UK smothers Morehouse in final exhibition

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In its final exhibition game before opening the regular season Friday, the UK men’s basketball team was dominant from start to finish in a 125-40 win over Morehouse College.

Unlike its previous exhibition against Transylvania, the Cats jumped out to an early lead and would only serve to extend it from there. UK went up 9-0 just 90 seconds into the game, forcing Morehouse to call an early timeout.

The fun didn’t stop there. With under 12 minutes left in the first half alone, UK was already leading 34-6 before starting its biggest run of the day, a 29-0 run that would extend the lead to 63-6. The half would end with the Cats on top 74-13.

More of the same in the second half resulted in an even larger lead for the Cats (UK’s largest lead was 89 points) and more excitement from the UK fans piled into Rupp Arena.

“I could bring my sister, and if she had been playing in Kentucky blue tonight, she would have looked pretty good, too,” Morehouse head coach Grady Brewer said jokingly after the game.

UK used its superior speed, strength and athleticism to its advantage, running up and down the floor converting transition baskets and drawing fouls.

The Cats scored inside, and they scored outside. They scored on the fast break, and in the half court. They scored with their starters, and with their bench; with their veterans and with their freshmen.

Wooden Award candidate Terrence Jones had 22 points on a perfect 9-9 from the field, but he was not alone in the impressive performances category.

Freshman forward Anthony Davis excited fans with his impressive leaping ability and a number of powerhouse slam dunks, mostly off of lobs high above the rim. Davis finished with 21 points on a perfect 8-8 shooting for the game, along with a team-high four blocked shots.

Freshman point guard Marquis Teague seemed to have control of the offense against Morehouse, driving the lane, pushing the ball in transition, looking for open shooters in half-court sets and, of course, throwing lobs above the rim to Davis.

“He goes 5-6, and he goes seven assists and two turnovers, and again, we’re flying up and down the court… We’re flying and driving and moving, and he’s got a lot of decisions to make when he’s got that ball, and he’s got the ball 75 percent of the time,” Calipari said. “He’s playing well.”

Kyle Wiltjer came off the bench to score 26 points of his own, including 4-6 shooting from three point range. Even Eloy Vargas, who many expected to become an afterthought with the size and depth UK has added since last season, had five points and 12 rebounds for the game, looking more secure and confident underneath the rim.

“I’ve been working more on conditioning so I think it’s kind of helped me a lot doing that,” Vargas said.

“I thought I played well,” Wiltjer said. “Good to see some shots go in and get the flow out there, just glad we got the win.”

As a team, UK was 48-66 from the field, including 11-21 on three point attempts. Every player active on UK’s roster scored against Morehouse except for walk-on Brian Long, who was scoreless in six minutes of play.

UK’s defense allowed only four assists for the game, blocking seven shots and recording 17 steals. Morehouse shot 15-66 for the game, just 2-21 from behind the three point line.

In regard to UK’s defensive concerns from its Blue-White scrimmage and opening exhibition against Transy, Calipari felt better about his team’s defensive improvements against Morehouse.

“I think they know and they understand, and they’ve got guys on this team, three of them, that were in the Final Four (who) know that you gotta have a certain toughness, you have to have a grittiness to it, and you defend and rebound,” Calipari said. “What this team has the added thing, they can block shots.

“They’re coming at you different ways. We have the ‘let’s be tough defensively, let’s scramble it up a little bit.’”

UK opens its regular season schedule against Marist Friday at 7 p.m. at Rupp Arena.