GREENSBORO, N.C. (WDRB) – Even in a rock fight, it’s nice to have a flamethrower. Antonio Reeves made five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 22 points and Kentucky moved past its first-round failure of a year ago with a 61-53 victory over Providence Thursday night in Greensboro Coliseum.
The game was played largely within a 10-point window, and Providence closed within three points early in the second half and six points late, but Kentucky turned in a gritty performance on both ends, and got 25 rebounds from Oscar Tshiebwe.
That's a new UK single-game record for an NCAA Tournament contest, besting the 24 rebounds grabbed by Jerry Bird against Iowa in the 1956 Elite Eight and the 21 pulled down by Bill Spivey vs. Kansas State in the 1951 championship.
The offensive difference was a first-half tear by Antonio Reeves. In the last 10 ½ minutes of the first half, the transfer senior hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points. A pair of those came during a 10-0 UK run that put the Wildcats up late in the first half and left them with a 7-point halftime lead.
"That was huge," Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick said. "It wasn't that high-scoring of a game. It was kind of possession to possession. So when he can hit a couple of threes like that it's huge for us, because we were doing a good job of getting some stops."
Providence pulled within 3 to open the second half on a Noah Locke 3-pointer, but three straight scores by Cason Wallace, and another 3 by Reeves, helped Kentucky pull back ahead by 9.
Tshiebwe had as many first half rebounds (13) as the entire Providence team. He picked up his third foul, however, with 14:17 left in the game and UK up 42-37. It didn’t matter. UK extended its lead when he was on the bench.
The Wildcats outscored Providence 18-2 on second-chance points and outrebounded the Friars 48-31.
"He is very quick to the ball. He has a knack for the ball," Providence coach Ed Cooley said of Tshiebwe. "Sometimes you just have an 'it,' ala Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace. Those guys just have an 'it' for it. Some guys have an 'it' to score. Some people have an 'it' to pass. He has an incredible 'it,' an elite 'it' to rebound. I think the players did a great job trying to prepare for it. You know, he is quick. He is long. He is athletic. You know, credit him. It's not like we were out there not trying, so I think it's double the credit to him."
Jacob Toppin added 18 points for Kentucky, which will face No. 3 seed Kansas State on Sunday. The Wildcats put Montana State away 77-65. KSU opens as a 1-point favorite in the early lines out of Las Vegas.
Kansas State coach Jerome Tang was asked after the win about the challenge of facing Kentucky.
"This won't be my first time playing Kentucky," he said. "We broke their 55-game win streak when I was at Baylor at Rupp, and the other two times that we played them a neutral site we won. You know, I understand how the Cats travel, but our Cats travel too."
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