Leading rebounder for Kentucky was freshman guard Cason Wallace<\/strong>, who came off the bench to score nine points, grab seven boards and add two assists, two steals and two blocks. Freshman Ugonna Onyenso <\/strong>made an impact on the defensive end with five blocked shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe defended fairly well and scrambled pretty good, and I thought we were good enough,\u201d Kentucky coach John Calipari said. \u201cBut you can’t play offensively like we are in that game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can say whatever we want. We had guys that when the game got physical were not making baskets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe other thing is a shot goes up, you can accept being blocked out or don’t accept it because what they said is if you don’t block out, you’re going to get dunked on,\u201d he added. \u201cSo they went back and we just put two hands in the guy’s back or chest in his back, instead of going around, go get a ball and go at people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fredrick opened the scoring with a jumper-and-one on Kentucky\u2019s second possession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Missouri Western leading 8-7, the Wildcats took control with a 9-0 run to take a 16-8 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wildcats stretched their lead to 24-10 with 4:28 remaining but Missouri Western closed the first half out with an 8-2 spurt to make the count 26-18 at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toppin\u2019s nine points and three rebounds led the UK offense while the Wildcats limited the Griffons to 31 percent from the field (9 of 29). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both teams began the second half half cold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Missouri Western scored the first basket to narrow the count to 26-20 and Kentucky\u2019s drought continued until a Toppin steal and fastbreak assist to Fredrick for a 3-pointer with 16:57 remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wildcats eased out to a 42-28 lead with 10 minutes remaining, but the pesky Griffons replied with five straight points to cut their deficit to 42-30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kentucky put the final touches on its win by outscoring Missouri Western, 14-8, the remainder of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe sprinting I thought was pretty good, but again, they’re graded,\u201d Calipari said. \u201cSo when the grading comes out we’ll have a better idea. I just have to watch \u2014 they did a great job of packing it in. We were too wide to start drives. You can’t \u2014 you’ve got to be tighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut it’s good to play a team and have done what they did to us,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I thought we did a pretty good job of guarding. Then second half I think they had one offensive rebound, but at halftime they had a bunch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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