But something about having No. 1 Kentucky in Pauley Pavilion brought the best out of Steve Alford’s bunch as the Bruins took control in the first half and never relinquished it in upsetting the Wildcats.
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While John Calipari didn’t shove Labissiere in the chest the way Ulis did to urge him to match UCLA’s intensity, the Kentucky coach was no more subtle in expressing his displeasure. He’s a great player, a great kid, with great skill.
“That’s how we’re going to be judged”, freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe said, “by the way we bounce back and respond from this loss”.
Bethune-Cookman 78, Trinity Baptist 49: Mario Moody had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the host Wildcats (3-4).
When: Thursday, 6 p.m. PST.
Bryce Alford leads the team in scoring (15.3) and assists (5.6), although his field-goal percentage (39.1) hasn’t improved from past year and his 3-point percentage (28.1) is way down from a season ago.
Specifically in the second half, the Bruins held the energy.
A Welsh jumper and a Bryce Alford three-pointer gave the Bruins a 9-2 lead with 17:06 to go in the half.
The UCLA fans were so inspired by this upset that dozens tried to stroll on to the court afterward.
UCLA forward Tony Parker reacts after making a shot during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky in Los Angeles, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. He scored 21. He got 11 rebounds. Welsh and Parker, who both had two points in the first half, scored six points each. Kentucky is blocking 13 percent of opponent’s shots, compared to 18.2 percent last season.
No. 24 SOUTH FLORIDA 86 HARVARD 59: In Tampa, Florida, Alisia Jenkins scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for the Bulls.
Boeheim suspension upheld: The NCAA upheld its nine-game suspension of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim but said he can begin serving it immediately instead of waiting for ACC play to begin.
“We knew nobody in the world thought we were going to win this game”, the younger Alford said. “Give credit to UCLA. Every game we play, it’s the best they play, whoever the team is”. The freshmen finished with 17 points and five rebounds on 5-16 shooting in his first true road game. Murray was 5 of 16 from the field.
VALPARAISO 61, BELMONT 57: In Valparaiso, Alec Peters scored 17 points, Keith Carter added 14 and the Crusaders overcame a cold shooting night to win.
That’s why he’s the leader of this Kentucky team, and that’s why he gutted out playing with a right elbow injury that was wrapped with so much ice after the game he had to hold it up with his left hand while walking. “But that doesn’t matter”. Skal Labissiere and Alex Poythress were sloppy on defense and hesitant on offense, allowing 87 points, the most United Kingdom has allowed this year.
Calipari doesn’t appear to be pushing any panic buttons.
Here’s the difference between 38-1 Kentucky and 7-1 Kentucky in a nutshell: Lee was the sixth-best frontcourt player on last year’s roster, but the Wildcats looked completely lost without what is now their best offensive rebounder.
“Their coach out-coached our coach”, Calipari said.
The coach’s main message was a boxing analogy: “If you want to play it, we got to come to fight”. We did not meet that challenge.
If we count the semicircle at the top of the key as part of the paint, all five Bruins have at least one foot in the paint while none of the Wildcats are anywhere close to it. Steve Alford employed a modified version of Virginia’s pack-line defense and practically begged Kentucky to do anything more than five feet from the hoop. “It was disappointing they got most of the loose balls, and they were more physical inside than us”.
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When asked what United Kingdom could learn, Ulis said, “That anybody can beat us”.
