Balanced Scoring, Defense Lead No. 10 Kentucky Past Brown
No. 10 Kentucky had four players in double figures and got a big effort on defense as the Cats topped Brown 88-54 on Tuesday at Rupp Arena.
Andrew Carr led UK with 14 points, all in the first half. Koby Brea, Otega Oweh and Amari Williams each had 13 points for the Cats.
The UK defense more than did its job on Saturday, forcing Brown into 23 turnovers, which the Cats turned into 33 points. Meanwhile, UK held the Bears to 40.8 percent shooting from the floor. UK head coach Mark Pope was pleased with the defensive effort.
“I was proud of us ringing the bell defensively,” Pope said. “Minus some letdowns on the glass, I thought the guys were stellar. Season-high in deflections, which is really important to us. I think our guys had fun tonight.”
Kentucky scored first on a Jaxson Robinson three, but Brown would eventually take a 6-4 lead. The Cats responded with an 11-1 run, including seven consecutive points from Carr, to lead 15-7.
Brown would get a bucket to make it 15-9 before UK made four consecutive free throws, two by Williams and two by Lamont Butler, to lead 19-9. Brown scored five in a row before an Ansley Almonor three made it 22-14.
The Bears scored to make it 22-16 before the Cats got a Carr layup, a Travis Perry three and a Carr basket and free throw to extend the lead to 30-16.
Brown responded with five consecutive points to get within nine, 30-21. The Cats then got two free throws from Carr, a Koby Brea three and two Williams free throws to lead 37-21. After the Bears scored four in a row, Williams scored underneath to make it 39-25. Brown got a bucket just before the half to make the halftime score 39-27. Carr led all scorers with 14 points in the first 20 minutes of action.
The second half started with five consecutive points from Otega Oweh, stretching the lead to 44-27 and forcing a Brown timeout. The Cats would get a Williams layup, off a Robinson assist, to lead 46-27. After the Bears scored, Oweh converted a layup and Williams hit a jump hook in the lane to give UK a 50-30 lead.
After Brown scored, Kentucky got a layup from Butler and three free throws from Brea to lead 55-32. Brown hit a pair of threes around an Oweh basket to cut the deficit to 57-38, but UK got an Almonor bucket, an Oweh layup, an Almonor free throw, a Perry free throw, a Robinson basket in the lane and a Brea layup to complete a 10-0 run and take a 67-38 lead with 10:19 to play. From there, the Cats would cruise to the victory.
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday, hosting sixth-ranked Florida at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. ET and the game can be seen on ESPN.
