By KEITH TAYLOR, Kentucky Today
LEXINGTON, Ky. (KT) — Tyler Herro was the hero for Kentucky Tuesday night.
The freshman guard scored a career-high 29 points to lead the
fourth-ranked Wildcats to a 70-66 triumph over Arkansas. The victory
kept Kentucky (24-4, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) in a first-place tie
with LSU in the Southeastern Conference standings with there games
remaining. The comeback was Kentucky’s largest of the season.
“Arkansas deserved to win the game,” Kentucky coach John Calipari
said. “We fought in the second half and did enough to win the game. But
you got to give them credit, because those kids, I mean they shot 50
percent from the three. Now you have to understand the last five games
they have shot about 25 percent from the three.
“They came in here and played. They also defended, they also
fought, they drove the ball, they went to the rim. We just happened to
make a run in the second half and beat them. But they deserved to win
this game. But I’m happy for my team.”
Kentucky trailed by 15 early in the second half before rallying
to notch its seventh consecutive victory over the Razorbacks. Herro sank
a 3-pointer with seven minutes remaining that capped a 15-3 run and
gave the Wildcats a 54-51 advantage. Kentucky made five of six free
throws — including two by Herro — in the final 26 seconds to hold off
Arkansas.
“We got off to a slow start,” Herro said. “They wanted it more in
the first half and we just had to come out in the second half. We came
together in the second half and as a group, we made plays, played
defense and got it done.”
Herro made nine of 10 field goals, including five shots from long
range. Herro also knocked down all six of his free-throw attempts and
has missed just one shot from the charity stripe since an 80-72 win over
North Carolina on Dec. Dec. 22.
“He made baskets when we broke down,” Calipari said. “He played well.”
Arkansas’ players werent surprised by the performance by Herro.
“Coming into the game, we knew what we were going to see from him
and he delivered,” said Arkansas guard Isaiah Joe, who led the
Razorbacks (14-14, 5-10) with 19 points.
“They did a good job of finding him,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said.
Herro led two players in double figures, followed by Keldon
Johnson with 13 points. Kentucky forward Nick Richards grabbed 15
rebounds as the Wildcats recorded their second straight victory without
senior forward Reid Travis.
Kentucky, which struggled in the opening half and committed 12 turnovers, but had just three in the final half to complete the successful comeback.
“I have never seen this before,” Calipari said. “One — do you
know what that means? They’re just out there playing against the
Washington Generals. They’re moving it and doing whatever they want,
passing it and doing whoever they want to give it to and, they have one
turnover. I never heard of that. At least against one of my teams, I
never heard of it. And so in the second half they only really had six,
but we only had three. So we got more aggressive, we got our intensity,
our fight jumped up and good rebounding and some other stuff.”
Gametracker: Kentucky at Tennessee, 2 p.m. Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.
