The game doesn’t count in the official record books, but Kentucky certainly gave the Big Bru Nation enough power to look forward to this upcoming season.
On Wednesday night, the men’s basketball team, the Wildcats, beat the Dominican Republic 108-56 in the Bahamas. It was the first of four of his preseason contests in Kentucky this week as part of the program’s Big Blue Tour of the Bahamas.
It was still an exhibition, but an impressive excursion for the “Cats Against All-Star Competition.” Kentucky took an early lead and never looked back, leading by over 30 points for most of the second half.
Associate Head Coach Orlando Antigua took over head coaching responsibilities instead John Calipari for the preseason opener. Of his ten players who have had significant time under Antigua, nine have scored at least his six goals, six of them in double figures.
that’s all CJ Fredrickis on the minute limit and has returned to full power but has failed to score.starting point guard servile wheeler Recorded 6 goals and 4 assists. He left in the first half due to injury, but he returned after half-time.
It was a synthetic effort for Kentucky with several players controlling the action all night.Freshmen after a rough opening stretch Chris Livingston When Casson Wallace Started stealing the show. Livingston had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists on 4-7 shooting (3-4 from distance), while Wallace had 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks on 6-13 shooting.
Reigning as National Player of the Year Oskar Zibwefinished with 17 points and 6 rebounds on 8-11 shooting in 22 minutes of action. Daimion Collins When Jacob Toppin We also crammed stat sheets, but it was their highlight play that stole the entire show.
Toppin’s night capped off with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 steals in 20 minutes of action. Collins was even more impressive, with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks on 6-9 shooting. Again, it was only an exhibition matchup, but Collins played light years ahead of the game back in the winter.
Moved to Illinois Antonio Reeves He showed his sharp shooting ability by scoring 12 points on a 4-5 shooting clip from beyond the arc. lance wear He had 11 points and 2 rebounds on 5-8 shooting in 16 minutes.freshman Adu Tierro Adding 7 points, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals was a surprise for the night.
As a team, Kentucky had a 57% shooting completion rate from the field, turning the ball over just 5 times and making 11-26 efficient shots (42%) from deep. The offense was on fire all night, but it was the defense that shined. Britain gave the Dominican Republic her 18 turnovers (resulting in 30 fast break points) and his overall mark from the field was 33%.
The ‘Cats’ next game is Thursday night at 7:00 pm EST on the SEC Network against Tec de Monterrey (Mexico).
