Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 106-63 win over South Carolina State
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Game day: No. 4 Kentucky 106, South Carolina State 63
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Thursday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and South Carolina State in Rupp Arena.
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Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 106-63 win over the South Carolina State Bulldogs in NCAA men’s college basketball at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington:
1. Sahvir Wheeler is distributing. The senior point guard has become a bit of a lightning rod for elements of the Kentucky fan base, but the Houston product is off to a strong start as a distributor in 2022-23.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Wheeler had 10 assists and no turnovers in the rout of the overmatched Bulldogs.
After missing the season opener vs. Howard due to injury, Wheeler has 29 assists vs. only five turnovers in 2022-23.
Unselfish play has been contagious for UK this year. In their four games, the Wildcats have had 20 assists on 34 made field goals (Howard); 22 assists on 28 baskets (Duquesne); 17 assists on 27 field goals (Michigan State); and 25 assists on 39 buckets (South Carolina State).
2. Three-point shooters. In UK’s 86-77 double-overtime loss to Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Kentucky outside marksmen CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves suffered from errant guiding systems.
Fredrick made only one of six three-pointers, two of seven shots overall; meanwhile, Reeves was 1-of-3 on treys and 1-of-7 overall.
Obviously, UK will need better that that against high-level competition.
Things weren’t a lot better in the first half Thursday night vs. South Carolina State. UK went 2-of-11 from outside the arc, with Fredrick 1-of-3 and Reeves 0-of-2.
As a team, the Cats warmed up in half two and hit eight of 13 treys. Fredrick was 2-of-4 behind the arc after halftime, Reeves was 2-of-5.
Obviously, there’s less pressure on outside shooters in a blowout vs. an out-manned foe than there is against another elite men’s college hoops program such as Michigan State.
It will be interesting to see how UK shooters fare in Sunday’s contest with No. 2 Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash.
3. Lance Ware has a night. The junior big man, a career 1.8 points a game scorer entering the South Carolina State contest, had a night to remember vs. the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound Ware hit all six of his field-goal attempts and scored a career-high 12 points.
It was the most points Ware had scored in a game since he had eight in a 75-70 loss at Missouri in 2020-21.
4. Oscar double-double streak ends. Oscar Tshiebwe’s streak of games in which he reached double figures in both points and rebounds ended at 17. The UK star finished with six points and seven boards.
That was mostly due to limited playing time. In his second game of 2022-23 after having a surgical procedure performed on his right knee, Tshiebwe played only 14 minutes.
Before Thursday night, the most recent time that Tshiebwe was not in double figures in both points and rebounds came last season when he had eight points and 14 rebounds in a 64-58 win at Texas A&M on Jan. 19.
5. Home-court streak grows. Kentucky has now won 22 games in a row in Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats’ most-recent home loss was a 71-67 defeat to Florida on Feb. 27, 2021.
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 9:04 PM.
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