FINAL: Kentucky takes down High Point 92-48 after Tubby Smith's jersey retirement

Kentucky’s game against High Point was about more than the final score. On New Year’s Eve, the Wildcats brought back former head coach Tubby Smith, now the head coach at High Point, on New Year’s Eve to retire his jersey and put his name into the Rupp Arena rafters.

It was an emotional evening for Coach Smith and a group of his former teammates in attendance, who were greeted by a nearly packed house in Lexington 20 minutes prior to tipoff. Smith coached at Kentucky from 1997-2007, winning the 1998 NCAA National Championship while compiling an overall record of 263-83.

His jersey retirement was a long time coming, but Tubby Smith is finally being properly honored by UK. Check out all of KSR’s pictures from the pre-game ceremony right here.

Now let’s talk about the actual game.

Kentucky cruised to its fourth consecutive blowout victory, taking a 92-48 win over Coach Smith and High Point. The ‘Cats shot 59 percent from the floor, 10-26 from beyond the arc, and 4-8 from the free-throw line. UK finished with 23 assists on 39 made shots while grabbing 18 more rebounds than High Point and recording 32 more points in the paint.

Cats by 44 😼 pic.twitter.com/bcAWmrwd9s

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) December 31, 2021

Just as he did in during Wednesday’s win over Missouri, TyTy Washington got Kentucky rolling with a smooth three-pointer. UK’s offense quickly began to percolate, but the defense took some time to catch up. Credit is due to Tubby Smith and High Point though, as the Panthers played sound basketball and kept the score tight early on.

The score was tied 14 a little over seven minutes into the game as Sahvir Wheeler struggled out of the gate. However, his teammates would pick up the slack. Kentucky was able to build a 26-19 advantage with seven minutes left in the half before taking full control.

UK closed the first half on an 11-0 run over the final 3:36 and a 17-3 run over the final 5:10. High Point failed to score a single point in the last four minutes of the half, heading into the locker room down 43-25.

The second half was a continuation of the end of the first. Kentucky bounced its lead to 20-plus by the first media timeout. Kellan Grady was on a heater, canning five of six triples to the delight of the Rupp Arena crowd. The UK lead would grow to 30 and eventually surpass 40 before settling on a final score of 92-48.

Dontaie Allen was able to find significant playing time due to the blowout but failed to score on 0-5 shooting in 10 minutes of action.

Grady finished with 23 points, tying a season-high for him, on 7-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Oscar Tshiebwe fell short of a double-double, posting 15 points and eight rebounds. Washington added 15 points while Davion Mintz dropped in 10 more to round out the double-figure scorers for UK.