UK POSTGAME NOTES: Kentucky Trounces North Florida 86-52
Compiled by UK Athletics
UK MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES NORTH FLORIDA at KENTUCKY RUPP ARENA | LEXINGTON, KY. NOV. 22, 2021
ATTENDANCE: 19,350
Final Score: No. 10/13 Kentucky 86, North Florida 52
Team Records and Series Notes
· Kentucky extended its winning streak to five games and is now 5-1 on the 2021-22 season. North Florida dropped to 1-6 this season.
· UK notched its first victory vs. UNF in the schools’ first meeting.
· Next up: Kentucky will continue its season-long seven-game home stand on Monday when it hosts Central Michigan at 7 p.m. in Rupp Arena. The game will be live streamed by SEC Network+/ESPN+.
o It will mark the return of former UK assistant Tony Barbee, who served on staff at Kentucky from the 2014-15 season through the 2020-21 year. He was named CMU’s head coach following the 2020-21 season.
· Attendance at Rupp Arena was a season-high 19,350.
Team Notes
· Kentucky held North Florida to 52 points. UK is a perfect 81-0 under head coach John Calipari when holding the opponent to 55 or points or less. The Wildcats are 193-9 (95.5%) under Calipari when limiting the opponent to 63 points or less.
· UK limited North Florida to 33.3% from the field. UK is 214-24 (89.9%) under Calipari when keeping the opponent to 40% or less.
· Kentucky led by as many as 37 points. The Wildcats are 291-12 (96.0%) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points at any time during the contest.
· The Wildcats, who entered the contest No. 1 in the nation in rebounding margin, continued its rebounding dominance Friday with a plus-17 margin. UK has outrebounded all six opponents this season and has a plus-19.8 average margin for the season.
· Five Kentucky players scored in double figures, the third time in six games at least five Wildcats have reached digits in a game.
· The Wildcats outscored the Ospreys 28-0 on fastbreak points.
· UK also dominated North Florida in the points-off-turnovers category, winning that battle 20-3.
· Kentucky came up with 13 steals, tied for the second most of the Calipari era.
o The Calipari era benchmark is 15, set Nov. 16, 2012, vs. Lafayette.
Player Notes
· TyTy Washington Jr led the Wildcats in scoring for the second time this season with a game-high-tying 14 points.
o He was 6 for 13 from the floor, ending a four-game streak of shooting 50% or better.
o It was the first time this season he failed to match or increase his scoring total from the previous game.
o He had a career-high four steals.
· Sahvir Wheeler, who entered the game first in the country with 8.2 assists per game, dished out a game-high and career-high 14 assists to go along with 12 points.
o It is the most assists by a Wildcat since Tyler Ulis had 14 vs. LSU on March 5, 2016.
o It was tied for the third-most assists in school history and was the most ever by a junior.
o It was his second double-double of the season and 10th of his career.
· Oscar Tshiebwe, the country’s leading rebounder, posted his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
o It was his sixth straight game in double-figure rebounding to start the season.
o He is the first player to grab 10 or more rebounds in six straight games since Julius Randle posted a 10-game streak in February and March of 2014.
o He is tied for the national lead in double-doubles with five.
· Dontaie Allen scored a season high and game-high-tying 14 points, tallying 12 of them in the second half.
o He also snared a career-high seven rebounds and tied a career high with two assists.
· Daimion Collins made the most of his first career start with 12 points and six boards.
· Jacob Toppin (shoulder) and Lance Ware (ankle) returned to action. Toppin had missed four straight games and Ware had missed the last three.
o Toppin had three points and two rebounds in his return.
o Ware scored four points.
· Davion Mintz and Keion Brooks Jr. did not play due to illness.
o Mintz missed his second straight game. It was Brooks’ first absence of the season.
Coach Calipari
· Calipari improved to 344-94 at UK.
· Calipari has a 789-234 all-time on-court record.
· UK is 280-55 in games vs. unranked Associated Press competition and 171-11 vs. unranked foes in Rupp Arena.
· Calipari is 1-0 all-time vs. North Florida.
· Kentucky is 193-17 in Rupp Arena under Calipari, winning the last six in a row.
· UK is 100-6 vs. nonconference foes under Calipari in Rupp Arena.
In the First Half
· Kentucky started Sahvir Wheeler, TyTy Washington Jr., Kellan Grady, Daimion Collins and Oscar Tshiebwe for the first time this season with Keion Brooks Jr. unavailable due to illness.
· Making his first career start, Collins got the game’s opening points with a two-hand putback slam.
· Jacob Toppin, appearing in his first game since the season opener vs. Duke because of a shoulder injury, was Kentucky’s first sub at the 16:32 mark.
· The Wildcats got off to a slow start as North Florida took a 12-7 lead.
· At the under-8 timeout, Kentucky had made just five of its first 20 shots and trailed 16-14, but the Wildcats came out of the timeout with some much-needed energy. Collins started an 8-0 run with an alley-oop slam on a beautiful feed from Dontaie Allen. A minute and a half later, the Wildcats forced UNF to burn a 30-second timeout after a steal from Washington led to a transition layup and a 20-16 lead for UK.
o UK stretched the run to 8-0 out of the timeout with a Collins offensive putback.
o The overall run was 12-2 over 4:13 of game time, turning a 16-14 deficit to a 26-18 Kentucky advantage.
· Kentucky closed the half on a 6-0 run to take a 37-23 lead to the halftime locker room.
· After starting the game 5 of 20 from the field, UK made 11 of 19 to close the half.
· Collins capitalized on his first start with eight points and four rebounds in the first half.
· Wheeler also scored eight and dished out four assists.
· Tshiebwe extended his double-figure rebounding streak to start the season in the first half alone with 11 boards to go along with seven points.
In the Second Half
· Kentucky started the second half with the same starting five: Wheeler, Washington, Grady, Collins and Tshiebwe.
· Grady started the second half with the hot hand, scoring Kentucky’s first six points – all on jumpers.
· UK opened the second half with 12 points in the first 4:04 of play.
· Kentucky increased its lead to 54-30 on an 8-0 run highlighted by a steal and layup by Wheeler.
· A 9-0 run – fueled by the helping hand of Wheeler with three assists in the burst – ballooned the lead to 75-40 with 4:42 left in the game.
· Kentucky led by as many as 37 with 2:34 left to play.
· Allen led UK in the second half with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
