WKU Basketball: Tops Routed by #20 Wildcats, 95-60
WKU got their wish of playing Kentucky but struggled in Rupp Arena
It’s the game that Hilltopper fans have wanted for a while but sadly after some poor shooting as well as Jamarion Sharp getting injured in the second half, the Wildcats were too much for the Tops to handle winning in Rupp by 35 points.
Josh Anderson led the Tops in scoring with 18 points while Cam Justice added 13 points. Jamarion Sharp had eight points and six rebounds with seven blocks to go along with them before leaving the game in the second half with an ankle injury. His status moving forward hasn’t been determined yet.
Meanwhile Kentucky’s stars Kellan Grady and Tyty Washington both had over 20 points for the Cats while as a team they shot 55% from the field and 45% from deep
WKU did not shoot well at all this game. They made only one triple in the first half and three for the entire game while shooting 15% from deep. They did have less turnovers than UK but were out rebounded by the Cats 51 to 27.
In the first half WKU struggled shooting but were able to hang close, even with Jairus Hamilton getting in foul trouble. WKU made a late push before halftime and only trailed by nine points at halftime, 37-28.
The second half unfortunately was a disaster for the Tops while UK continued to dominate. They outscored WKU 58-32 in the second half as they cruised to victory.
UK now leads the all time series 5-2 and it’s unclear if and when WKU will get a shot to play the Wildcats again. I’m definitely disappointed to see WKU do so bad when given this rare opportunity but the silver lining is a lot was raised for tornado relief, including a $100,000 donation from the University of Kentucky.
None of us expected WKU to play Louisville and Kentucky in the same season, especially in back to back games so it was cool to finally get these big games against P5 in-state schools. And going 1-1 in those two games is definitely better than losing both.
UK was most certainly the better team tonight and showed why they’re nationally ranked.
If WKU ever gets a chance to play the Cats again, let’s all hope and pray it’s better than this game was.
The Tops will finish non-conference play 8-5 and will prepare to play Southern Miss in their first C-USA matchup.
Here are the final stats from the evening:
