Winthrop Eagles vs Kentucky Wildcats Match Player Stats On Nov 21, 2018

No. 10 Kentucky completed one half of its Thanksgiving basketball feast by defeating Winthrop 87-74 Wednesday afternoon at Rupp Arena.

The Wildcats' second sitting comes Friday when Tennessee State visits Lexington.

Kentucky (4-1) got 19 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore PJ Washington, his second double-double in as many games. Freshman Tyler Herro added 15 points, freshman Keldon Johnson had 13, sophomore Quade Green added 11 off the bench and sophomore Nick Richards scored 10.

The Wildcats shots 56.4 percent from the field and made seven 3-pointers. They won the rebounding battle 37-22, but had 20 assists vs. 19 turnovers.

Winthrop (2-3) placed five players in double figures: 11 points each from Austin Awad, Josh Ferguson and Charles Falden, and 10 from Kyle Zunic and Adam Pickett. The Eagles shot 47.5 percent but also committed 19 turnovers.

Kentucky used an 11-0 run to open the second half and put the game out of reach. Richards scored six of the 11 to push Kentucky on top 62-37 with 16:39 to play. The 25-point lead was the Wildcats' largest of the game.

Winthrop, however, made a late charge. Trailing 76-51 with 9:22 remaining, the Eagles outscored the Wildcats 23-11 the rest of the way for the final 13-point margin. Kentucky went the final 3:14 without a field goal.

One ailment for Kentucky early in the season has been 3-point defense. The Wildcats are allowing teams to shoot 43.4 percent from the 3-point line, which ranks 343rd out of 351 teams nationally. It's also 12 percentage points worse than the average of coach John Calipari's previous nine Kentucky teams combined.

Those trials continued Wednesday as Winthrop made 13 of 28 for 46.4 percent. Nearly half the Eagles' field goals came from 3-point range.

Kentucky blew out to a 51-37 halftime advantage on the strength of 13 points and eight rebounds from Washington. For the half, the Wildcats shot 60 percent, their best half of the season.

Falden paced Winthrop with nine first-half points. The Eagles shot 42.4 percent, but were outrebounded 25-11.

--Field Level Media