Its competition will soon get significantly stiffer, but the University of Kentucky basketball team did nothing in two exhibition games to quiet the hype about the preseason No. 1 Wildcats or shake coach John Calipari’s faith that his unusual two-platoon system will work.
After a 48-point rout of Pikeville last week, Kentucky hammered Georgetown College 121-52 on Sunday night at Rupp Arena. The Cats got blitzes from both platoons – 16-0 by the starters in the first half and 14-2 by the second wave out of halftime – and seven players scored at least 11 points.
The first unit – twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Alex Poythress, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein, same as the first exhibition – was particularly devastating. Those five, with a brief substitution appearance by Dominque Hawkins, outscored the Tigers 56-14 and hit 20 of 28 field goals in their first four rotations covering a total of 15:50.