FINAL: Kentucky takes care of business in 103-67 win over North Carolina Central

With another big-time opponent on the docket for this weekend, Kentucky needed a get-right win on Tuesday night.

And that’s what the Wildcats (6-4) did against the North Carolina Central Eagles (3-9) inside Rupp Arena, taking care of business with a 103-67 victory.

Five different Kentucky players scored in double-figures, led by a season-high 22 points (6-10 FG) from Jasper Johnson. Otega Oweh wasn’t far behind with 21 points (also a season-high) and seven rebounds of his own. Trent Noah, who was inserted into the starting lineup, did most of his damage in the first half, finishing with 11 points on the night. Malachi Moreno posted 14 points and seven rebounds while Andrija Jelavić added 10 points for good measure.

Kentucky finished the night shooting over 60 percent from the field on a 12-29 clip from beyond the arc. UK won the rebounding battle by 10 while dishing out 27 assists to just nine turnovers. North Carolina Central was held to 42.1 percent shooting as a team, with leading scorer Gage Lattimore posting only 14 points on a 4-16 shooting mark.

It was an anxious start — both on the floor and in the stands — for Kentucky following last Friday’s 35-point loss to Gonzaga.

The Wildcats took the first lead of the night and never looked back, but it took a while for them to break the game wide open. It was an 8-7 advantage for UK through four minutes as North Carolina Central was grabbing far too many offensive rebounds. Kentucky would take its first double-digit lead midway through the first half, but it didn’t exactly look pretty. A bad turnover by Brandon Garrison led to an easy layup on the other end, which had head coach Mark Pope fuming, sending Garrison to the bench for the rest of the half.

But the tides would shift from there in the Wildcats’ favor. Noah was taking full advantage of his extra minutes. He dropped in all 11 of his points in the opening half on 3-5 shooting from deep. Oweh chipped in 12 points and six rebounds of his own by halftime as Kentucky took a 52-31 lead into the break. Pope, who usually rolls through his full rotation rather quickly, only ran with eight guys in the first half as the starting five received the bulk of the playing time.

Similar to the first half, it would take a couple of segments before Kentucky got rolling. Pope also elected to finally put in Jaland Lowe and Kam Williams after they did not play a second in the first half. They combined to play 21 minutes as a pair. An 8-0 run over two minutes during the middle of the half put the ‘Cats in front by 32 points. Johnson, in particular, was having a good scoring half, as was Oweh. Walk-on Zach Tow would tack on a triple with under a minute left to give the fans something more to smile about on the way home.

A blowout win was the end result, and the one fans were hoping for. All eyes now look ahead to Saturday as Kentucky hosts Indiana in a game that the ‘Cats have to win at this stage in the season.

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