Photo by Mike Cyrus – BSN
The Kentucky Wildcats met the Tennessee State Tigers in a post-holiday match-up. While lots of Kentucky residents were out doing their Black Friday shopping, Big Blue Nation was still able to show up in Rupp Arena, but not even the sacred seats of Rupp Arena were safe from the Black Friday sales. UK Athletics offered tickets as low as ten dollars for the game and by the crowd size it looks as if the sale helped the attendance for tonight’s game.
It was a 77- 62 victory for the Cats despite a terrible first half. The Wildcats matched their opponents in 1st half field goal percentage at 33%. Kentucky’s saving grace in the first half was the free-throw discrepancy. The Cats were 16/20 in first half free throws compared to TSU’s 5/9. The Wildcats could have found themselves trailing at the half, but a 15 to 2 run allowed them to take a 35-27 lead to the locker room.
The Wildcats stretched the lead to 20 at one point in the second half. TSU, however, wasn’t ready to give up yet. The Tigers cut the lead to 11 after an 8-0 run with 4:24 left in the game. Turnovers weren’t an issue in the first half with only 5 made turnovers, but in the second UK picked up 9 more to have 14 total for the game.
It was a special night for Keldon Johnson. He was the leading scorer of the game with 27 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Reid Travis also contributed with a team leading 9 rebounds and added 13 points.
Keldon Johnson may be the go-to scorer that the Wildcats have been looking for. Kentucky seemed lost on the offensive end throughout the game until Johnson took over in the second half where he scored 20 of his points. Kentucky will face Monmouth in their next outing on Nov. 28th. It will be an 8:30 tip and can be viewed on the SEC Network.
