National Basketball Association
Kentucky 77, Tennessee St. 62
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, November 23, 2018
Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Officials:
# Don Daily, # Rob Rorke, # Pat Evans
Attendance:
20224
By Field Level Media
No. 10 Kentucky moved its win streak to five Friday night in Lexington with a 77-62 victory over Tennessee State at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky (5-1) was led by freshman Keldon Johnson, who scored a career-high 27 points, 13 coming from the free throw line. He also had seven rebounds. Graduate transfer Reid Travis added 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Leading 42-32 with 17:11 remaining, Kentucky went on a 24-14 run to grab its largest lead of the night at 20 points, 66-46, with 7:45 to play. Johnson had 13 of the Wildcats' 24 points.
Tennessee State (2-4) placed three players in double figures. Junior guard Donte Dorsey-Fitzpatrick was tops with 18 points, followed by Emmanuel Egbuta with 13 and Kamar McKnight with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Kentucky won the rebounding battle 38-30, but had eight assists to 14 turnovers.
The Wildcats used an 8-0 spurt late in the first half to finally put some distance between themselves and the Tigers.
Johnson had four points and EJ Montgomery had three to push a 25-22 lead to 33-22. The 11-point margin was the Wildcats' largest of the first half.
One area of concern for Kentucky has been 3-point defense. The Wildcats entered the game allowing opponents 44.1 percent from long range, which ranks 346th out of 351 Division I teams nationally.
In coach John Calipari's previous nine UK seasons, the 3-point defense has averaged a stellar 31.1 percent. It's never been worse than 32.6, and the best mark was 27.1 percent.
On Friday night, Kentucky held Tennessee State to 37.5 percent on 6-of-16. Kentucky did little to take advantage of that as the Wildcats made only 4-of-15 for 26.7 percent.
Kentucky held a 35-27 lead at halftime despite poor shooting. The Wildcats were 9-of-27 overall and only 1-of-10 from 3-point range. There was also just one assist to five turnovers.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Tennessee St. |
|
Kentucky |
|
Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey 18 |
Scoring |
Keldon Johnson 27 |
|
Armani Chaney 4 |
Assists |
Quade Green 4 |
|
Kamar McKnight 9 |
Rebounds |
Reid Travis 9 |
|
Emmanuel Egbuta 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Keldon Johnson 13 |
|
Emmanuel Egbuta 2 |
Steals |
PJ Washington 2 |
|
Dave Morris 1 |
Blocks |
EJ Montgomery 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Tennessee St.
|
62 |
40.7 |
6-16 |
12-19 |
11 |
26 |
1 |
5 |
19 |
| Kentucky
|
77 |
44.2 |
4-15 |
27-41 |
8 |
37 |
5 |
4 |
14 |
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