No. 13 Kentucky makes statement with demolition of No. 5 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kentucky men’s basketball team traveled to Kansas looking for a resume-boosting win. It left with the kind of statement victory that will leave no choice but to view the Wildcats as one of the favorites to win a national championship.
Behind a career-high 27 points from junior forward Keion Brooks, No. 13 Kentucky dominated No. 5 Kansas 80-62 in its home arena.
Kentucky led by 20 points at halftime and never by fewer than 14 points in the second half. Seven different UK players scored within the first eight minutes of the game.
National Player of the Year candidate Oscar Tshiebwe posted another double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds while playing stout defense throughout. Super senior guard Kellan Grady (12) and junior forward Jacob Toppin (11) also finished in double figures.
Here is what you need to know about the win.
Keion Brooks stars with career-best performance
John Calipari has frequently pointed to areas other than scoring to judge Brooks’ performance, so it was likely a sign of good things to come when Brooks grabbed Kentucky’s first two rebounds of the game and turned one into a put-back dunk.
It was Brooks who took over the game in the second half to prevent Kansas from pulling back into the game. Tshiebwe opened the second half with a jumper, but Brooks scored the Wildcats’ next 15 points. When Kansas mounted a mini 7-0 run to bring the capacity Allen Fieldhouse crowd back into the game, Brooks silenced the run with a mid-range jumper.
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Kentucky basketball has chance for NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had slotted Kentucky as a No. 3 seed entering the afternoon, but the biggest hole in the Wildcats’ resume was a lack of top-level wins.
Kentucky missed the chance for statement wins at LSU and at Auburn when injuries to Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington left the Wildcats shorthanded down the stretch of both games, but a full-strength Kentucky team certainly look like one of the four best in the country in Lawrence. Kentucky is now 3-3 in Quadrant 1 games (NET top 25 at home, top 50 in neutral sites and top 75 on the road) with six more Quadrant 1 games on the regular season schedule.
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TyTy Washington returns from ankle injury
Leading up to the game, much of the talk centered around whether Kentucky could win without Washington, who missed Tuesday’s game against Mississippi State with an ankle injury. That question was not answered because Washington played against the Jayhawks, but he did not contribute to the UK win in the way many might have expected.
Washington scored just two points on 1-of-9 shooting, but his presence was felt in several areas. Not only did Washington, Kentucky’s second-leading scorer and top NBA draft prospect, draw the attention of the Kansas defense for much of the night, he also tallied three rebounds, five assists and three steals.
After Washington was unable to play in the second half against Auburn or as the Wildcats blew a 16-point second-half lead against Mississippi State, Calipari pointed to Washington’s ability to win a one-on-one matchup when the game is on the line as being essential to Kentucky’s prospects. The score was not close enough to test that theory at Kansas, but Washington proved his worth nonetheless.
Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.