NCAA Tournament Second Round - Wake Forest vs Kentucky

(1) Kentucky 90, (9) Wake Forest 60

On a day when a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, and a No. 3 seed fell, top-seeded Kentucky avoided the upset bug and rolled to a 90-60 win over ninth-seeded Wake Forest.

The win was the Wildcats’ 100th all-time in NCAA tournament play. They won with a tenacious half-court defense and an uncanny shooting touch, and as a result of their excellence, they will advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005.

The Wildcats hit 60 % of their shots from the field while Wake shot just 32 %. The Demon Deacons were a miserable 2-of-15 (13%) from 3-point range.

It didn’t help the Demon Deacons that Al-Farouq Aminu, their leading scorer and rebounder, spent much of the first half on the bench after he picked up his third personal foul midway through the first half. He finished with 16 points but most of them came after the game had been decided.

Truth be told, Aminu’s absence probably didn’t make that much of a difference on Saturday evening in New Orleans. Kentucky led 44-28 at halftime, and in the first five minutes after intermission, with Aminu in Wake’s lineup on the floor, the Wildcats outscored the Demon Deacons 16-5, essentially putting an end to the competitive phase of this game.

Whenever the Demon Deacons showed a hint at making a run inside New Orleans Arena, Kentucky not only had an answer but the Wildcats had a variety of weapons from which to choose. When Wake cut the lead to 25 at one point, Eric Bledsoe dunked after driving down the lane. He then nabbed a steal on the other end and streaked down the court to make a layup to put Kentucky up, 66-37.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ freshman sensation John Wall was up to his usual tricks as well: bombing threes, driving the lane, dishing out assists, and harassing Wake defensively. Wall poured in 14 points and had 7 assists.

Darius Miller (7-of-9 field goals, 20 points, 9 rebounds) and DeMarcus Cousins (9-of-10 field goals, 19 points, 8 rebounds ) also took turns making life miserable for Wake Forest. The proceedings got so far out of hand that Kentucky coach John Calipari started to empty his bench with about four and a half minutes left to play.

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The first half was fairly evenly played until about midway through the period. However, with 11:39 left, Aminu - Wake Forest’s leading scorer and rebounder - picked up his third foul. Kentucky quickly took advantage with a 7-0 scoring run.

One sequence demonstrated the Demon Deacons’ woes. First, Wake's point guard Ishmael Smith went for a dunk on a fast break and slammed the ball into the back of the rim. The Wildcats’ Patrick Patterson pulled in the rebound on the fly several feet on Kentucky’s side of midcourt. Shortly later, coming out of a timeout, Wake Forest committed a shot clock violation. Soon after that, Demon Deacon forward L.D. Williams blew a layup. Those kinds of plays reflected the frustration of the boys from the Atlantic Coast Conference, who stood no chance against the might of Big Blue.

Kentucky left Wake with little room for error. The Wildcats were giving the Demon Deacons a great deal of difficulty in dealing with their quick, active halfcourt defense. On the other end of the court, Kentucky was on fire, shooting 14 for 16 (88 %) inside the three-point arc.

It looked as though Wake Forest might come out of the half in decent shape despite the absence of Aminu, as the Deacs cut the margin to single digits at 36-28 with 3:17 left in the half. However, Kentucky scored the final eight points of the half to take a comfortable 44-28 lead into the locker room.

Next up: Kentucky plays the winner of Sunday’s Cornell-Wisconsin game in the Sweet 16 in Syracuse, N.Y.

By: Rich Tandler
ACC-Fans Guest Writer