The Numbers Behind Kentucky's First-Round Win Over Providence

DrewFranklinKSR

Kentucky Basketball moved on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a win over Providence in the first game of the Friday night session at the tournament’s site in Greensboro, North Carolina. It wasn’t perfect, especially in the second half when neither team could make a shot, but it’s all about advancing this time of year, and Kentucky got it done against the Friars to play again on Sunday.

To celebrate the statistics that help the Wildcats get there, we’ll list the ones that jump off of the box score below…

22 – Let’s lead off with the hot hand, Antonio Reeves, for his 22-point effort in the victory. Reeves hit eight shots from the field and five of them were three-pointers to pace his team in point production.

18 – Not too far behind Reeves in the scoring column, Jacob Toppin added 18 in his highly-anticipated matchup with Bryce Hopkins. Collectively, he and Reeves scored 40 of Kentucky’s 61 points in the game.

17 – Before the game, one of Providence’s big talking points in the pregame buildup was to keep Kentucky off the glass. The plan did not work because Kentucky absolutely dominated the boards to a 17-rebound differential in the final tally. 48 to 31.

25 – If you watched the game, Oscar Tshiebwe was the big reason behind the rebounding differential. He had 25 of his own, the most by one player in an NCAA Tournament game since 1977 and the most ever by a Kentucky player in the tournament. Tshiebwe had double-digit offensive (11) and double-digit defensive (14) boards.

18-2 – With the help of Tshiebwe’s cleaning up, Kentucky outscored Providence, 18-2, in second-chance points. Kentucky had 18 offensive rebounds as a team.

0 – Though CJ Fredrick and Daimion Collins played seven minutes each, Kentucky’s bench did not score. Lance Ware and Adou Thiero played three minutes apiece.

7 – Jacob Toppin and Kentucky’s defense held former Wildcat Bryce Hopkins to seven points in the game, eight below Hopkins’ season average in his All-Big East season. The matchup with Hopkins was the main storyline heading into the matchup, and Kentucky did well in preventing its old player from going off.

37 – Kentucky shot 37 percent from the field. Gotta clean that up Sunday.