took 364 days, but the Kansas Jayhawks found revenge over the Kentucky Wildcats.
Behind 22 points from Jalen Wilson, coach Bill Self avoided the first four-game losing streak of his tenure in Lawrence, fighting off Kentucky's many half-hearted punches en route to a 77-68 win, sucking the soul out of Rupp Arena the same way the Cats did a year ago inside Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
UK (14-7, 5-3 SEC) notched just four offensive rebounds in the defeat, losing the rebound battle 34-29. Cason Wallace was the lone Cat to connect on a 3-pointer, as the team shot 2-13 from deep.
As time dwindled in the second half, Big Blue Nation was yearning for its Wildcats to land that wobbling blow, swiping the lead from the stalwart Jayhawks — who managed to continuously land tough, resilient buckets, fighting off ties like a salesman on Casual Friday.
On three-straight possessions with less than eight minutes to go, Kentucky trimmed Kansas' lead to two, but failed to find that stop. Kansas subsequently punished — in the form of three-straight 3-pointers from Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCullar Jr, a monumental swing that hurled the Jayhawks (17-4, 5-3 Big 12) to the finish line in front.
"That's what good teams do," UK forward Jacob Toppin said in regard to Kansas' maintaining the lead throughout the second half. "They take advantage of opportunities when it's given to them and we gave them too many opportunities. Defensively, we were breaking down down the stretch and it cost us a lot, they were able to make big shots."
"Gotta have confidence to knock down shots in the biggest moments," Wilson said of he and his teammates' big makes. "A lot of these games — especially against such a well program like (Kentucky), gotta have the confidence to hit shots and have faith that it's going in."
The Wildcats had some answers, but not enough to result in a happy ending. The freshman Dick added 13 points, starting forward KJ Adams provided 17 of his own, while McCullar totaled an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double.
"I thought all our starting five were great. I thought Jalen played like a First Team All-American down the stretch," Self said postgame. "If you can have all five starters play well in the same night, you got a chance, and that's what happened with us."
All UK coach John Calipari could do was credit the Jayhawks and point towards the trio of treys as the big difference maker after the fact.
"Hard fought game, give (Kansas) credit," Calipari said. "They deserved to win the game because they made three 3's down the stretch. You got to make those kinds of plays and they made them."
Oscar Tshiebwe led the way for the Cats with 18 points and nine rebounds, flanked by 14 each from Wallace and Toppin.
Kentucky finally avoided its patented sluggish start, leading the first chunk of the game thanks to a welcomed spurt from Chris Livingston, who had eight points in the first nine minutes of game time. After the second media timeout, the Wildcats led 20-18.
Issues began to arise from there, however. Many of the woes that had plagued the first half of the year for UK reared their head. The Wildcats failed to make a 3-point shot in the first half, missing all six attempts, three of which failed to even hit the rim. Free throws often failed to be made, UK missed seven of 11 attempts from the stripe
One telling stat that was far from the norm, though, was the Cats hauling in a whopping zero offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Oscar Tshiebwe entered the locker room with six points and four rebounds, half-nullified by a hodge-podge group of forwards in the KU frontcourt. Kentucky entered the game with the best offensive-rebounding percentage in the country, at 38.8 percent. Instead, it was the Jayhawks winning the battle on the boards 21-13.
Additionally, the newly-infamous UK lineup featuring Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Antonio Reeves, Toppin and Tshiebwe, did not receive a single second of run in the half.
Wilson paced Kansas with 10 points in the half, while three other Jayhawks eclipsed five points, leaving Kentucky down 41-34 — the fifth time its trailed at the half in its last seven games.
The sold-out Rupp Arena crowd remained loud throughout the back half as Kentucky searched for a breakthrough. It was Tshiebwe and Wallace leading the charge, as the two scored 14 of UK's first 16 points out of the break.
As the end drew near, the fight that had charged Kentucky's win-streak was nowhere to be found. The Wildcats wilted as Kansas continued to have an answer for every question that was asked of it.
The loss ends UK's four-game winning streak. While Calipari said his team was "crushed" in the locker room after the defeat, it's not near as damning as some of the Wildcats' previous losses.
"(Kansas) — they're a top-10 team and we're trying to reestablish who we are. I was hoping we could get this, but you know what? Kids fought and tried," he said. "We're not where we need to be, but certainly not where we were."
Kentucky now looks to rebound on the road, heading down to Oxford, Miss. to take on the struggling Ole Miss Rebels inside The Pavilion. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 31.
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