Unfortunately, for the Kentucky Wildcats, it appeared that the Gonzaga Bulldog’s 40-point thrashing by Michigan was still on their minds. The Zags paid it forward to Kentucky in front of what should have been a pro-UK crowd that was booing its team by halftime, winning 94-59.
- Much like the Michigan game, the spread was so vast because the Zags were definitely playing good and Kentucky was playing bad. Oh so bad. It is hard to emphasize just how poorly Kentucky played. The Wildcats didn’t score their first field goal until roughly nine minutes of game had gone by. They finished the half with just 20 points. They had more made personal fouls (17) then they did made field goals (16). Their starting center didn’t grab a rebound until the second half.
Kentucky, theoretically, is better than this, but at the moment it is hard to tell if this win will age nicely or if the Wildcats were supremely overrated in the preseason and are truly a mediocre team. They sure looked it. - Graham Ike clearly remembered that he only scored one point against Michigan because he took it out on Kentucky and then some. The Gonzaga big man finished with 28 points and just absolutely abused Kentucky in the paint. He was joined by 20 points from Braden Huff, and Gonzaga outscored UK 46-18 in the paint. It was a bloodbath down low.
- Don’t write off Braeden Smith quite yet just because Mario Saint-Supery has earned the start recently. Smith was the better PG in the game, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, and two steals in 19 minutes. Saint-Supery didn’t have a half bad game, but it is really something for the depth that Gonzaga can replace virtually any of its starters without missing a beat.
- Adam Miller went 3-for-5 from long range and if he can keep that up it will go a long way in justifying playing time. To a certain extent, Miller is a bit redundant out of all the guards. He lacks Venters outside threat (at the moment), he isn’t as much of a defensive stop as Emmanuel Innocenti, and he doesn’t have the scoring prowess of Tyon Grant-Foster.
- This was exactly the sort of game you wanted to see from Gonzaga after that loss to Michigan. It is hard to truly extrapolate after a beatdown like that–good teams will lose rough games but its takes a lot to go completely wrong (and a lot to go completely right) to lose by 40. The Zags played angry and aggressive from the start on both the offensive and defensive end. They dictated essentially every aspect of this game. Kentucky may end up sucking by the end of the year, but this is what the response needed to be.
- Understandably, there was fretting about the 23 point lead at half considering what happened last year in Seattle against Kentucky. Sometimes, the hardest thing for a team to do is keep that energy up when the gap is so wide. Gonzaga did that and some. They averaged nearly 1.6 points per possession in the second half and still outscored Kentucky by 12 points in the final 20, despite the fact that the DOA UK offense finally showed a glimpse of life.
- It really is a shame we will only get to watch this Ike and Huff duo at the same time for one year. Probably one of Gonzaga’s better frontcourts in school history.