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Kentucky punches first NCAA Tournament win under Mark Pope
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Kentucky can sleep a bit easier on Friday night. While the NCAA Tournament opener vs. Troy featured some tense moments, the Wildcats were able to come up with enough big plays to run away with the win.
The story in this one was the defense of Kentucky. The Wildcats forced the Trojans to shoot just 35% from the floor and 25% from 3-point range while also limiting the offensive rebounds. A staple for Troy, Kentucky limited the damage to just 10 2nd-chance points in the 76-57 win.
Offensively, the Wildcats had 4 players in double figures, headlined by Otega Oweh. He led all scorers with 20 points while adding 8 rebounds and 6 assists. A trio of other Wildcats each scored 13 points in the win.
The victory goes down as the first in March Madness for head coach Mark Pope with the program. However, he simply wanted to talk about how proud he is of his players after the game:
“I’m really proud of our guys, they’ve battled so much. Like Lamont (Butler),” said Pope about the star guard fighting through injury. “Lamont’s arms are hanging on by a thread, they’re actually taped together and he’s out here competing, and I’m really proud of our guys, I’m happy for them that we get to stay alive a little longer.
“We love playing together, we love being together and we know that we’ve got to keep winning to do that, so I’m happy for our guys.”
With the win, Kentucky is safely through to the next round where the Wildcats await the winner of Xavier vs. Illinois. The next matchup will be set for Sunday, and be sure to use one of the new Kentucky betting apps to track all the odds throughout the tournament.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
