National Basketball Association
Kentucky 96, Hofstra 73
When: 3:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 11, 2016
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Officials:
# Lamar Simpson, # Antinio Petty, # Jamie Luckie
Attendance:
7514
By The Sports Xchange
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- No. 6 Kentucky started a four-game road swing Sunday with a 96-73 victory over Hofstra at the Barclays Center on Sunday.
"I'm worried. We've got a long way to go," Wildcats coach John Calipari said. "We've got some players who are not playing with the confidence they need. But I am so happy that Wednesday is our last finals, then we'll go 29 straight days of four-a-days, nothing to worry about but basketball."
Freshman guard Malik Monk scored 20 points and sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe added 19 to fuel the win for Kentucky (9-1). Freshman guard De'Aaron Fox added 15 points and freshman forward Bam Adebayo had 14.
"I told Cal after the game, they could win this whole thing at the end of the season," Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich said. "It's a great team with great talent. I know they've got some things to work out, but he's not a Hall of Fame coach for nothing."
Hofstra (6-5) was led by senior guard Deron Powers with 18 points. Sophomore guard Justin Wright-Foreman added 14 and junior center Rokas Gustys collected 13 points and eight rebounds. Gustys entered the game as the nation's top rebounder at 13.4 per game.
Kentucky shot 51.4 percent, including 34.8 from 3-point range. The Wildcats also had 20 assists on 37 made field goals.
Hofstra shot just 33.8 percent, including 27.3 from beyond the arc. The Pride committed 14 turnovers but did outrebound Kentucky 45-41.
Kentucky blew open the game with a furious 31-6 run that spanned the end of the first half and the opening minutes of the second half.
"You pick your poison with them," Mihalich said. "When those guys get on a roll, the basket starts getting bigger for them. Then it's hard to stop them."
Leading only 36-33, the Wildcats used a 12-0 run to build a 48-33 halftime advantage. Monk scored the final seven points in the run, including a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining. Hofstra did not score over the final 4:01 of the first half.
"I told my staff as we walked off the court I would love to have those last four minutes of the first half back," Mihalich said. "The last few minutes of the first half and the first minutes of the second half was the difference in the game."
The Wildcats started the second half by making their first eight shots to fuel a 19-6 run to blow out to a 67-39 lead. Monk and Adebayo had six points each in the burst.
Including the 4:01 drought to end the first half, Hofstra went 6:02 without a point and 6:51 without a field goal.
Briscoe topped Kentucky in the first half with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Monk followed with 12 as the Wildcats shot 18 of 35.
Powers led Hofstra with 12 points and Gustys had eight. The Pride shot just 34.5 percent (10-of-29), including 25 percent from 3-point range, 3-of-12.
"They were not afraid of us at all," Calipari said. "When it was a three-point game, I was thinking, 'Why did I schedule this game?' We got away from them, but it wasn't like we buried them."
Kentucky returns to action Saturday against North Carolina in Las Vegas as part of the CBS Sports Classic at the new T-Mobile Arena.
NOTES: Sunday's contest was the first ever meeting between Kentucky and Hofstra. ... Hofstra won just seven games in 2012-13 before coach Joe Mihalich arrived. The Pride averaged 22 wins per year the last two seasons. ... Kentucky entered Sunday's game averaging 94.2 points per game, fourth best in the nation.
Top Game Performances
| Hofstra |
|
Kentucky |
|
Deron Powers 18 |
Scoring |
Malik Monk 20 |
|
Deron Powers 5 |
Assists |
Isaiah Briscoe 6 |
|
Rokas Gustys 8 |
Rebounds |
Derek Willis 8 |
|
Deron Powers 9 |
Free Throws Made |
De'Aaron Fox 5 |
|
Jamall Robinson 1 |
Steals |
Derek Willis 2 |
|
Hunter Sabety 1 |
Blocks |
Edrice Adebayo 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Hofstra
|
73 |
33.8 |
6-22 |
23-37 |
12 |
39 |
1 |
1 |
14 |
| Kentucky
|
96 |
51.4 |
8-23 |
14-21 |
20 |
38 |
8 |
4 |
7 |
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