Wildcat trio sparks winning run
NO. 1 KENTUCKY 63, NO. 6 TEXAS 51
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Willie Cauley-Stein was determined to make an impact no matter which Kentucky platoon he played on against No. 6 Texas.
The Wildcats’ 7-foot junior succeeded by making the Longhorns feel his presence all night.
Cauley-Stein had a career-high 21 points and made several defensive plays to key Kentucky’s 18-2 run to open the second half, helping the top-ranked Wildcats beat No. 6 Texas 63-51 on Friday night in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Normally playing on the first of Kentucky’s two talented platoons, Cauley-Stein began alongside fellow 7-footer Dakari Johnson and 6-10 Trey Lyles on the second squad and the big trio sparked the Wildcats’ game-changing eight-minute sequence after a 26-26 halftime tie.
They combined for the spurt’s first 10 points before Cauley-Stein’s tip-in provided a 44-28 lead with 11:20 remaining. That gave Kentucky (8-0) the cushion to hold off the stubborn Longhorns (7-1), who regrouped to close to 5651 with 1:44 left before Cauley-Stein added a free throw and a dunk.
“I was more confident,” said Cauley-Stein, who shot 6 of 11 from the field while logging 33 minutes. “I’ve been working on my game and I had confidence. That was the biggest thing, doing it. It paid off.”
Cauley-Stein’s rebounding was a big boost for Kentucky, which was outrebounded 4231 by Texas. Johnson finished with 11 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 10, but the postgame talk centered on Cauley-Stein.
“He was ridiculous today,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said.
Johnson called his teammate’s game “crazy,” adding, “hopefully, he’ll have more nights like this.”
Jonathan Holmes scored 14 points and Demarcus Holland 10 for Texas, which shot just 30 percent in falling to 0-8 against the No. 1 team.
The Wildcats came away with another impressive victory following last month’s 72-40 drubbing of then-No. 5 Kansas in Indianapolis. But beating the athletic and physical Longhorns required a lot of energy and grit by Kentucky.
“I don’t think I’ve ever coached in a game, where the size, strength and physicality was what it was,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “If you ask the referees, I don’t think they’ve probably officiated a game like that. That was a bigboy game.”
For a while the Longhorns seemed to have an answer for Kentucky’s big boys. Their first-half athleticism earned a 27-11 rebounding advantage, including a 15-2 edge on the offensive glass that helped build several leads and even things at the break.
Then came Kentucky’s lineup change that turned the game with Cauley-Stein making two steals along with two free throws. Johnson added two jumpers while Trey Lyles had four points including a dunk off a feed from Johnson.
Texas stayed close but just didn’t have enough for Kentucky.
“They’re the No. 1 team for a reason and we knew they were going to make a run,” Holmes said. “We were expecting them to make a run and we knew coming into the game we would have to bounce back. We tried to come back and they did a good job of not letting us.”
NO. 5 LOUISVILLE 82, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 57
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Anton Gill scored a career-high 15 points, Montrezl Harrell had 13 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 5 Louisville rolled to a victory over Florida International.
The Cardinals (7-0) started slow before an 18-0 run in the first half and strong start after halftime overtook the Panthers. Gill shot 3 for 5 on three-pointers as Louisville matched a season high by shooting 40 percent (8 of 20) from behind the arc.
The Cardinals forced 25 turnovers, one shy of their season high in an 87-26 rout of Savannah State. It was the third consecutive double-double for Harrell as five Cardinals scored 11 or more points.
Dennis Mavin led FIU (5-4) with 15 points and Marco Porcher Jimenez added 13 while shooting 4 for 6 on threes.
The Panthers held Louisville to eight points in the game’s opening 10 minutes before Louisville sprung to a 2410 lead.
NO. 11 KANSAS 71, FLORIDA 65
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Wayne Selden Jr. scored 21 points, Cliff Alexander added 12 off the bench and No. 11 Kansas used a massive second-half run to overcome an 18-point deficit and beat Florida.
Frank Mason III also scored 12 points and Perry Ellis finished with 10 for the Jayhawks (6-1), who trailed 39-24 at halftime before using a brutally effective 17-0 surge to seize control.
Kansas wound up out-scoring the Gators 47-26 in the second half.
Devin Robinson scored 13 points and Chris Walker had 12 for Florida, which is off to its worst start through seven games since it also started 3-4 during the 1990-91 season.
N0. 22 OKLAHOMA 82, MISSOURI 63
NORMAN, Okla. — Ryan Spangler scored a season-high 18 points to help No. 22 Oklahoma defeat Missouri in the SEC/Big 12 challenge.
Buddy Hield had 17 points and three steals and Isaiah Cousins added 16 points for the Sooners, who shot 57 percent from the field and made 10 of 20 three-pointers. Oklahoma (5-2) was coming off a runner-up finish in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Johnathan Williams led Missouri (44) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Montaque Gill-Caesar, Missouri’s top scorer entering the game, finished with 15 points on 6-for-16 shooting.
Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein