HALFTIME: Kentucky trails UCLA 35-27 in Madison Square Garden

Welp, that wasn’t any fun, but the score could certainly be a lot worse.

The No. 13 Kentucky Wildcats trail the No. 16 UCLA Bruins 35-27 at halftime of the CBS Sports Classic in New York City. UK is shooting just 35 percent from the field and has turned the ball over 12 times through the opening 20 minutes. Meanwhile, UCLA is shooting an even 50 percent and is winning the battle in the paint.

The scheduled opening tip (5:15 p.m. EST) at Madison Square Garden was delayed over a full hour thanks to Ohio State-North Carolina going into overtime in the game before.

Cason Wallace got the ball rolling for Kentucky, scoring his team’s first five points. But at the 14:46 mark, UK trailed 11-9 and struggled to get that close again. UCLA extended its lead to double-digits midway through the half and went ahead by as many as 13. Luckily for the Big Blue Nation, the ‘Cats finally woke up down the stretch.

Kentucky finished the half on a 7-2 run to make it an eight-point deficit at the break. Wallace leads the ‘Cats with seven points and two rebounds while Oscar Tshiebwe is up to six points and nine rebounds. Sahvir Wheeler is a perfect 3-3 for six points but has turned the ball over four times. Antonio Reeves is just 1-9 overall from the floor.