Wallace Leads Kentucky to 88-68 Victory over Florida A&M
By Jamie H. Vaught
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Basically the only highlight of Kentucky's 20-point win over lowly Florida A&M at Rupp Arena Wednesday night was freshman Cason Wallace.
The 6-4 guard from Dallas, Texas, was spectacular as he pumped in a season-high 27 points, including 5 three-pointers in a nonconference matchup that Kentucky was supposed to win in a blowout. Instead, the Wildcats, who were favored by 37 points, only won 88-68.
Big man Oscar Tshiebwe, who was the game's top rebounder, pulling down 8 rebounds, and senior guard CJ Fredrick added 14 points and 12 points, respectively. Fredrick bounced back from a shooting slump as he gunned in 4 of 6 three-pointers. Senior Antonio Reeves also made 10 points, his ninth double-figure game of the season.
Wallace, who also tied his season-best with nine assists and four steals, said he entered the game with a different approach. "I think I came to the game with a different mindset and tried to get to the basket a little bit instead of shooting so many threes and it led to me being more aggressive on offense," he commented.
Asked if his game was more like how he played in high school where he was a five-star prospect, Wallace said, "Yeah, the threes had started falling so I kind of fell in love with it but getting back to that old feel and getting open shots (felt good).”
Fredrick added that Wallace's performance "was huge, we found something the last five minutes and we just kept rolling with it. Got the ball in his hands coming off of a double drag and just him making plays.”
While Kentucky made a season-high 13 three-pointers, hitting 56.5 percent from long range. Thirteen three-point field goals ties for the fifth-most in a game during the John Calipari era.
But Calipari wasn't happy to see his Wildcats still struggling with their poor free-throw shooting.
"The free-throw shooting is driving me crazy because we should be one of the best in the country," said Calipari. "We're missing front-end one-on-ones, like badly, like demoralizingly. Now, just like anything else, they bank three shots in. That's how it is here. Bank, bank, you're like, that's normal here. But we should be one of the best free-throw shooting teams. Again, that is mental toughness."
Said Wallace on UK's free throw shooting woes, "We shoot them at practice, and we take them seriously so it feels worse when it does not go in. We are shooting them with confidence so they will start falling.”
A 6-9 junior from Camden, N.J., Lance Ware was in the starting lineup to bring some energy to the team. "It was fun," he said. "Just getting to go out there and get the game started and get to bring my intensity and all my energy from the get-go, instead of having to wait. It was fun.”
It was Ware's fifth start in nine games played this season.
Kentucky, now 8-3, returns to action Wednesday, Dec. 28 when the Cats visit Missouri (7 p.m. ET , SEC Network).
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK
basketball, including newly-released “Forever Crazy About the Cats: An Improbable Journey of
a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” He is also the editor and founder of
KySportsStyle.com Magazine, and a professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical
College in Middlesboro. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email
at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.
