Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 95-60 win over Western Kentucky
Five things you need to know from the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats’ 95-60 win over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in Rupp Arena:
1. Kellan Grady has found his stroke. When Kentucky added the career 2,002-point scorer from Davidson, UK backers were expecting instant offense.
It’s taken some adjustment time, but Grady has started to supply just that.
One game after hitting six of eight shots, including five of seven three-pointers and scoring 18 points in UK’s 98-69 demolition of North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic, Grady’s shot stayed dialed in.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound super-senior and graduate transfer hit seven of his first nine shots, six of his first eight three-pointers.
When Western, down 35-19 with 4:35 left in the first half, used a 14-2 run to pull within 37-33 with 18:42 left in the game, Grady answered with a three-pointer from the deep left corner.
Following a Sahvir Wheeler runner, Grady drained another trey, this time from the left wing.
Grady followed that up with a running 10-footer. That put UK up 47-33, and essentially ended WKU’s upset hopes.
The Davidson transfer finished with 23 points.
Suffice to say, the Grady of the past two games gives Kentucky a whole other dimension.
2. Battle of the big men. In Oscar Tshiebwe and Jamarion Sharp, the UK-WKU matchup featured, respectively, the nation’s leading rebounder and leading shot blocker.
Neither disappointed.
Continuing his remarkable start to his first Kentucky season since transferring from West Virginia, Tshiebwe set a Rupp Arena record with 28 rebounds. Amazingly, Tshiebwe outrebounded WKU 28-27 all by himself.
That was almost double his NCAA-leading average of 14.2 boards a game entering the contest.
Bob Burrow and Bill Spivey, Wildcats stars of the 1950s, share the UK single-game rebound record with 34.
Tshiebwe, a 6-9, 255-pound product of the Democratic Republic of Congo, had 11 rebounds at halftime, then grabbed a whopping 17 in half two.
Meanwhile, the 7-5 Sharp went over his season average of 4.83 blocks a game in the first half. He blocked seven shots before halftime and had UK drivers bringing the ball back out of the lane rather than trying to shoot over him.
Sharp’s second half was cut short when he had to leave the game after apparently turning an ankle. He finished with eight points, six rebounds and the seven blocks.
3. WKU’s in-state starters. Western Kentucky Coach Rick Stansbury started three home-grown players — Hindman’s Camron Justice, Shelbyville’s Dayvion McKnight and Hopkinsville’s Sharp.
Sharp’s night was described above.
McKnight, Kentucky’s 2020 Mr. Basketball for Collins High School, had six points, eight rebounds and four assists, but also turned the ball over five times while suffering through a 2-of-14 shooting performance.
Justice, Kentucky’s 2015 Mr. Basketball for Knott County Central, finished with 13 points and three rebounds. He, too, however, struggled with his shot.
In the first half, Justice missed all eight of his shot attempts, four of them three pointers. In half two, he made five of nine field-goal tries and one of three treys.
4. The in-state numbers. With the victory, John Calipari is now 21-3 against in-state foes as Kentucky head man — 3-0 vs. Morehead State, 3-0 vs. Eastern Kentucky, 2-0 vs. Northern Kentucky, 2-0 vs. Western Kentucky and 11-3 against Louisville.
Against our state’s other current NCAA Division I schools, Kentucky all-time is now 68-19 — 37-17 vs. Louisville, 12-0 vs. Eastern Kentucky, 12-0 vs. Morehead State, 5-2 vs. Western Kentucky and 2-0 against Northern Kentucky.
The Wildcats have never played Bellarmine or Murray State.
After the defeat, Rick Stansbury is now 7-4 vs. in-state opponents as Western Kentucky head man — 3-1 vs. Eastern Kentucky, 1-2 vs. Louisville, 1-0 against each of Campbellsville, Centre and Kentucky Wesleyan and 0-1 vs. Kentucky.
Against our state’s other current NCAA Division I schools, Western Kentucky is now 328-177 — 115-44 vs. Eastern Kentucky, 98-54 vs. Murray State, 73-32 vs. Morehead State, 40-42 vs. Louisville and 2-5 vs. Kentucky.
The Hilltoppers have never played Bellarmine or Northern Kentucky.
5. All-time wins race. UK began this season with a four-game advantage over Kansas (2,327 to 2,323).
With Wednesday night’s victory, Kentucky (9-2) will enter Christmas break with the same four-game lead (2,336 to 2,332) over Kansas (9-1).
The Jayhawks’ scheduled game Wednesday evening at Colorado was canceled.
Both UK and KU will return to play Dec. 29. The Wildcats will open SEC play against Missouri, while the Jayhawks will face Harvard.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 8:16 PM.
