The Kentucky Wildcats needed a 21-7 run after the first 3 pointer of the game around the 17:50 mark of the second half by Kyle Wiltjer to finally pull away from gritty Loyola 87-63.
The Cats were led in scoring by Wiltjer’s 24 points on 7-11 shooting, 3-6 from 3, and 7-8 from the free throw line.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was Mr. Everything again as he scored 15 points, had 7 rebounds, and 4 assists and also gave his usual spark when the Cats needed it the most.
Anthony Davis had a very nice game as well scoring 15 and grabbing 11 rebounds along with 3 blocks and one of those “volley”blocks would make Top Gun’s Iceman blush.
Darius Miller added 13 points on 6-11 from the field and grabbed 5 rebounds.
Rounding out the scoring for Kentucky was Doron Lamb with 9, Marquis Teague 9, and Eloy Vargas finished with 2.
The game was a tight one at the half as the Cats led 45-39. Loyola proved to be a little more difficult opponent than most Cats’ fans would have thought. They were very athletic team and had several highlight reel dunks during the contest.
Loyola was very difficult to guard in the half court for Kentucky and the Cats seemed to make their run when they finally pressured them full court. Loyola shot the ball well from behind the arc in the first half (4-10), but ended up only shooting 5-15 for the game.
Kentucky showed a lot of fight in stretches in the 2nd half and Kyle Wiltjer’s hot hand was definitely too much for Loyola to handle in the end.
The Cats take Christmas break and will begin preparing for next Wednesday’s opponent Lamar on Monday.
