No. 16 Kentucky men’s basketball demolished Marshall 118-82 inside Rupp Arena on Friday, unleashing an offensive fury that saw it score the fourth most single-half points in program history.
The game also saw the most regular season points ever scored during head coach John Calipari’s tenure in Lexington.
The Wildcats entered the game on the back of a 96-88 overtime victory over Saint Joseph’s, which itself was the Cats’ second consecutive victory after falling against formerly No. 1 Kansas in the State Farm Champions Classic in Chicago.
Looking to get things started, the Cats utilized a starting lineup that consisted of Justin Edwards, Adou Thiero, Antonio Reeves, D.J. Wagner and Tre Mitchell.
While Marshall took an early lead, the Cats refused to have another slow start, quickly going on an 8-0 run to lead 11-5 by the time Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni called his first timeout.
The Herd did not, however, simply fade away into the background.
The Cats followed the timeout with a quick 6-0 run of their own to force D’Antoni to call a second timeout.
Unfortunately for the visiting Herd, this timeout was less effective than the first and the visitors remained cold while the home side remained hot.
While the Herd began to find its groove once more in the half, Kentucky continued to push the lead further, going into the break up 28.
Unfortunately for visiting Marshall fans, the second half wouldn’t be much kinder to the Herd.
While the offense was considerably less high-scoring in the second half compared to the first, Kentucky was able to break triple digits for the second time in the season with over eight minutes remaining on the clock.
From then it was smooth sailing for Calipari and the Wildcats, who coasted to the lopsided win to earn a third consecutive victory.
Kentucky will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 28, against arguably its second toughest opponent of the season thus far in the Miami Hurricanes. Tip-off against the reigning Final Four Canes is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN.
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-Sports editor Cole Parke can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @coleparke_wsc
