Kentucky rides ‘next man ready’ depth to telling victory against Ohio
Oscar Tshiebwe went to the bench with two fouls 66 seconds into the game.
“As a coach, you’re, like, OK, here we go,” Ohio Coach Jeff Boals said.
Not exactly. Not even with Kentucky’s other main man, Sahvir Wheeler, finishing with a season-low four assists.
No problem times two for Kentucky on Friday night.
Although playing against a veteran team with three returning starters that won a game in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky defeated Ohio 77-59 at Rupp Arena.
Veteran Keion Brooks and freshman TyTy Washington helped fill the vacuum.
As if making a prophet of UK Coach John Calipari, who had said a forward would have to pick up the slack should Tshiebwe be contained, Brooks scored 22 points. That was one shy of a career high.
Brooks also foiled Ohio’s defensive strategy going into the game.
“Our game plan was to help off Brooks,” Boals said, in order to try to contain Tshiebwe and Wheeler.
“You want to give me the mid-range jumper,” Brooks said, “then I wish you the best.”
Brooks made nine of 15 two-point shots. That Brooks only took — and missed — three three-point shots pleased Calipari.
“I tell him, why are you shooting threes?” the UK coach said.
The same dynamic applied to Washington.
Ohio was willing to take its chances on him shooting jump shots.
“We didn’t think he was a shooter,” Boals said. “He was a slasher/driver.”
That wasn’t an insult, just a calculated gamble. Ohio concentrated on Tshiebwe around the basket, Wheeler as a driver and Kellan Grady as a three-point shooter.
Boals credited Washington, who scored a season-high 20 points, with playing a key role.
“He’s a great complementary guy,” the Ohio coach said.
In UK’s first three games, Tshiebwe had grabbed 56 rebounds. That was the most by a Wildcat player after three games since 1956-57, UK said.
Making up for lost time, Tshiebwe grabbed 10 rebounds in the second half. Calipari noted that Tshiebwe continued hustling for rebounds in a game in which he failed to score.
No doubt with resignation, Kentucky got to display its much-discussed depth in the first half.
Tshiebwe came into the game leading the nation in rebounding (18.7 per game) and offensive rebounding (9.0 per game). He had grabbed 43.9 percent of UK’s rebounds and 57.4 percent of the offensive rebounds.
Yet, Kentucky not only persevered, but it outrebounded Ohio by a surreal margin of 53-17.
In addition to Brooks, freshman Bryce Hopkins also filled the void with seven points and seven rebounds.
A Kentucky team that had trailed for only four minutes and six seconds of the last two games, was behind for 15 minutes and 23 seconds of the first half. The lead twice reached eight points.
But the Bobcats did not score in the final 3:37 of the half, missing six shots in that span.
Meanwhile, Kentucky scored the half’s final six points to lead 40-38 at intermission.
The game remained competitive into the second half.
A memorable sequence gave UK a 48-46 lead and prompted an Ohio timeout with 14:28 left.
Carter, the Bobcats’ “five-man” with a three-point shooting touch, faked a shot. That drew Tshiebwe out of position, and allowed Jason Carter a lane to the basket.
But Carter came up short on the driving dunk attempt.
Kentucky cashed in with Brooks hitting a baseline shot that bounced off the rim more than once before dropping through to give UK the lead.
Ohio’s timeout did not blunt Kentucky’s wave of momentum. A 22-6 run gave Kentucky a 68-54 lead with less than seven minutes remaining.
Although Brooks helped Kentucky win convincingly, the game was not a joyride from beginning to end. Early in the second half, Calipari benched Brooks, albeit for only 40 seconds, because he did not contest a pass to the player he was guarding.
“His level of intensity went down,” Calipari said.
Brooks pleaded guilty.
“I kind of conceded his catch on that one,” he said. “He made me pay for it. And coach took me out and kind of ripped me a new one a little bit.
“But I got back in and re-engaged and had to bring new energy.”
Brooks noted how the benching showed that Calipari holds players to a standard.
“I wasn’t surprised by it,” he said. “I was (ticked) off in the moment. But I knew, he knew, we all knew I shouldn’t have let that happen.”
UK players saw the game as an example of their team’s depth foiling a sensible strategy by the opponent.
“Pick your poison,” Davion Mintz said. “But the next man’s ready and we’re going to keep it rolling.”
Next game
Albany at No. 13 Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Online: ESPN Plus and SEC Plus
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
