MILWAUKEE — Otega Oweh had 20 points and three teammates scored in double figures as No. 3 seed Kentucky pulled away in the second half for a 76-57 victory over No. 14 seed Troy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region on Friday.
The Wildcats (23-11) will face sixth-seeded Illinois (22-12) in the second round on Sunday in Milwaukee. The Fighting Illini beat 11th-seeded Xavier 86-73 on Friday.
Kentucky led 35-27 at the half, then took control with a 16-point run midway through the second half.
Koby Brea, Andrew Carr and Brandon Garrison each had 13 points for Kentucky, which was upset last season as the No. 3 seed in the opening round by 14th-seeded Oakland, 80-76.
Marcus Rigsby had 17 points and Sun Belt Player of the Year Tayton Conerway added 12 for Troy (23-11), appearing in the tournament for the first time since being a No. 15 seed in 2017.
Rigsby hit two free throws to pull the Trojans within 45-39, but Troy failed to score over the next 5 1/2 minutes as Kentucky pushed its lead to 61-39 with just over eight minutes remaining. The Wildcats’ Collin Chandler scored all nine of his points during the 16-0 spurt.
The Trojans missed all six shots over that span, including five from beyond the arc.
Troy then went on a 9-0 run that cut the lead to 61-48. Kentucky responded by reeling off nine unanswered points to make it 70-48 with 2:37 left.
“It’s extremely disappointing to lose the basketball game,” said Troy head coach Scott Cross. “Our guys played hard. Kentucky’s extremely talented offensively. They got going and went on that 16-0 run, eight minutes left in the second half, that kind of changed the game. Our intensity dropped a little bit.”
Trent Noah and Carr hit consecutive 3-pointers to trigger a 10-0 run that put Kentucky in front 35-24 with 1:21 left in the first half.
Troy’s Jackson Fields snapped a scoring drought of 2 1/2 minutes with a 3-pointer from the left corner with 45 seconds left to make it 35-27.
The Wildcats shared the ball, recording 23 assists on 28 field goals. Kentucky head coach Mark Pope applauded the team’s ball protection.
“It was ball protection,” Pope said. “It was guys being diligent about being aggressive. It has to do with being super aggressive. The Troy defense is terrific. They’re a great defensive team. They’re incredibly disruptive.”
“Today was a great battle,” Chandler said. “We prepared very well for this team. This Troy team was very good. They came out and did what we thought they were going to do. I thought we did a good job in the first half of containing them on the offensive glass.”
“The second half, it got away from us a bit, but we responded very well as a team.”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
