Vicky Graff Photo
It didn’t take a last second-shot for Kentucky to defeat Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats used a pair of last-second heroics by Otega Oweh to sweep the Sooners last season, but this time they put struggling Oklahoma away early and handed the Sooners their ninth consecutive loss with a 94-78 victory.
The Sooners (11-12, 1-9 Southeastern Conference) haven’t won since posting an 86-70 triumph over Ole Miss in their conference opener on Jan. 3.
The win was the seventh in the past eight games for Kentucky, which showed no signs of a letdown following Saturday night’s 95-77 win at No. 21 Arkansas.
In a short postgame appearance, Kentucky coach Mark Pope praised his team’s performance.
“I’m super proud of our guys, really proud of the effort,” said Pope, who briefly appeared at the podium before leaving to pick up his daughter at Bluegrass Airport. “I’m really proud — (Brandon Garrison), stepping up and being great. Otega continues to play at an elite level. We got contributions from everybody.”
Garrison finished with a season-high 20 points — one shy of his career-high — and grabbed 11 rebounds against the Sooners. Garrison has scored 24 in the past two games after tallying 15 in the first eight conference encounters.
“I just try to stay consistent, working on (my game), practicing hard … just keeping my head,” he said.
The Wildcats (16-7, 7-3) connected on five of their first 10 field goals from long range. Kentucky’s first four field goals were from behind the arc as Denzel Aberdeen and Andrija Jelavic each hit two 3-pointers to jumpstart the team’s offense.
“I thought tonight they came out and executed,” Kentucky assistant coach Jason Hart said. “(Oklahoma) has been playing well, although their record doesn’t indicate it. Our guys have stepped up and accepted the challenge and were able to fight through those issues.”
Oweh led the Wildcats with 24 points against his former team. Oweh, who was the hero against his former team twice last season, has scored double figures in all 23 games this season. He has scored 20 or more points 16 times against conference foes in his two seasons at Kentucky.
Collin Chandler, who has been crucial down the stretch for Kentucky, played a big role for the Wildcats with 18 points. Chandler missed his first three 3-pointers but knocked down three in the final six minutes of the first half. Chandler made back-to-back threes in an 8-0 Kentucky run to close out the first half.
Behind Chandler and Oweh, who combined for seven treys, the Wildcats made 12 shots from long range. Kentucky connected on 9-of-16 treys in the first half to set the tone for the team’s fourth consecutive home victory.
The difference-makers for the hosts were Oweh and Garrison. Garrison began his collegiate career at Oklahoma State. Hart said both players were motivated from start to finish.
“You want to impress them,” Hart said. “And then Brandon, he just steps up and brings energy. He’s from Oklahoma, so he gets bragging rights when you go home in the summertime and see those guys. (We are) just happy to play well tonight. We needed it.”
4 Responses
Brandon Garrison played his best game as a Wildcat. That's how I thought he would play all year. He always plays good against Oklahoma. If he could even play half that way and score 10 points every game and have about 8-9 rebounds he would be doing himself a favor. I still think BGs best basketball is clearly ahead of him. I do believe he will have a good senior year next year. Oweh is playing elite. Chandler is also playing elite. BG is really more athletic and moves better and has better hands than Moreno. Moreno has the better basketball IQ. If BG plays like this for the rest of the season we have a chance to do some special things. We are in third place in the SEC. Florida and Texas A&M are tied for first place. Then there we are. I'm super proud of these guys. If Noah could hit some 3s in the actual games it would give us a added bonus. When he gets his opportunities it's like he looks lost on the court when he's out there. He has to step up his game. We are going to need him down the stretch. I think he's shooting 27% on the season from 3. That's not acceptable for someone who's job it is to knock down 3s. He can't play defense. He is pretty good at rebounding. If we continue to play like this I think we will end up 13-5 in the SEC. I said whoever makes it to 13 wins in the SEC will probably win the SEC. Which would also mean we finish the season 22-9. I would have never thought we would even get close to 22 wins at the start of conference play. The 9 man rotation we have is who we had to start the season. I also think if we played Louisville right now we would beat them. We have improved so much since that game. Next up we have Tennessee at home. Which right now we are playing much better than Tennessee. Chandler, Oweh,and Aberdeen combined for 50 points. I said if those 3 could combine for that every game we would never lose. Aberdeen even sat out for about 10 mins. If he would have played that other 10 mins he would have scored double figures too. He had a decent game. Usually when he doesn't have a good game the next game he has a great game. So he might carry us against Tennessee. We need our 3 headed monster to average 50+ ppg.
Moreno's hands are very weak and outside jumper shaky as well. BG's "want to" has been big ? mark for yr and half. I have said all alone that he should be avg. 10-15 every game and close to 8-10 boards as well. He has the shot, some passing ability, but you don't know what you going to get game to game. I don't think we can beat UT 4 times in a row. If Gillespie is on and they as motivated as I think they will be, we could fall by double digits. The freshman has finally come on and scored 23 or so 2nd half last game, and he will be super motivated to show UK what they could have had if Pope a better closer. They also have a couple large barges to throw at us and not sure we can handle physicality. Will see soon.
No worries about Oweh's ankle and that is the best I have ever seen Garrison play. Chandler had a good game. Jelavic's game is getting better. Aberdeen cooled off and Moreno got in foul trouble. Johnson's defense is a big concern and Dioubate is trying to force too much still. Noah blanked, but he will be needed on Saturday. I am finding myself getting more optimistic about Saturday's game with Tennessee but don't think we are ready for Florida in Gainesville. These next 2 games will set the tone for the rest of the season.
Garrison has the capability of giving this type of performance every time if he could recover that same gameday motivation. Kelenic had a good start in the game and then got subbed out and really didn't have the opportunity much after, but he definitely needs to get more minutes. Moreno and JJ have the talent but can't find consistency. Moreno is awful week scoring at the rim and has to depend on FT's and slams to get his points. I did think both would be a little further alone at this stage.
Comments are closed.