Tyrese Maxey takes another star turn, and Nick Richards makes more believers
Analysis from No. 9 Kentucky’s 81-56 win over Lamar:
How the game was won
Kentucky broke away from a 19-19 tie with a withering, 20-0 run behind the scalding three-point shooting of Tyrese Maxey and strong all-around play from Ashton Hagans and Nick Richards.
Who’s hot
1. Tyrese Maxey. The electric UK freshman (21 points, 4-of-6 three-pointers) again flashed his star power.
2. Ashton Hagans. After a rugged go in the loss to Evansville (while playing with a leg injury), Kentucky’s sophomore point guard (15 points, nine assists, two steals, 3-of-4 treys) has bounced back to play at a high level.
3. Nick Richards. The UK big man (10 points, 13 rebounds, 7 blocked shots) now has three double-doubles in Kentucky’s first six games.
4. Kentucky defenders. Suffocated another team into dreadful shooting numbers — Lamar hit 21 of 64 field goals, 32.8 percent.
5. Davion Buster. The diminutive Lamar point guard (19 points, 5-of-11 three-pointers) was fun to watch.
Who’s not
1. Lamar “run stoppers.” The Cardinals allowed UK a 10-0 run to start the game — which was followed by the 20-0 Wildcats rampage late in the first half that decided the outcome.
2. Kentucky freshmen swingmen. Kahlil Whitney hit only one of seven shots, Johnny Juzang one of three.
At least Keion Brooks (3-of-6) broke even.
3. Nate Sestina’s clock. The graduate transfer from Bucknell logged only 18 minutes of playing time, turning it into three points, five rebounds and two assists.
Key number(s)
Fifteen and 32. The Kentucky team that was so struggling to make three-pointers earlier has now made 15 of 32 combined in its three most recent halves of basketball.
The ‘Cat-mosphere’
1. If you thought the crowd in the end zone student section known as the E-Rupp-tion Zone looked a bit long in the tooth, there was a reason. The Kentucky Athletics Department sold general admission tickets for the standing-only E-Rupp-tion Zone for Sunday night’s game. Even with oldsters allowed in, the E-Rupp-tion Zone was again not full.
2. Emilia Bustle from the UK School of Music performed a rousing rendition of the national anthem.
3. The addition of “hand-dip ice cream” — not to be confused with the traditional Rupp Arena “soft-serve ice cream” — at UK home games appears to be gaining traction. The line at halftime for the new “hand-dip” was robust.
4. Former UK radio broadcaster Ralph Hacker was “The Y.”
5. Continuing an early-season trend, there were a good number of unfilled seats in the lower arena.
Up next
No. 9 Kentucky (5-1) will face UAB (3-1) on Friday (Nov. 29) at 7 p.m. at Rupp Arena in a game that will be telecast by the SEC Network.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 8:06 PM.
