Kentucky Wildcats Rout Eastern Kentucky Colonels

After grinding out a tough, physical game against the No. 6 ranked Texas Longhorns last Friday night, the Kentucky Wildcats had a bit of an easier time putting away the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in Sunday night’s game.
The story of the first half was UK’s defense, as Eastern only managed to score 14 points in the first half, shooting only 6-35 from the field and 2-17 from 3-point land.  Meanwhile, the Wildcat offense was putting up points in a hurry, racing out to a 41-14 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same for UK’s offense, putting up another 41 points in the second half; however, the defense seemed to slack off in the second half, allowing a 35 point second half to the Colonels.
The three-point streak was in jeopardy for the third game in a row as the Wildcats had hit at least one three point shot in 908 games coming into this one, but heading into the final few minutes of the game, UK had still not hit a three.  The Rupp Arena crowd knew what was on the line as chants of “Shoot!” echoed throughout every time UK got the ball past mid-court.  After a few missed threes in a row, it was Mr. Clutch himself, Aaron Harrison who finally kept the streak alive with only 2:57 left in the game.
The final score was UK 82- EKU 49.  The Wildcats were led by reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, Karl Towns who finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.  Trey Lyles put together his first career double-double as he finished with ten points and ten rebounds.  Willie Cauley-Stein also had a solid night with 11 points, five boards, two blocks and two steals.
For Eastern Kentucky, the Colonels were led by 19 points from Denzel Richardson, as well as a 12 point, four rebound night from Corey Walden.
The Wildcats move on to play Columbia University tomorrow night, Wednesday, Dec. 10, in Rupp Arena at 7 pm.