Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky: Wildcats Coast Past Hilltoppers in 2nd Round

Despite Syracuse (and the referees) almost blowing it against UNC-Ashville, the March Madness law of a No. 16 seed never beating a No. 1 seed stood firm as the Kentucky Wildcats began their 2012 tournament run against Western Kentucky. About two-and-a-half hours later, that record was secured with an 81-66 Kentucky victory.

The Good

• This is the Terrence Jones that Big Blue Nation wants to see for the rest of the month. Jones was incredibly explosive (especially in the first half), scoring 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. He also managed to bump his stat line to a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds.
• After a relatively cold SEC tournament (especially in the championship game), Doron Lamb found his stroke again, shooting 7-of-12 (2-of-4 from behind the arc) for 16 points.
• Anthony Davis nearly had a triple-double, scoring 16 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking seven shots. 

The Bad

• Marquis Teague didn't play terribly, but he did have three turnovers against only four assists.  
• The bench got to see some more minutes than usual, but aside from Darius Miller's six points, they weren't very productive. Wiltjer's minutes, however, were better defensively than his stat line can give him credit for.
• Western Kentucky was actually able to hang with Kentucky for a good portion of the first half. At the 10:25 mark, they were only down 18-17.

The Weird

• According to Kentucky Sport Radio's Matt Jones (who was seated next to the Western Kentucky Bench), Hilltopper coach Ray Harper told his team during a timeout, "See I told you. We are the BETTER BASKETBALL TEAM when we get back on defense!"
• Anthony Davis received a technical foul early in the second half for hanging on the rim—and being unfairly awesome.
• For some reason, ESPN.com's stat line for the game had Eloy Vargas successfully making a three-pointer during the game. This stat stayed up for almost the entire first and second half, causing me (and probably many others) to wonder if we had somehow missed the basketball equivalent of a unicorn running by the window.
• Once again, per Matt Jones, a referee threatened to smack a WKU assistant coach on the butt.

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