Wisconsin 36, Kentucky 36: Second Half Game Thread

Well, that was a great half of basketball by Wisconsin. I thought Kentucky was just okay, and defensively, they made a lot of the same kinds of mistakes that they made against Notre Dame. But honestly, this score is primarily due to Wisconsin shooting lights-out from three, and Kentucky yielding far too many offensive rebounds.

First half stats

Halftime. Tied at 36. (vs. Notre Dame, was tied at 31). Stats: pic.twitter.com/iKdMWxCGp3

— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) April 5, 2015

This was very much the first half I expected. The Wisconsin Badgers are a talented and dangerous basketball team, and there is no doubt whatever that they are among the top three teams in the nation. The good news in this half of basketball is that Kentucky can play much better than this. I was disappointed in the number of obvious fouls that were not called on Wisconsin in that half, but honestly, that’s just the way things sometimes go. Perhaps we’ll have better luck in the second half.

The main thing Kentucky needs to do is clean up the rebounding. The Wildcats are not in foul trouble anywhere, and Calipari did a very good job rotating in players. Don’t listen to those that tell you that the plethora of timeouts render depth moot in college basektball’s biggest tournament. You can’t get those calories back. They are gone until tomorrow. Kentucky’s depth will matter, and Calipari used it masterfully that half.

But the Wildcats need to play better than this, and they are fully capable of playing much better on both ends of the court. If they really want to win this game, they have to find a way to do a better job defending the three and taking care of the defensive glass.

Back to even, Wildcats fans. I like our team. Let’s get this done. Go, ‘Cats!