Crisp offense, ‘24 minutes’ of sufficient defense enough for Kentucky to beat Winthrop

PJ Washington and Tyler Herro were Misters Inside and Outside on Wednesday in Kentucky’s uneven 87-74 victory over Winthrop.

Led by Washington, Kentucky’s “bigs” continued to impose their will on an under-sized opponent. His 19 points and 11 rebounds marked his second straight double-double and fifth of his career.

UK out-rebounded Winthrop 37-22 and outscored the Eagles 42-24 in the paint.

Herro snapped out of an early-season shooting funk. He made three three-pointers, which matched his total in UK’s first four games, and finished with 15 points.

Kentucky confined its shots almost exclusively to dunks, layups or three-pointers. As modern offensive minds would recommend, the Cats seemed to eschew the mid-range game. UK took only six shots that were inside the three-point line but away from the basket in the game’s first 30-plus minutes.

Not so, Washington said. “We try to post it up, and then just take open shots,” he said. “A lot of them were threes. But I didn’t even really notice that we didn’t shoot (from) mid-range. Honestly, we were just trying to take open shots.”

Kentucky (4-1) shot with a season-best 56.4-percent accuracy.

So with all that offense, why didn’t Kentucky rout Winthrop? A familiar reason could be cited.

Kentucky’s generous three-point defense continued to give critics fuel. Winthrop, which came into the game ranked No. 38 nationally by averaging 10.3 threes per game, made 13 of 28 shots from behind the arc. With VMI’s 19 threes on Sunday, Winthrop’s shooting meant the Cats had given up 32 threes in the last two games.

“The defense wasn’t bad for 18 minutes in the first half,” UK Coach John Calipari said. “And then the last couple minutes of the first half, we just let down. And then we went for five (or) six minutes.

“So this team just played 24 minutes of the way I need them to play.”

The crowd’s reaction at the end of the first half suggested that many fans ate turkey a day early and were in a tryptophan-induced lull.

Although Kentucky led 51-37 at halftime, only tepid applause broke out as the players exited the court.

The first half lacked spectacular flair. But seemingly precise textbook play kept Kentucky ahead after taking the lead for good 77 seconds into the game.

A popular offensive textbook suggests that a team should prize scores at the basket and three-pointers. A team should shun mid-range shots.

Kentucky, which made four of 10 three-point shots in the first half and seven of 18 in the game, did not take a shot from mid-range until Herro made a pull-up from the left side with 6:57 left in the first half.

Throughout the first 20 minutes, UK took only two other shots that were not dunks, layups or threes: EJ Montgomery took a shot from the top of the key and Herro made another pull-up.

Washington led the assault around the basket in the first half with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Winthrop stayed relatively close by making seven of its first 14 three-point shots. Calipari wasted no time trying to blunt a repeat of VMI’s 19-for-38 three-point shooting last weekend.

After Winthrop center Josh Ferguson hit a three-pointer in the first minute, Nick Richards paid the price. Richards, who made his first start of the season, was replaced by Montgomery at the 16:49 mark.

The same formula played out in the early minutes of the second half. UK scored the first nine points to expand its lead to 62-37. A three-pointer by Herro and three baskets by Richards fueled the hot start.

UK took only one mid-range shot in this span: an awkward-looking turnaround from the foul line by Herro that brought Quade Green off the bench and to the scorer’s table.

Winthrop made enough three-pointers to keep Kentucky’s perimeter defense an issue. The Eagles made nine of their first 20 three-point shots.

But without a Bubba Parham doing a Steph Curry impersonation, Winthrop’s three-pointers seemed more teaching tool for Calipari than threat to a Kentucky victory.

Next game

Tennessee State at No. 10 Kentucky

When: 7 p.m Friday

TV: SEC Network