LEXINGTON, Ky. – Four Kentucky players scored in double-figures, led by freshman De’Aaron Fox’s game-high 21 points, as the nationally-ranked Wildcats defeated Canisius 93-69 Sunday night in Rupp Arena. The win moves No. 2/4 Kentucky to 2-0 on the season, while the Golden Griffins are 0-1 after dropping their season-opener.
For the Griffs, junior guard Kassius Robertson had a team-high 16 points, while senior forward Phil Valenti was credited with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Jermaine Crumpton added 13 points and two steals to the losing effort for Canisius, which shot 41.9 percent from the field for the contest.
After Kentucky scored the game’s first basket just nine seconds into the game, Canisius answered with a 9-0 run over the next 3:09, capped by a driving lay-up from senior Kiefer Douse. Douse’s drive and score forced the Wildcats to take a 30-second timeout.
The Griffs and the Wildcats battled back-and-forth for the middle portion of the game’s first half before Canisius took a six-point lead at 29-23 with 5:44 left to play before halftime. From there, Kentucky outscored Canisius 21-6 in the final 5:32 of the fist stanza to take a 44-35 lead into the locker room at halftime. Of those 21 points scored in the run by Kentucky, 11 came from the free-throw line.
In the second half, a 3-pointer from sophomore Jibreel Faulkner got Canisius within eight points at 53-45 with 16:21 left on the clock, but Kentucky took control with a 10-1 run over the game’s next 5:53 that made the score 63-46 with 12:33 left to play.
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon said, “I thought the game was a fast-paced game, probably a little faster than our depth was able to handle tonight. We were able to move the ball and get some good looks, but a team like this recovers quickly and sometimes a good look can still be difficult. We had pockets where we played well, but weren’t able to sustain it. Overall, I hope we can us this as an experience to help us get better.”
“I thought we had pockets of play where we moved the ball well and got good looks. I think this game, more than anything, was an opportunity for our young men to get an experience that enables them to realize that we’ve got to pay attention to every single detail. When you have a breakdown, typically you’re going to pay for it. So, we had little minor breakdowns. I thought the first half we got in foul trouble quickly, and those are opportunities for us to learn as well.”
“Learning the hard way is no fun for anybody, but we had some of those. There were situations when the game started, I thought we were pretty alert and ready to play and I thought we stayed that way for most of the first ten minutes. In the second half, we were that way offensively but we had a hard time getting stops. So, I think overall we probably put together 15-or-so pretty good minutes of basketball, but as you know, that’s not enough.”
Canisius will continue its three-game road swing to start the season at Cleveland State at 7p.m. Tuesday. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT
