Vicky Graff Photo
There was nothing pretty about this game for Kentucky except for this — it was another Southeastern Conference win and UK’s nation leading fifth win over a top 15 team.
Texas A&M did all it could to muck up Tuesday’s game in Rupp Arena but Kentucky had enough offense in the second half to take control and win 81-69 behind 22 points and eight rebounds from Jaxson Robinson.
Kentucky trailed most of the first half before Robinson caught fire and his final 3-pointer gave UK a 35-32 halftime lead. Kentucky got 46 points in the half when it went 14-for-23 from the field and 14-for-21 at the foul line.
“It is important to have veteran players and they figured things out,” UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said. “Mark Pope made some key moves to allow Kentucky to adjust to the full-court pressure that bothered them in the first half.
“Jaxson had seven defensive rebounds and this team really goes to the offensive glass. You needed your guards to be active rebounding the ball and Jaxson did that and has become more active on defense to go along with his scoring.”
It was a weird game. Point guard Lamont Butler went 0-for-3 from the field with six turnovers and seemed to hurt almost every part of his body at some point. Yet he still played 30 minutes and got seven assists and three steals.
Amari Williams had just two points the first half but snagged 12 rebounds, including three on the offensive end, in the game and also had a block and steal to go along with eight points.
“I liked Amari playing that aggressively,” Givens said. “We are seeing a team become more and more physical with each game. You hear people talk about beating Kentucky up and as a player you get tired of hearing that stuff and dish out some of that stuff teams are dishing out to you. Kentucky did that tonight.”
Otega Oweh seemed off but somehow continued his streak of scoring in double figures in every game — something no other player in the country has done. He got out in transition in the second half and got two dunks along with trips to the foul line where he went 7-for-10 to finish with 11 points.
Andrew Carr was very Carr-like again. He muscled his way inside to get 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and also got four rebounds against a team that can be elite on the boards.
And what about Travis Perry? With Butler literally knocked out of the game early in the second half when he slipped and was kicked in the face, Perry not only got a steal but his two 3-pointers in a run that helped break the game open.
“He has the crowd roaring. That was a big, big moment for Kentucky and Travis Perry,” ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes said after Perry hit his first 3-pointer.
Perry had six points on 2-for-4 shooting and two turnovers in 10 minutes.
“It was a very good win against a great team,” Perry said. “Coming out and being physical was our goal. The stats show we beat them on the offensive glass. That was huge for us to get defensive stops and turn that into offense.”
5 Responses
Nobody takes it to the hole like 00.
One of these days Travis Perry is going to burn the house down.
Yes – he will scorch the nets!
Travis was 2-4 from 3. The best besides Almonar @ 1-1. Any game Travis gets 4 or more attempts from 3, he will have one of the 2 best 3-pt FG % of anyone. One shot is not enough to get a rhythm.
Sinking those back-to-back 3’s ignited UK’s run to get their best control of the game.
This team is showing that it has the "want to" that is necessary to win games that play bully ball. They still got off to a slow start again, but Pope must have must some kind of pep talk at half-time. When Butler plays hero ball it throws the team out of sync. When he plays Pope ball, the team gets back in sync. Oweh still wants to play hero ball, and as long as he doesn’t start the offense, that may work, but he is going to have to work on his foul shots. They have gutted out two tough wins, but it only gets harder from here. Bama is beatable, so Go CATS!!!
Just win baby…they are.. gotta love it
The real big takeaway from this game as well as a couple of others is that these guys still find a way to win even when not hitting on all cylinders with consistency. The first 10 minutes these guys didn’t act like they had ever played together. This getting off to very sluggish starts will improve at some point. If we can get the Butler a little healthier and Koby back (3 straight duds), we will continue to be a tough out.