Instant analysis: Who’s up, who’s down after UK’s 79-44 win over Abilene Christian
Instant analysis from NCAA Tournament Midwest Region No. 2 seed Kentucky’s 79-44 win over No. 15 Abilene Christian on Thursday night:
How the game was won
Playing without injured star PJ Washington, Kentucky shot 60 percent in the first half, held Abilene Christian to five field goals before halftime and built a 39-13 lead at the intermission to make quick work of its 2019 NCAA Tournament opener.
Game balls
1. Reid Travis. Those long-limbed, bouncy shot blockers that tormented the graduate transfer from Stanford during SEC play were nowhere to be found on the Abilene Christian roster. As a result, Travis had a field day (18 points, nine rebounds, 8-of-10 field goals) under the basket.
2. Tyler Herro. Only downside to the UK shooting guard’s highly efficient offensive showing (14 points, 6-of-7 first-half field goals) was that it came in a game where Kentucky was in no jeopardy of losing.
3. Keldon Johnson. Only downside to the UK swingman’s highly efficient offensive showing (25 points, hit 10-of-16 shots, including 3-of-5 three-point tries) was that it came in a game where Kentucky was in no jeopardy of losing.
4. UK newcomers. Players playing in their first-ever NCAA Tournament game for Kentucky accounted for all 39 UK points and 22 of 23 Kentucky rebounds in the first half.
Reasons for worry
1. PJ Washington’s hard cast and “knee scooter.” That the Kentucky star’s sprained foot 1.) kept him out of UK’s NCAA tourney opener; 2.) merited the application of a hard cast; 3.) had him using a scooter to keep his weight off it, is, to say the least, worrisome.
Key number(s)
26 and 1. In its last 27 NCAA Tournament round-of-64 games, Kentucky is 26-1. The loss came in the 2008 first round, 74-66 to Marquette, in Billy Gillispie’s sole NCAA tourney game as UK head coach.
The atmosphere
1. An ample amount of Kentucky blue “got in” to the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena.
2. With Abilene Christian making its first-ever men’s Division I NCAA Tournament appearance, some ACU fans were wearing purple “First Dance” T-shirts and many of the ACU backers stood throughout the game.
3. A guy in a Duke jersey shown on the arena giant video screens playing air guitar to AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” was roundly booed by the UK-oriented crowd.
Up next
Midwest Region No. 2 seed Kentucky (28-6) will face No. 7 seed Wofford (30-4) on Saturday at a time to be announced.
This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Instant analysis: Who’s up, who’s down after UK’s 79-44 win over Abilene Christian."
