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LEXINGTON — It wasn’t hard for Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy to explain why Kentucky beat his Aggies 68-51 here Tuesday night.
“I really thought Kentucky’s physicalness and their length and just how physical they are gave us a lot of problems scoring,” said Kennedy. “It seems that when they got to the rim, they got to the free-throw line and finished. When we got to the rim, they were blocking and changing shots. Their freshmen and sophomores were longer and more physical.
“We are not a very deep team and I thought their depth wore us down. They are just bigger and stronger at every position and they wore us down more than anything. We struggled getting to the rim and keeping them off. It seemed like they were playing ping pong off the backboard in one stretch.”
Kentucky outrebounded the Aggies 42-24 and pulled off 12 offensive boards that turned into 15 second chance points. The Wildcats had four players with seven or more rebounds led by Julius Randle’s 11.
Kennedy said he wanted UK to shoot 3’s — and the Wildcats opened the game by making three early to take a lead they never relinquished.
“You have to protect the paint,” Kennedy said. “I have watched the Harrison twins for years get to the foul line. Everyone on the floor can drive the lane. They just wore us down by continually driving the ball and getting to the free-throw line. They did a good job attacking the basket.”
Kentucky, which was 23 for 24 at the foul line in Saturday’s win over Tennessee, was 18 for 27 at the line while A&M made 11 of 21.
The Texas A&M coach also praised Kentucky’s potential.
“Kentucky’s kids are young. They are extremely talented but they are learning how to play hard. They are gifted bodies but maturing like a 19- or 20-year-old gifted body would mature,” Kennedy said. “John (Calipari) has a good team and has done a great job being patient. They have a young squad and I thought they had some guys make more physical, more mature plays than we did."
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