Kentucky players celebrated when Walker Horn hit a 3-pointer in Wednesday's win. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky embraced the return of former standout John Pelphrey and turned in a performance reminiscent of the teams he played for and rolled to a 104-54 rout over Tennessee Tech on Wednesday night.
Pelphrey, Tennessee Tech’s head coach, received a standing ovation and broke down in tears as he described his five seasons with the Wildcats and his return to Rupp Arena.
“(I’m) very, very humbled to have a chance to experience the things I’ve experienced here. It’s emotional, it really is,” said Pelphrey, who played in 114 games and averaged 11 points per game from 1988-92. “All I know is they signed up in the best of times and they stayed in the worst of times. It’s really hard to put into words, because most of it are feelings and experience. But we’ll never give up on the University of Kentucky.
“We’ll never quit, we’ll never turn our back on this program, and that’s why it’s the winningest program in the history of the game.”
Former teammates Deron Feldhaus, Sean Woods and Richie Farmer were in attendance to support their former teammate and joined Kentucky coach Mark Pope on the podium during the postgame press conference.
“I’m amazingly grateful for these legends,” Pope said. “These guys changed … they reset the trajectory of Kentucky basketball. They laid the foundation for what I got to experience when I came here as a player. They reset it for all of us that have played since then and certainly reset it for me as having a chance going to be here as a head coach, and it’s really special.”
Kentucky (5-2) made just one of its first 10 shots from long range and struggled to put away the Golden Eagles early and misfired on 10 of its first 11 shots from long range before using a 20-3 run in the final seven minutes to the half to set the tone for a breakthrough performance in the second half.
The Wildcats made 12 treys and scored 61 points in the second half and reached the century mark for the second time this season. Kentucky cleared its bench and even Walker Horn got in on the fun and drained the Wildcats’ final 3-pointer of the lop-sided contest.
Otega Oweh, who scored just four points in the first half, finished with 12 in the final half. After swishing a pair of free throws, Oweh had a steal and a slam, followed by a 3-pointer in less than two minutes to set the tone for Kentucky’s 61-point scoring barrage in the second half.
Much like Pelphrey, who enjoyed a stellar career at Paintsville High School, current Wildcat Trent Noah, who played at Harlan County and enjoyed a career outing against the Golden Eagles. Noah finished with 16 points.
Two years into his collegiate career, Noah said the experience never grows old.
“It’s amazing (and) there’s nothing like it,” he said. “It is cool to kind of be able to take Eastern Kentucky on the ride with me, kind of give them like a straight connection to him. I mean, everybody bleeds blue.
“That’s just been the way it is, but I kind of have a me being from there, they kind of feel like more connected, more invested, so it’s really cool. There’s nothing like playing in Rupp Arena.”
Denzel Aberdeen equaled Noah and Oweh’s final tally with 16 points, followed by Collin Chandler with 14. Malachi Moreno added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
An evening that focused on the past, Pope praised Pelphrey and the return of four players who helped revive Kentucky from the ashes of probation under Rick Pitino and became known as the “Unforgettables.”
“When I came here those are the stories we heard,” Pope said. “… to be part of this family is great.”
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Gametracker: North Carolina at Kentucky, 9:30 p.m., Tuesday. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network. Coverage: www.kentuckytoday.com.
Kentucky-Tennessee Tech Basketball
Photos by Vicky Graff
One Response
With 5 minutes remaining in the first half, the game was tied; why are we having such a hard time to get rolling? Noah coming in and hitting a couple of 3s seemed to help our confidence. I still think Jelavic should be playing more and playing sooner. Williams hasn't shown me much since his brief flash in the Michigan State game. Jelavic had 10 rebounds in 15 minutes and is shooting better from the arc than Williams is. Jelavic is not being used effectively and it will cost us games in the future.