Terrence Jones Takes Over, Kentucky Pulls Away From Notre Dame

Filed under: Kentucky, Notre Dame, Big East, SEC

Late in the second half of Wednesday night's game against No. 23 Notre Dame, Kentucky found its 11-point lead had been whittled down to four. So Kentucky did what any sane human being would do in that situation: look to Terrence Jones. The unflappable freshman scored 12 of No. 17 Kentucky's final 15 points en route to a dazzling 27-point, 17-rebound performance to lead the Wildcats to a 72-58 win in Louisville.

Kentucky coach John Calipari voiced concern prior to this game, given Notre Dame's edge in experience and its recent success rebounding the ball. That, coupled with the Wildcats' inability to defend the post, seemed to be the exact same formula that yielded Kentucky's loss against North Carolina Saturday in Chapel Hill. And that's just how the game began, except Notre Dame was doing its damage on the perimeter.

Ben Hansbrough -- kin to Tyler, in case you didn't catch the broadcast to hear Jimmy Dykes frequently mention their common intangibles -- provided an early spark for the Irish, draining four quick 3-pointers in the span of a minute and a half, taunting the largely partisan Kentucky crowd all the while. His antics continued -- both the grandstanding and scoring -- throughout the majority of the first half. He had 19 at the break, including 5-of-6 from three, and led the Irish to an 11-point lead -- their largest -- with just under five minutes to play before halftime.

A balanced 13-2 Kentucky run to close the half, ignited by a Jones dunk, brought the Wildcats even. Only freshmen scored for Kentucky during the run, a theme that continued for much of the game, as non-freshmen only accounted for 16 of Kentucky's 72 points. Josh Harrellson, Kentucky's lone senior, spent the majority of the half on the bench with two fouls. And if there was a penalty for bad fouls, he'd have received that as well. Harrellson, the one player Kentucky absolutely needs on the floor as much as possible, fouled a jump shooter and followed that up by delivering a hip check on a slashing drive -- both in the first four minutes.

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2010/12/09/terrence-jones-takes-over-kentucky-pulls-away-from-notre-dame/

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