FINAL: Kentucky sets Rupp Arena ablaze with 118-82 win over Marshall

The Marshall Thundering Herd came into Rupp Arena on Friday night and scored 82 points on 42 percent overall shooting. Marshall brought in a fast-paced offense, featuring a run-and-gun brand of basketball that didn’t slow down from start to finish. They also lost by 36 points.

Against almost any other opponent, Marshall played well enough to have a shot at the win on Friday. But not many teams in the country were going to beat this Kentucky squad. Not playing like this. The Wildcats rolled the Thundering Herd in a game that was over before halftime. No. 16 Kentucky (5-1) beat down Marshall (2-4) 118-82, scoring more points in the first half at Rupp Arena (69) than any other half in school history. 118 total points is also the most ever in the John Calipari era.

Six Wildcats finished with at least 10 points, including a pair of teammates surpassing the 20-point mark. Freshman DJ Wagner led the way with a career-best 28 points, five assists, and three steals. He was followed up by 23 (5-7 3PT) more from fifth-year Antonio Reeves. Fellow fifth-year Tre Mitchell added 18 points, four rebounds, and four assists while freshman Rob Dillingham went for 16 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. Two more freshmen, Reed Sheppard and Justin Edwards, chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.

As a team, Kentucky shot a blazing 60.8 percent from the field, 16-27 from downtown (59.3 percent), and 12-15 from the free throw line (80 percent). Despite losing the rebounding battle by one (38-37), UK finished with just nine turnovers and dominated the Thundering Herd in nearly every offensive aspect of the game.

It didn’t start out as a blowout though. Surprise, surprise — another opponent came into Rupp Arena and caught fire in the opening minutes. A tradition that Kentucky just can’t seem to shake — even if it ultimately played little role in the final outcome. Marshall connected on four of five three-pointers in the opening six minutes, keeping pace with an already fast UK offense. The score was 15-14 in favor of the Wildcats with 14:06 left in the first half.

But then, Kentucky decided to put this game to bed in a hurry. An immediate 9-0 response from the Wildcats made it a double-digit lead for the home team. Roughly 12 minutes into the night, UK was already doubling up Marshall on the scoreboard, 38-19. Kentucky’s advantage ballooned to 20-plus from there and even touched 30 at one point before the Thundering Herd hit a pair of free-throws to end the first half, making it 69-41 after 20 minutes of play.

69 points for Kentucky was the most in a single half in program history at Rupp Arena. The ‘Cats got there by shooting a lights-out split of 65/72.7/90, including 18 assists on 26 made buckets. As a team, UK recorded just four first-half turnovers and won the rebounding battle 24-14. Four UK players had already reached double-digits in scoring by the intermission.

With the end result all but decided, the second half still saw more firepower from the Kentucky offense. The Wildcats hit the 100-point mark with over eight minutes left in the game. The three-point shooting cooled off *a bit* after halftime — only 8-16 in the second half — but the overall shooting remained red-hot. UK scored 49 points in the second half on a 55.9 percent shooting clip.

Up next: Kentucky will stay in Lexington as they are set to host the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.