It was Senior Night in Rupp Arena for Eloy Vargas and Darius Miller. It was perhaps the last home game for several other Kentucky players as well, as the Wildcats took on the Bulldogs of Georgia.
Starting five: Marquis Teague, Darius Miller, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Eloy Vargas, Anthony Davis.
Earlier this season, Georgia held Kentucky to their lowest score of the year at 57 points, by slowing things down with their zone and sets. The Bulldogs would undoubtedly look to do so again tonight.
The beginning of the game saw UK feeding Eloy Vargas in the post, as they normally do Terrence Jones. Vargas would struggle a bit with the ball in his hands so much, but did a great job on the glass and even forced a 5 second violation on one of Georgia’s first possessions.
Anthony Davis would get things going for Kentucky with 5 early points on a three pointer and a dunk in transition. Almost in response to the current national POY critique, Davis was producing offensively in almost every way possible, creating his own on the post and let me repeat, connecting from three as well.
Kentucky did a good job early of attacking Georgia’s zone and staying on the glass. They trudged through sluggish pace and steadily built a lead.
Terrence Jones came in for Eloy after about 5 minutes and made his presence known with four quick points.
Darius Miller started off his night with two nice assists and two triples of his own.
UK continued with the theme of different lineups as the night went on, throwing many different looks at the Bulldogs and not skipping a beat on any of them. Kyle Wiltjer, who just might return next year, played the best basketball he has all year. He finished the game with nine points and two rebounds.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who is incapable of playing slowly, seemed to be running laps around everyone else on the court. He had 5 of Kentucky’s first 18 rebounds as they doubled up UGA on the boards. He, Jones, and Davis have to be the scariest thing in college basketball since Bobby Knight was choking people and throwing chairs. MKG finished with twelve points and seven rebounds.
In the first half of the game Kentucky overpowered and frustrated Georgia with their defense and picked the Bulldog zone apart for an eighteen point lead at half time.
Darius Miller opened up the second half for the Cats with another three. From here, Kentucky was rolling.
At about fifteen minutes to go in the second half, off of a missed three by Terrence Jones, Anthony Davis put back a dunk that was so nasty, it should have been worth three points. You will see that one on Sportscenter, repeatedly.
Kentucky defined the phrase [I]lights out from downtown[/I], dropping seven threes in eight possessions from Kyle Wiltjer(2) and Doron Lamb(2) Marquis Teague (2) and Darius Miller(1). When a team like UK hits fifteen threes at a clip of 56%, there’s just nothing you can do.
The idea going into tonight’s game was that the best chance to beat UK was to slow them down with the zone and make them choke on jump shots. Well, Kentucky picked the perfect time to send the purveyors of that idea back to the drawing board. They dominated Georgia so completely, they nearly had seven players in double figures.
While Senior Eloy Vargas had a solid night with two points and five rebounds, Darius Miller led the Cats with seventeen points, three rebounds and two assists. He has spent four years at Kentucky and seen roughly 40 teammates come and go. He has transitioned from the roster to the history books of UK Basketball.
The CATS absolutely rolled for Darius and Eloy on senior night. They also extended their home winning streak through a third season to keep Cal perfect at Rupp, 79-49.
