Monday, November 29
Lexington, Ky.
7 p.m.
Central Michigan University
1-5,0-0MAC
57
at
85
Kentucky
6-1,0-0SEC
1
2
F
Central Mich.
25
32
57
Kentucky
51
34
85
Photo by: Silas Walker
CMU Men Fall At No. 9/10 Kentucky
11/29/2021 9:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Some determination, some grit, some bright spots, some lessons.
But against a top-10 team, it takes more.
Kentucky hit 11 of its first 12 field goal attempts in streaking to an early 20-point lead on Monday as the Wildcats handed Central Michigan an 85-57 nonconference men's basketball loss before 18,080 at storied Rupp Arena.
It was CMU's second loss in a seven-day stretch to a college basketball blueblood, beginning with No. 1 Gonzaga a week ago. Kentucky (6-1) entered Monday's game ninth in the Associated Press poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll.
The Chippewas are 1-5 and are scheduled to play at Xavier (5-1) on Wednesday (6:30 p.m.). The Musketeers were ranked 25th before falling out of the polls this week after taking their first loss of the season, 82-70, to Iowa State.
"Hopefully our fans are watching this team grow before their eyes," said first-year CMU coach Tony Barbee, who served on Kentucky coach John Calipari's staff for seven seasons before taking over the CMU program in April. "We've played a difficult schedule; we're getting better and brighter days are coming.
"That was part of the process of playing this schedule because we wanted to test ourselves against the best so we know what the measuring stick is and how far we've got to climb."
Jermaine Jackson Jr. scored 11 points to lead the Chippewas, who fell behind, 25-5, less than seven minutes into the game and trailed 51-25 at halftime.
Cameron Healy and Miroslav Stafl added nine points each for CMU, which played a much better second half and was outscored by just two, 34-32, over the final 20 minutes.
"I thought we did a better job of controlling the pace in the second half," Barbee said. "We did a better job of scrapping and fighting. I thought we settled down, we got into our rhythm and when we executed, we got good opportunities. When we broke things off and we went on our own, it wasn't so successful. We've just got to get better at honing things in.
"We're progressively getting better. It's just hard to see against these types of teams that we're playing, and it doesn't get any easier on Wednesday. Our record is not indicative of how good of a team we're becoming. We're playing some hard teams. We're playing some of the best teams in the country, and we're getting better."
But against a top-10 team, it takes more.
Kentucky hit 11 of its first 12 field goal attempts in streaking to an early 20-point lead on Monday as the Wildcats handed Central Michigan an 85-57 nonconference men's basketball loss before 18,080 at storied Rupp Arena.
It was CMU's second loss in a seven-day stretch to a college basketball blueblood, beginning with No. 1 Gonzaga a week ago. Kentucky (6-1) entered Monday's game ninth in the Associated Press poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll.
The Chippewas are 1-5 and are scheduled to play at Xavier (5-1) on Wednesday (6:30 p.m.). The Musketeers were ranked 25th before falling out of the polls this week after taking their first loss of the season, 82-70, to Iowa State.
"Hopefully our fans are watching this team grow before their eyes," said first-year CMU coach Tony Barbee, who served on Kentucky coach John Calipari's staff for seven seasons before taking over the CMU program in April. "We've played a difficult schedule; we're getting better and brighter days are coming.
"That was part of the process of playing this schedule because we wanted to test ourselves against the best so we know what the measuring stick is and how far we've got to climb."
Jermaine Jackson Jr. scored 11 points to lead the Chippewas, who fell behind, 25-5, less than seven minutes into the game and trailed 51-25 at halftime.
Cameron Healy and Miroslav Stafl added nine points each for CMU, which played a much better second half and was outscored by just two, 34-32, over the final 20 minutes.
"I thought we did a better job of controlling the pace in the second half," Barbee said. "We did a better job of scrapping and fighting. I thought we settled down, we got into our rhythm and when we executed, we got good opportunities. When we broke things off and we went on our own, it wasn't so successful. We've just got to get better at honing things in.
"We're progressively getting better. It's just hard to see against these types of teams that we're playing, and it doesn't get any easier on Wednesday. Our record is not indicative of how good of a team we're becoming. We're playing some hard teams. We're playing some of the best teams in the country, and we're getting better."
Team Stats
CMU
UK
FG%
.411
.431
3FG%
.438
.269
FT%
.571
.667
RB
30
47
TO
15
6
STL
2
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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