No. 1 Kentucky took care of business against No. 8 Cincinnati today, with a solid 64-51 trouncing of the Bearcats.
The first half started slow, with a 4-minute scoring drought and 12 consecutive missed shots. Cincinnati’s Octavius Ellis, who played tonight despite being ejected from Thursday’s game against No. 9 Purdue, did a great job on the boards pulling down 6 in the half. Aaron Harrison, who ended the game with 13 points, landed a three to send the Wildcats up 7 going into the half, 24-31.
Three days ago, 15 finalists were announced for the Wooden Award, which is given to the most outstanding player in the country. As we head into the major conference tournaments, there are a clear top two candidates to bring home the hardware, but let’s take a look at the top five.
Kentucky faced its final road game of the season in the pursuit of perfection and was able to grind out its 30th win of the season, 72-64. Georgia played UK close the entire game and led by as many as 9 points in the second half due to an 11-0 run. Georgia was able to have success down low for most of the night against the interior of the Kentucky defense that is filled with NBA lottery picks. The Georgia big men had 28 of their 32 points at the half. But Kentucky eventually wore down the Bulldogs and battled back to take the lead for good.
Dorm Room Hoops 