NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Duke, fall in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
14. Kentucky (6-2)
This season has seen Kentucky show potential to be one of the best offensive teams in the nation. While they lost that thriller to Kansas at the Champions Classic, they really turned up the heat on some recent opponents, dropping 101 on Stonehill and 118 on Marshall just over a week ago. Just when we’re starting to understand just what to expect from these Wildcats, they have what goes down as an insane week of basketball.
They started the week with a home test against Miami, a Top 10 team in the nation, and after a close first half pulled away for an impressive 95-73 victory. Reed Sheppard continued his hot shooting with 21 points off the bench as the Wildcats shot nearly 60% from the field. Then Saturday came along and threw that momentum out of the window, as Kentucky lost 80-73 at home to UNC Wilmington in a stunning upset. Sheppard had 25 points and 9 rebounds but didn’t get much help from his team.
That mind-boggling performance was the first time Kentucky failed to score 80 points this season and their defense wasn’t exactly flawless against those Seahawks. What began as a marvelous week with that huge win over the Hurricanes gets completely marred by such a questionable performance. Penn is the only opponent on next week’s schedule, with the Wildcats desperately needing a major bounce back effort in Philadelphia.