Reed Sheppard Leads Kentucky Over Miami, 95-73
The Miami Hurricanes ran into a buzzsaw in the Kentucky Wildcats and were destroyed in the second half en route to a 95-73 loss. One player should be considered the catalyst for the Wildcats.
Kentucky sophomore guard Reed Sheppard is a quality player. However, his 21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block versus Miami should be considered more than a "quality" performance. More like an All-American performance.
In particular, Sheppard's 4 assists would also be half of the Miami team total for assists with 8. Kentucky's passing is tremendous and Miami needs to go back to the drawing board on how to share the basketball. There is a particular moment in the game when those UK assists really started to mount.
With 7:53 remaining in the first half and Miami up 29-23 after a Norchad Omier dunk, Kentucky's John Calipari calls a timeout. From that point forward, Sheppard and the Cats began to play at an entirely different level, especially passing to the open player no matter which one it would be. That's not all as it relates to Kentucky's unselfish play.
Their defensive rotation ran Miami off the 3-point line, and Kentucky players won more than their fair share of the loose balls. The hustle plays then led to some incredible shooting. Check out the following shooting numbers for UK as a whole.
The Wildcats shot 37 of 62, 59.7%, for the game. From behind the 3-point arc, Sheppard goes 5 of 9 and the Cats are 9 of 21 overall, 42.9%. To be honest, Miami's defenders did a good job of staying on Kentucky's shooters through the first half of play. The second half, however, did not operate in the same fashion.
Kentucky's 42 to 37 halftime lead quickly ballooned to 51-39 with 18:39 remaining in the second half as Sheppard connected on a layup. Timeout Jim Larrañaga, but the bleeding continues.
The Sheppard-show included another made 3-point bucket at the 16:21 mark. Then, with 15:31 to play, it's Sheppard once more from downtown. This young man simply stole the show. Along with his teammates, Sheppard and the Cats went all-out for the entirety of the contest.
Tre Mitchell's layup off an assist from Rob Dillingham made the score 91 to 62, a 29-point lead for UK with 4:51 to play. It's the largest lead of the game and a symbol of Kentucky's team play throughout the contest.
The only disappointment for UK is star point guard DJ Wagner coming up hobbled with what appears to be an ankly injury during the first half. He only played 10 minutes, scoring 5 points.
For the Canes, they must regroup after playing solid basketball for one half and just collapsing during the second half. Here are the three leading playmakers for each squad (Sheppard's stats are above):
Kentucky
Antonio Reeves: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Tre Mitchell: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.
Adou Thiero: 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block.
Miami
Norchad Omier: 20 points and 6 rebounds.
Wooga Poplar: 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Christian Watson: 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist.
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