Hilltoppers fall in bluegrass battle with No. 8 Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tuesday night, Hank Plona and the Hilltoppers visited historic Rupp Arena to face off against the eighth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats for the final game of the BBN Invitational.

Early in the game, the Tops were holding their own with Mark Pope’s squad, keeping things close behind production from a handful of Tops, but a 7-0 run from Kentucky would draw things apart just five minutes in.

The Hilltoppers stayed resilient throughout the half, though, only trailing by 12 points at the break, and the WKU defense was a testament to how tight the contest had been, keeping the Wildcats at just four made three-point attempts.

The second half saw the Tops continue to play aggressive on both sides of the basketball, forcing turnovers and missed shots on defense, and finding ways to eat at the Wildcats’ lead, cutting it down to just nine points with 14 minutes to go.

It would draw even closer as WKU would hold Kentucky to hitting just one of their next eight shots, while the Tops continued to chip away, getting the game within six points.

However, down the stretch the Wildcats would pull away from Coach Plona’s group, as shots stopped falling for the Tops, and WKU would fall in big blue territory by a final score of 87-68.

The biggest story of the night for the Tops was freshman guard Julius Thedford, who made a name for himself on the national stage, tying for the most points in the game with 18.

Thedford was a spark plug in the WKU offense, attacking the rim and drawing fouls on the Kentucky, where he went 7-10 from the free throw stripe.

Overall, both teams combined for 49 fouls on the night in what turned out to be a very physical game, after the Tops forced Kentucky to find a new revenue of points than in their past five wins.

Kentucky entered the night averaging 12 three-pointers made and 97 points a game, but Tuesday, they were held to 8-29 from beyond the arc and just 87 total points.

In addition to the play of Thedford, WKU was led by Babacar Faye with 16 points and six rebounds, and Enoch Kalambay, who dropped 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Hilltopper guard Don McHenry struggled to get things going in Rupp, finishing his night shooting 3-16 and tallying just nine points.

Despite the loss, Coach Plona and his team managed to go toe-to-toe with a top-10 team in the country for the majority of the night, and have a lot to take away from their in-state battle with the Wildcats.

The team will look to bounce back with a win on Saturday night when they welcome old conference foe Marshall into Diddle Arena at 7 p.m.