By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky reached the century mark for the third straight time and rolled to a 115-69 rout of Arizona State in the Atlantis Showcase in the Bahamas Monday night.
The scoring output was the most in the John Calipari-era at Kentucky. The previous high was 111 points the top-ranked Wildcats scored against UT-Martin last Friday at Rupp Arena.
“That was good,” Calipari said. “The question becomes now … How good can we be? It may not be every night. One of the things I told them before the game was, ‘Look, we need to have a close game. We need to have an overtime game. We need to have a team make their first 10 shots and see how we respond. We need to shoot 32 percent and still win a game. We need to be in tough, physical battles and know who can respond. And that’s what our season is about. We just want to learn.”
Kentucky (7-0) placed six players in double figures, led by guard De’Aaron Fox, who became just the second player in school history to record a triple-double. Fox scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists. Chris Mills recorded a triple-double for the Wildcats in a win over Austin Peay in 1988.
“I didn’t even know that’s how long it’s been, but it felt good,” Fox said. “Honestly, it was my most efficient game shooting wise, so that’s what I feel good about. It’s ridiculous, just how hard it is for guys to get triple-doubles. The players that have come through here for all the years that they won national championships and even the years he’s been here and the players he’s had, it just (shows) how hard it is. I mean, I did it, I can’t do anything but thank my teammates, my coaches and God.”
Malik Monk led Kentucky with 23 points, followed by Isaiah Briscoe with 20, followed by Bam Adebayo with 12 points and nine rebounds. Derek Willis came off the bench and contributed 11 points, followed by Kenyan Gabrield with 10. Adebayo had three of Kentucky’s three blocks in the contest.
Briscoe was making his first appearance after missing the previous two games because of a bruise on tailbone. Briscoe made his fifth start of the season and missed just two field goals on nine attempts. Briscoe also had seven assists and collected three steals.
“Isaiah Briscoe is just a beast,” Calipari said. “Just a beast and he leads. Making shots now. Think about it, he didn’t make those last year. It was me. ‘Well, you took me out every time I missed a shot.’ Really? You played like the most minutes in our league. But now he’s comfortable at the foul line, comfortable shooting threes. He lets these guys do what they do and then he goes out and leads and defends and talks.”
Kentucky knocked down 11 shots from long range, led by Monk who drained three 3-pointers. Briscoe and Mychal Mulder added two 3-pointers each.
As a team the Wildcats had 33 assists on 44 field goals and shot 52 percent from the field, including a 39 percent clip from long range. Kentucky’s defense also was active and forced 13 turnovers, scoring 21 points off those miscues.
Calipari cleared his bench and 12 of 14 players entered the scoring column for the Wildcats.
Gametracker: UCLA at Kentucky, 12:30 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS, Channel 27, 98.1 WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter