By LARRY VAUGHT
Midway through the first half Centre College was looking like David against Goliath.
Division III Centre trailed Kentucky, a consensus top five team, only 28-22 after a 5-0 run Friday night in Rupp Arena. However, the exhibition game soon took on a script most expect as the Wildcats ended the half on a 24-2 run and went on to win 106-63.
The Colonels simply had no answers for Kentucky’s size and athleticism. Kentucky — after being out rebounded by Morehead Monday — won the battle of the boards 52-17 behind 11 boards from Kevin Knox and nine from Wenyen Gabriel.
Offensively Gabriel also gave the Cats a huge lift with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Point guard Quade Green went 3-for-3 from 3-point distance and had 18 points.
“Kenyan brings great energy,” UK teammate Sacha Killeya-Jones said. “We will feed off that, too. He’s really been a spark for us.”
Kentucky was 37 of 61 from the field overall and 7-for-13 from 3-point range. Centre was 23-for-60 from the field and just 8-for-27 from 3-point range.
“It was totally the game plan (to attack the rim),” Mason said. “We had maybe 7-8 offensive sets. Kentucky takes you out of all your sets. Defensively, they are devastating.”
For the Colonels, the game was about a lot more than the score. Coach Greg Mason went to his bench to make sure everyone got into the game. He wore a tie with “Good Luck Daddy! Lucy 11/3/17” embroidered on the back side. Lucy is the coach’s 6-month-old daughter who sat with her mother behind the bench.
“What a night for Centre basketball,” Mason said as his daughter sat in his lap for the postgame press conference.
“Obviously we lost to a very good Kentucky team. They have a lot of learning to do. They just devastated us shooting the ball …52-17 on glass. I think we will all agree they are better than a week ago.”
Maybe but Kentucky coach John Calipari certainly was not overly thrilled with how his team played. Often the Colonels outhustled UK for 50-50 balls. Mason joked that Centre had more loose ball recoveries than the Colonels had rebounds.
Hamidou Diallo had 9 points on 3-for-9 shooting but also had five turnovers for UK.
“He has to get better, and that’s okay. Where he is right now is not where he will be in a couple of weeks,” Calipari said. “When you get fatigued, you start being lackadaisical. You saw three or four plays where he went after it nonchalant. That’s the stuff we are doing in practice.
“But they have never played this hard, never played this way. They don’t understand that when we start (regular season play) Friday, it goes up another level. This is pretty heady stuff to throw at these guys right away.”
Mason, a lifelong UK fan, understands why new UK players need time to adjust.
“I am 46 and walk into this arena and it takes me time to get used to it. We forget they are 19,” Mason said. “They shot really well tonight. They are getting better. Big Blue Nation just needs to stay patient with them. Coach Cal is the best in the country at bringing a team along.”