CLEVELAND, Ohio — Having exceeded expectations already, West Virginia was aiming to completely obliterate them at The Q.
But those aspirations were quickly swatted away.
Kentucky towers over college basketball, and it was too tall, too talented and too much for the Mountaineers, delivering a 78-39 walloping.
We were courtside tonight. Here’s a recap of the in-game updates:
FINAL
Kentucky wins 78-39 (final)
Trey Lyles had 14 points to lead five double-digit scorers for the Wildcats (37-0), who held West Virginia to 24-percent shooting. … Juwan Staten concluded his stellar career with 14 points and one assist as WVU closed the season 25-10.
Kentucky leads 74-36 (3:19 second half)
Jonathan Holton fouled out for the Mountaineers who are looking at a historically-bad margin, but then again, this a historically superior Kentucky group. The Wildcats have five players in double figures and West Virginia has one—Staten with 14 points.
Kentucky leads 54-19 (11:58 second half)
Starting the second half on a 10-1 run, the Wildcats aren’t letting West Virginia back in this one. WVU’s shooting isn’t allowing it either, thanks to an 0-of-11 start.
Kentucky leads 48-19 (15:55 second half)
The refs continue to have quick whistles but their contributions to this outcome are minimal. Kentucky is playing at the level it needs to win this tournament, and I think everyone suspected it would take an extremely subpar night to knock them out. Instead, it’s WVU having the subpar game and we’re in for a laugher. … Aaron Harrison walked off clutching his left hand, which appeared to have a finger pointing in an atypical direction. But a trainer accompanied him into a tunnel and Harrison quickly returned.
HALFTIME
Kentucky leads 44-18 (halftime)
Soooooo, anyone want to talk second-half strategy? (crickets) The Mountaineers needed to create turnovers and make enough 3s to loosen up Kentucky’s defense. Instead the were minus-three in turnover margin and made 1-of-8 shots from deep.
Kentucky leads 44-18 (halftime)
West Virginia just wrapped up its lowest-scoring first half of the season, eclipsing the 20 points scored at … wait for it … Northern Kentucky. The Mountaineers made 5-of-26 shots for 19 percent, while the Wildcats were 14-of-23 for 61 percent, the last of those on an alley-oop from Andrew Harrison to Wilie Cauley-Stein. … Aaron Harrison scored 12 for UK with Trey Lyles adding 10, Andrew Harrison eight and Devin Booker eight. Staten’s nine points paced the Mountaineers.
Kentucky leads 38-15 (3:53 first half)
Kentucky is now 4-of-7 from 3, and they have been measured, relaxed jumpers. I was closer to Booker than a WVU defender on the one from the corner. … Fouls are mounting on both sides, but Jaysean Paige was the first player to pick up his third. Browne, TarikPhillip and Williams each have two—Williams managing to play the past nine-plus minutes without adding to his total. … WVU is 4-of-20 from the field, while the Cats are 12-of-19.
Kentucky leads 30-10 (7:36 first half)
The Cats own a 12-2 scoring edge in the paint but they’re also 3-of-6 from deep after Devin Booker just popped open on the left wing. The Mountaineers have committed six turnovers, one against Presstucky in the backcourt.
Kentucky leads 18-2 (11:50 first half)
Aaron Harrison has outscored the Mountaineers 10-2 and WVU is off to a 1-of-11 start from the floor. Most of the shots have been contested by Kentucky, but even when Staten used a crossover dribble to get a fairly clear path to the basket, his runner rolled out. Kentucky has owned the boards 10-4.
Kentucky leads 7-2 (16:33 first half)
After a 3 by Aaron Harrison, Huggins spends a timeout. Far more daunting than the five-point deficit were the two quick fouls on Devin Williams—the second coming on a charge only 1:14 into the game. Williams lowered his shoulder into Karl-Anthony Towns, who had picked up a charging foul on the opposite end, meaning either/or was picking up No. 2, and it went against WVU. From courtside, it looked like the correct call.
PREGAME NOTES
Update: Notre Dame, behind 55-percent shooting, knocked out Wichita State 81-70 in the night’s first game. And because it progressed quickly, we’re actually on schedule for a pre-10 p.m. tipoff.
Common opponents: The Mountaineers had a 2-2 record against Kansas, LSU and Buffalo, while Kentucky went 3-0 vs. those teams.
Remember WVU blew a 14-point lead to LSU in Morgantown (losing 73-72), a loss that haunted Huggins for a while. (He may not look in the rearview mirror, yet he lamented that one well into conference play.)
LSU rallied from 10 down against Kentucky in Baton Rouge and led in the final 2 minutes before falling 71-69.
So if comparable scores ignoring the home/road effect are your thing, there’s reason to believe tonight’s game could be tight.
Feeling fearless: Daxter Miles enunciated it most abruptly, but the no-fear attitude is prevalent throughout WVU’s roster.
“You know, we’ve been doubted the whole season. We weren’t supposed to be here two weeks ago, to be honest,” said Devin Williams. “That kind of goes out, everybody already had their bracket made as far as what was going to happen and how it was going to happen.
“We need to go out and have fun and just be together. At the end of the day, it’s really just about us going out there and just competing as hard as we can and just going out and having fun and soaking up the moment.
Kentucky big-littles: When it comes to breaking the press, the Wildcats’ big men inevitably must pass and/or dribble out of traps. Devin Booker says that won’t be a problem.
“I feel like our big guys can do a lot of things our little guys do. We’ve got a lot of bigs who can do ‘guard’ things. The bigs basically go through the game workout that the guards do.”
Kentucky has been one of the nation’s most efficient offenses, and its turnover rate is among the best in the nation. So naturally, there are questions about whether WVU’s pressure will be effective.
“Why wouldn’t it?” said Juwan Staten. “We’ve been playing this way all year, we’ve had success against everybody no matter what style or what type of players they have. That’s the only way we play and it’s just up to us to make it work.”
Enough reminiscing: Senior guard Gary Browne fielded one too many questions about the lingering relevance of West Virginia’s 2010 upset of top-seeded Kentucky.
“I’ve been hearing about that 2010 team since freshman year. Jesus Christ, I love those guys, but you as a player you get sick of it,” he said.
“They’re not here no more. This (roster) is what we’ve got know. We’re going to build a new legacy. I’m not being disrespectful of those other guys—they know that I love them and they’ve made history in our program—but we want to do better than that.”
Calipari overlooked: When the U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Tony Bennett as national coach of the year, there arose some grousing in the Bluegrass State.
“Awards are awards,” said Kentucky forward Karl-Anthony Towns. “I know he would love that award, but at the end of the day I know the biggest thing he wants is a national title, so we’re going to try to go out there and win it for him.”