CATS End Vols 19 game win streak behind 23 from P.J. Washington
Lexington, Kentucky – February 16, 2019 – Michael Willis – Bluegrass Sports Nation UK Basketball Columnist
The Wildcats/Volunteers match-up is a historical rivalry that
have lost some of the excitement of the past few years. Tennessee, however,
have seen recent success since hiring Rick Barnes as the head coach. Which
includes getting his team ranked #1 in the country before coming into Rupp
Arena. Tonight was the 226th time that Kentucky and Tennessee have
played each other, but this was the first time that they played each other
while both teams are ranked in the top five. The Big Blue Nation knew what the
game meant for the season and the filled Rupp Arena and cheered for their Cats
louder than they had all season.
The first half was the P.J. Washington and Keldon Johnson
show. Washington scored the first 7 points for the Wildcats and when the
offense began to stall Johnson scored 11 straight points. The pair combined for
20 of the first 23 points of the game and it look like Tennessee didn’t have an
answer for them.
It was a very physical first half, but Kentucky didn’t allow
the Volunteers to shoot a single free-throw in the entire half. The Cats also
out rebounded the Vols 17 to 11 and forced five turnovers. Kentucky would lead
by as much as eight, but took a 6 point lead into the locker room 37 to 31.
Washington and Johnson both scored 13 points and were the leading scorers at
the half.
It was a great start to the second half for the Cats as they
scored 5 straight points, prompting a timeout by Tennessee with only 53 seconds
into the half. Kentucky went on a 14-0 run pushing their lead to 20. It looked
as though Kentucky was going to run away with the game, but Tennessee would not
go away. The Vols went on an 13 to 0 run to cut the Cats lead to 11. The
Wildcats went to P.J. Washington who scored the next four points and the
Volunteers were never able to recover.
It was a convincing 86-69 victory for the Wildcats in a game
that could be a final four match-up. Washington lead all scorers with 23
points. Tyler Herro got a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. The
Cats had an impressive six blocks and six steals in the victory.
This was a great game to measure how our Cats can perform in
March. They weren’t an team that could be bullied and held their own under the
basket scoring 36 points in the paint while only allowing 20. It was a great
atmosphere tonight as the BBN saw their Wildcats destroy the #1 team in the
nation.
Kentucky’s will travel to face the Missouri Tigers for their
next game on Tuesday. It will be a late 9:00 P.M. tip and can be viewed on
ESPN.
