A 1, 2, 3 Punch of Upsets, Could Kentucky get by Wake Forest, 20 March 2010

On a day of upsets, 1 Kansas, 2 Villanova, and 3 New Mexico all saw their seasons come to an earlier end than expected.  Could Kentucky get by the upset bug against Wake Forest and move on to their first sweet sixteen since 2005?

Wake Forest started the game on fire and quickly gathered a 5-point lead, but Kentucky came right back and made it a back and forth game.  The game was tied 19-19 with about 11 minutes left in the first half, when Wake Forest’s star player, Aminu picked up his third personal foul.  He had to head to the bench and the Kentucky Wildcats took over the game to take a huge lead, 44-28, into halftime.  Darius Miller was on fire in the first half to lead the Wildcats.

Kentucky started the second half on fire as a team and quickly walked away with the game, leading by 20+ points the rest of the way through.  Darius Miller finished with a season high of 20 points.  DeMarcus Cousins was able to get out of his slump with 19 points.  Eric Bledsoe followed up his career-high night against ETSU with 13 points against Wake Forest and John Wall was just, well, being John Wall.  The final score of the game was 90-60 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
Darius Miller - 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists
DeMarcus Cousins - 19 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block, 1 assist, 1 steal
John Wall - 14 points, 7 assists (5 turnovers)
Eric Bledsoe - 13 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
Daniel Orton - 6 points, 1 block, 1 steal
Patrick Patterson - 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist
DeAndre Liggins - 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

The Kentucky Wildcats will play either Wisconsin or Cornell in the sweet sixteen next week.  The Wisconsin/Cornell game will be decided tomorrow, 21 March 2010.