Freshman forward Anthony Davis in the game against Marist College, at Rupp Arena, in Lexington, Ky., on Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Photo by Latara Appleby | Staff ..
The point margin was not quite 85 points, but UK charted its first regular season victory against Marist 108-58 Friday night at Rupp Arena.
The Cats got off to a quick start, scoring early in the first half and causing Marist to call its first time out after three minutes of play.
Their run didn’t last long, though. Marist caught up after making a few big threes to lead 18-17 with 13:30 left on the clock, which was Marist’s largest lead of the game.
Marist was able to beat the Cats on the dribble numerous times throughout the first half, but freshman forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist kept finding ways to change the game. Kidd-Gilchrist led the Cats with 11 total points in the first half, as well as accounting for five rebounds two blocks and two steals. He ended the game with 15 points, seven rebound, two blocks and two steals.
“Without Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis, we are down at halftime,” Calipari said. “Those two were so good in the first half. That’s the only reason we were up.”
Five of UK’s players earned double-digit points. Freshman forward Anthony Davis, who was named Player of the Game, accounted for 23 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 10-13 from the floor.
Sophomore guard Doron Lamb tallied 15 points while freshman guard Marquis Teague had 15 and freshman forward Kyle Wiltjer accounted for 14.
Jones didn’t score his first points until there were about two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first half, with a three from the left side, then came back to grab an offensive rebound and dunked, allowing UK to pull away 45-36. He walked away from the season opener with eight points and nine rebounds, and was named Sub of the Game.
Following the car accident around 2:30 a.m. Friday, sophomore forward Terrence Jones was not a starter for UK’s season opener. Because of Jones being out so late, head coach John Calipari now requires a curfew for the team.
“He apologized to us,” senior guard Darius Miller said. “You could tell he was sincere and we’re not really worried about it.
Defensively, fans saw some of the press Head Coach John Calipari has been talking about, but the offensive play was lacking. Due to the fast pace of the game, UK and Marist traded turnovers in the first half. Marist ended the game with 14 turnovers and UK ended with nine.
In the second half, UK started to build intensity on the offensive side of the court, making the Cats Largest lead at 30 at the 12:06 mark.
It was all UK from there. The Cats continued to perform consistently for the remainder of the half.
“The first half, we started off just not playing as well as we could,” Jones said. (In the second half) “We were stunting, helping each other, talking more, playing defense (doing things) we do in practice.”
The Cats face No. 13 Kansas Tuesday at Madison Square Garden at 9 p.m.
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