LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky put one in the win column Wednesday night, but it was a performance that won’t do anything to allay fears that this Wildcats team isn’t quite as good as it was cracked up to be.
Not yet, at least.
The No. 19-ranked Cats defeated Florida A&M, 88-68, in Rupp Arena, the team’s final game before a week-long Christmas break from competition and yet another sign that UK has plenty of work ahead to live up to its preseason hype as a possible national title contender.
Florida A&M (2-8) entered the night at No. 358 in the KenPom ratings (out of 363 Division I teams), with its only victories so far this season coming against Division II opponents. And the Rattlers needed overtime to get one of those wins.
Before the visit to Rupp Arena, Florida A&M was shooting 35.4% from the floor and 26.8% from 3-point range, both stats near the very bottom nationally. The Rattlers’ highest scoring total in seven previous games against Division I competition? Sixty-two points. That came in a 102-62 loss at Florida.
Against Kentucky on Wednesday night, Florida A&M shot 52% from the field and made nine of 16 3-point attempts. The Rattlers trailed by only seven points with five minutes left in the game.
The Wildcats pulled away and ultimately won by double digits, of course. They were supposed to win. Big. They entered the game as 37.5-point favorites despite putting just 53 points on the board four days earlier in an ugly loss to UCLA in New York.
UK coach John Calipari shook things up for Wednesday night’s game, starting freshman Chris Livingston and junior Lance Ware in place of Antonio Reeves and Jacob Toppin. The combo of Sahvir Wheeler, Cason Wallace, Reeves, Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe had started UK’s previous five games, but Calipari praised the play of Livingston and Ware following the Cats’ loss to UCLA on Saturday, and he had those two on the court for the start of the second half in the game.
The initial results Wednesday elicited some excitement in Rupp Arena, with the Cats jumping out to an 18-2 lead less than five minutes into the game, making seven of their first eight shots from the floor and forcing several Florida A&M turnovers on the other end.
The Rattlers outscored UK for the remainder of the half from there, going 9 for 14 from the floor over one long stretch before halftime, staving off an early blowout despite being clearly overmatched on both ends of the court.
There were some highlights for the Wildcats beyond that quick start.
Wallace scored a career-high 27 points, adding nine assists. He was 10 for 15 from the field and 5 for 6 from the 3-point line.
CJ Fredrick broke out of his shooting slump, hitting his first three 3-point attempts of the game and leading UK in scoring with nine at halftime. He finished with 12 points. Fredrick had scored just three total points over Kentucky’s previous three games, going scoreless in each of the last two.
Ugonna Onyenso got some playing time — tallying four points and five rebounds in nine minutes — and fellow freshman Adou Thiero played for the first time in four weeks.
But Kentucky, once again, looked out of sorts for much of the night, and there was ample stomping and yelling from Calipari on the sidelines as his team gave up good looks on defense and failed to capitalize on prime opportunities at their own scoring end.
Kentucky gets a week off from games before beginning Southeastern Conference play Dec. 28 with a trip to Missouri, which is off to a 10-1 start this season under first-year head coach Dennis Gates. The Tigers were picked 11th in the league at the SEC’s media day in the fall, but they’ve exceeded expectations to this point, even receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll before a 95-67 home loss to No. 4 Kansas earlier this month. Mizzou plays No. 16 Illinois on Thursday night.
