Five things you need to know from No. 19 Kentucky’s 88-68 win over Florida A&M
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Game day: No. 19 Kentucky 88, Florida A&M 68
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Florida A&M in Rupp Arena.
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Five things you need to know from the No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats’ 88-68 win over the Florida A&M Rattlers in the Unity Series at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:
1. So far in 2022-23, there’s always something worrisome. One game after the Kentucky offense struggled in a 63-53 loss to UCLA, the Wildcats’ defense was shaky against an FAMU offense that had been producing anemic numbers.
The Rattlers came to Lexington making only 35.3 percent of their field goal attempts; 26.9 percent of their three-point tries; and 62.7 percent of their foul shots.
In the Pomerory Ratings, Florida A&M ranked No. 362 of 363 NCAA Division I teams in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Against Kentucky, FAMU hit 52 percent of its field-goal attempts (26 of 50); 56.3 percent on three-point tries (9 of 16); and, though we can’t pin this on UK defense, 87.5 percent of their foul shots (7 of 8).
At one point in the second half, the second-worst offensive team in NCAA Division I basketball uncorked a 14-0 run to cut a 69-48 UK lead to 69-62.
2. Cason Wallace unleashes a star turn. The freshman guard had the most-productive game of his young college career. The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Dallas product set a career high with 27 points and tied his career mark with nine assists.
Wallace hit 10 of 15 shots and five of six treys. The only knock on his play was the 2-for-5 free-throw shooting he produced.
Interestingly, Kentucky Coach John Calipari had Wallace on the floor at point and veteran Sahvir Wheeler on the bench down the stretch vs. FAMU.
3. CJ Fredrick finds his shot. After the former Covington Catholic star made only one three-pointer and tried only three treys in UK’s first three games of December, the 6-3, 185-pound redshirt senior got his perimeter shot dialed back in vs. the Rattlers.
Fredrick hit four of six treys en route to 12 points.
Kentucky needs a productive Fredrick to space the floor.
4. UK makes lineup change. As promised, Kentucky’s Calipari shuffled the Wildcats starters, inserting Chris Livingston and Lance Ware into the lineup as a reward for their display of “toughness” in the Wildcats’ loss to UCLA.
The duo replaced Jacob Toppin and Antonio Reeves in the Cats’ starting five.
Seemingly energized, Kentucky went on a 16-0 run after FAMU scored the game’s first basket.
For the game, Livingston finished with eight points and two rebounds in 15 minutes; Ware had four points and five boards in 20 minutes.
5. Good guys wear black. As advertised, Kentucky wore black jerseys.
Unlike the black uniforms with white numbers Kentucky wore on Dec. 7, 2008, against Mississippi Valley State as a tribute to the late Bill Keightley, Wednesday night’s unis had blue numbers and letters on the black — and that was sharp.
In the big picture, let us count the reasons why alternate uniforms are good:
1.) the players always seem to like them;
2.) a little variety in dress makes sports more fun;
3.) The grumpy “our school colors are blue and white” complaints that always accompany any Kentucky deviation from their normal color palette are a hoot.
This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 9:14 PM.
