No. 16 Kentucky aims for its third straight win on Friday when it hosts Marshall in Lexington, Ky.
Tre Mitchell and D.J. Wagner each scored a season-high 22 points and Antonio Reeves added 20 on his 23rd birthday in the Wildcats’ 96-88 overtime win over Saint Joseph’s on Monday. Kentucky had five players score in double figures, marking the third time that has occurred this season for coach John Calipari’s club.
The Wildcats shot a robust 51.6 percent from the floor and 48.0 percent from 3-point range.
Mitchell, however, made just 5 of 13 shots from the floor in regulation before connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to begin overtime.
“Keep shooting — if they’re going to leave me open, I’m going to shoot it,” Mitchell said of his mindset. “I don’t think that it is necessarily the moment for me because I try to stay present throughout the entire game so regardless of what the outcome or the score is going to be — if I get an open look, I’m going to take it.”
Mitchell isn’t alone, however. Wagner said the team’s depth goes beyond just the five starters on the floor.
“There ain’t really no such thing as a ‘starter’ on our team. … So whoever starts the game off, we just start the game off strong,” Wagner said. “It (doesn’t) matter who (is) in the game. We’re gonna cheer each other on no matter what because we know how (many) good players we got on the team. Everybody can play.
“So, coach saying (that) we’ve got seven starters, he’s not lying. It (doesn’t) matter who starts. Any given day, anybody can start.”
Rob Dillingham had 13 points and six assists off the bench and Justin Edwards added 12 for Kentucky.
“They all can play,” Calipari said. “How about, we had all guys in double figures and Adou (Thiero) had seven, and even though he didn’t get in double figures, plus minus, as Reed (Sheppard). But the thing I’ve told them, even the last game, we had seven guys have between eight and 10 shots. So you can’t say, well, I don’t get my shots. No, you got them.”
The Thundering Herd (2-3) look to rebound after falling for the third time in four games with a 78-71 setback to Oakland on Tuesday in the Cayman Islands Classic.
Kevon Voyles had 18 points and Nate Martin added 12 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Wyatt Fricks fell just short of a double-double with a nine-point, 11-rebound performance.
Impressive numbers to be certain, however Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni took issue with his team’s 7 of 35 effort from 3-point range.
“We had shootaround-type shots to make and we just can’t shoot 20 percent on 3s,” D’Antoni said. “We’re not finding the efficiency we need. We’re finding the shots. Bright side, we found a place for Goran (Miladinovic) when we’re in zone. He affected the game and kept us in there.”
Voyles is averaging a team-best 15.8 points and 2.6 steals this season. Martin is contributing 9.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.
–Field Level Media