UK gets another double-double from Reid Travis in second exhibition win
Reid Travis continued to look like the model of consistency by posting a double-double for a second straight exhibition game.
Consistency from many of his Kentucky teammates? No so much at this early stage.
In a ride over uneven basketball ground, Kentucky defeated Indiana-Pennsylvania 86-64 on Friday night in Rupp Arena.
Travis led the way with 22 points and 14 rebounds. That followed his 12 points and 10 rebounds in the victory over Transylvania a week earlier.
PJ Washington, who is expected to be a steadying influence, added 20 points.
But in the first half against IUP, a Division II national contender, Kentucky got away from the size advantage that pummeled Transy. The Cats made six of their first nine three-point shots and fired away from beyond the arc.
Tyler Herro, who made only one of eight shots against Transy, hit his first four shots from beyond the arc en route to 17 points. He made six of 12 shots (five of seven from beyond the arc) against IUP.
The second half saw Kentucky take fewer threes and go inside more. After IUP twice got as close as five points, Kentucky pulled away.
“I think their guys are expecting to win,” assistant coach Joel Justus said of IUP on Thursday. “And I think expecting to play well regardless of who the opponent is. I think it’s a great test for us.”
The first half made Justus sound prophetic. Even though UK made seven of 15 three-point shots, the Cats only led 43-34 at halftime.
Several factors could be cited for a less than commanding advantage for a team that made only one of 13 three-point shots in the exhibition against Transylvania a week earlier.
Maybe UK got three-point happy. Half of the Cats’ shots came from long range.
Turnovers also handicapped Kentucky. UK committed six in the first half. All seemed unforced. When neither of two UK players failed to take charge and catch a pass, John Calipari slapped both palms on the scorer’s table.
A few minutes later, when UK failed to make a post feed, Calipari bent over dramatically.
The first half saw Kentucky face its first deficit of the exhibition season. IUP led 4-3 on a fast-break dunk that signaled that the Crimson Hawks came to compete.
A breakout came with UK leading 16-13. The Cats scored 14 straight points in a run that included three-pointers by Keldon Johnson and Travis. Those shots made UK six of nine from beyond the arc.
IUP, which went scoreless for more than six minutes (and had one basket in an almost nine-minute span) outscored Kentucky 21-13 in the final eight minutes of the half.
When Kentucky failed to put IUP away early in the second half, the crowd got a tad restless. Four turnovers before the first TV timeout helped the Crimson Hawks get with five.
With a greater focus on going inside in the second half, Kentucky got its lead back to double digits. With more than 12 minutes left, Travis had already posted a double-double: 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Season opener
No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 4 Duke
9:30 p.m. Tuesday in Champions Classic in Indianapolis (ESPN)
This story was originally published November 2, 2018 at 9:15 PM.