The first half of Kentucky’s game against Western Kentucky was anything but easy. Early on, the Wildcats had trouble getting into a flow, but they ended the half on a good note, ahead 45–33.

Slow Start: It was hard for Kentucky in the first 15 minutes. Even the great shooter Koby Brea missed two three-pointers in a row, which doesn’t happen very often since Brea is hitting over 70% for the year.

Mid-Half Surge: The Wildcats got off to a slow start, but they were able to quickly build a 16-point lead over the Hilltoppers by using their size and speed in the paint.

Western Kentucky took advantage of Kentucky’s mistakes and shaky defence to cut the lead to eight points with one minute left in the game.

Late Push: Just before halftime, an Otega Oweh layup and two important free throws from Jaxon Robinson gave Kentucky new life. They were ahead 12–12.

Stats for the first half:

Kentucky made 45% of its shots from the field, while Western Kentucky only made 30%. The Wildcats also had a big advantage inside, scoring 20 points to the Hilltoppers’ 10 in the paint.

Battle for boards: Kentucky beat Western Kentucky 22–20 in boards,

mistakes: Both teams had trouble with mistakes, but Kentucky scored 10 points off of them compared to 7 for the Hilltoppers.

The second half began slowly, just like the first. When the Cats made it to 16 points, Western fought back and got the lead back to less than ten points. Early in the second half, Amari Williams was taken out because he didn’t seem interested in playing defence and let a layup and an easy putback happen.

Kentucky couldn’t make a three-point shot, and Western kept pressing. As the teams went into the TV break, the Hilltoppers had a chance to make it 6–7 if they made the free throw, which they did, making the score 57–51.

West Virginia tried to beat Kentucky again by scoring a run. Getting ahead again by 14 points with just under 8 minutes left. The fifth foul was given to Western’s big man Faye by Amari Williams. Amari only made one of two, maintaining a 15-point lead.

Western would make a few baskets to keep the lead around 10 every time the Cats got as close as 16 points ahead. Kentucky always came back, but they could never finish, in part because they couldn’t make free throws.

At one point, Kentucky was only 22 of 34 from the line, which is only 64%. Cats made 29 of 42 free throws and 8 of 29 three-point shots. Also, the mistakes were a problem. There were only 16 assists and 11 turnovers, which is a big difference that Coach Pope will not be happy with.

Three Night Stars

1. John Carr

What would the Cats be like tonight without Andrew Carr? It looked like Andrew Carr would make a big basket every time Western got going. Carr had 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block, which was his first double-double as a cat.

2. Theodore Butler

Lamont did a lot of different things for Kentucky, as he always did. He set the pace when it needed to be and helped push the lead into the double digits more than once. Butler had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal in the game’s end.

3. The Otega Oweh

When shots weren’t going from far away, Kentucky’s top scorer was needed. In response, Oweh scored 18 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

Even though the Cats didn’t play their best and shots weren’t going in, they still won by a score of 87–68 and are now 6-0. Fans will be hoping for a little better play from Kentucky when they play Georgia State again on Friday.