QUICK TAKES: Kentucky 77, Duke 72
Kentucky point guard Lamont Butler tried to shield the ball from a Duke defender during Tuesday's Champions Classic thriller in Atlanta. (Photo by Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports)
JEFF DRUMMOND:
Stop me if you've heard this one before: veteran, battle-hardened players outlast freshman phenoms in an early-season matchup. It was role reversal for the Cats, who have struggled at the Champions Classic in recent years thanks in large part to talented young players who were not quite ready for that stage. Duke has a fantastic team and could be in the hunt for the national championship by the end of the season, but Kentucky showed it can be a force to be reckoned with the way the Cats fought tonight. I thought Mark Pope made some really nice halftime adjustments, and UK's defense was the difference. After Duke shot 48.6% from the field and committed only one turnover in the first half, the Cats held the Blue Devils to just 29.4% and forced six turnovers in the second half. Two of those miscues came with the game on the line as Otega Oweh and Amari Williams came up with pressure on Duke phenom Cooper Flagg. It wasn't UK's best performance -- there were A LOT of blemishes -- but they found a way to win. What a night for Big Blue Nation. What a statement by Mark Pope.
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
Wow. I picked Kentucky to win, but after the first half I didn't see that coming. After one half it looked like Kentucky would need to hit a barrage of threes to have a chance. They did hit 10, but that's how this team was built. What we saw tonight was a team that wouldn't win many 1-on-1 games if you isolated for position, but a TEAM that was bigger than the sum of its parts. Andrew Carr allowed some points but he scored some very big points. Duke did not shoot well from outside but Kentucky gets some credit for that. Monster win for Mark Pope in his first year when it comes to seeding talk, but in the bigger picture, we saw in real-time that you don't have to have an overwhelming amount of top-tier talent to have a great program. We saw a lot of very experienced guys buying in and fighting to the end against a more talented team. That's what college basketball has become and Kentucky's embrace of a different method is not a death knell.
DAVID SISK:
Kentucky 77 Duke 72. That is music to the ears of everyone reading this. I’ll be honest. I thought this was an incredibly high mountain to climb at the half with the Cats trailing 46-37. The Blue Devils were extending the defense, and the UK guards couldn’t get by them. You could see more effort starting the second which I thought was started by Amari Williams. Kentucky was very gutty and hard-nosed in the last 20 minutes. They held the Dukies to 26 points in the second. Andrew Carr was tough with 17 points. Heck, there are lots of game balls to hand out. Mark Pope called a gem and looked like a situational offensive guru down the stretch. This looked like an older, experienced, tough team when it mattered. No more teams full of freshmen learning how to play with a coach begging the fan base for mercy. Tonight was a breath of fresh air.
TRAVIS GRAF:
What an awesome win for Mark Pope in his first marquee game on the Kentucky sideline. The fan base has to feel on top of the world after that, their first win in the event since 2019. This Kentucky team battled on both ends and was the aggressor in the second half, showing their age and maturity. Kentucky has some warts but was able to overcome them, and had a statement win in a game where you got nothing from Jaxson Robinson. This team is fun to watch and plays together, and pretty much everyone who touched the floor had moments that stuck out. There were second-half adjustments made on both ends that made a big difference. Putting together a roster from scratch within weeks and winning a game like this early is a huge statement from Pope to start his tenure.
*****
Kentucky point guard Lamont Butler tried to shield the ball from a Duke defender during Tuesday's Champions Classic thriller in Atlanta. (Photo by Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports)
In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky's 77-72 win over No. 6 Duke on Tuesday night at the Champions Classic in Atlanta. The No. 19 Wildcats rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to stun the Blue Devils at State Farm Arena.
JEFF DRUMMOND:
Stop me if you've heard this one before: veteran, battle-hardened players outlast freshman phenoms in an early-season matchup. It was role reversal for the Cats, who have struggled at the Champions Classic in recent years thanks in large part to talented young players who were not quite ready for that stage. Duke has a fantastic team and could be in the hunt for the national championship by the end of the season, but Kentucky showed it can be a force to be reckoned with the way the Cats fought tonight. I thought Mark Pope made some really nice halftime adjustments, and UK's defense was the difference. After Duke shot 48.6% from the field and committed only one turnover in the first half, the Cats held the Blue Devils to just 29.4% and forced six turnovers in the second half. Two of those miscues came with the game on the line as Otega Oweh and Amari Williams came up with pressure on Duke phenom Cooper Flagg. It wasn't UK's best performance -- there were A LOT of blemishes -- but they found a way to win. What a night for Big Blue Nation. What a statement by Mark Pope.
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
Wow. I picked Kentucky to win, but after the first half I didn't see that coming. After one half it looked like Kentucky would need to hit a barrage of threes to have a chance. They did hit 10, but that's how this team was built. What we saw tonight was a team that wouldn't win many 1-on-1 games if you isolated for position, but a TEAM that was bigger than the sum of its parts. Andrew Carr allowed some points but he scored some very big points. Duke did not shoot well from outside but Kentucky gets some credit for that. Monster win for Mark Pope in his first year when it comes to seeding talk, but in the bigger picture, we saw in real-time that you don't have to have an overwhelming amount of top-tier talent to have a great program. We saw a lot of very experienced guys buying in and fighting to the end against a more talented team. That's what college basketball has become and Kentucky's embrace of a different method is not a death knell.
DAVID SISK:
Kentucky 77 Duke 72. That is music to the ears of everyone reading this. I’ll be honest. I thought this was an incredibly high mountain to climb at the half with the Cats trailing 46-37. The Blue Devils were extending the defense, and the UK guards couldn’t get by them. You could see more effort starting the second which I thought was started by Amari Williams. Kentucky was very gutty and hard-nosed in the last 20 minutes. They held the Dukies to 26 points in the second. Andrew Carr was tough with 17 points. Heck, there are lots of game balls to hand out. Mark Pope called a gem and looked like a situational offensive guru down the stretch. This looked like an older, experienced, tough team when it mattered. No more teams full of freshmen learning how to play with a coach begging the fan base for mercy. Tonight was a breath of fresh air.
TRAVIS GRAF:
What an awesome win for Mark Pope in his first marquee game on the Kentucky sideline. The fan base has to feel on top of the world after that, their first win in the event since 2019. This Kentucky team battled on both ends and was the aggressor in the second half, showing their age and maturity. Kentucky has some warts but was able to overcome them, and had a statement win in a game where you got nothing from Jaxson Robinson. This team is fun to watch and plays together, and pretty much everyone who touched the floor had moments that stuck out. There were second-half adjustments made on both ends that made a big difference. Putting together a roster from scratch within weeks and winning a game like this early is a huge statement from Pope to start his tenure.
*****
