Throughout his tenure at Kentucky, John Calipari has counted on freshmen every season. The Cats have had great success with a number of first-year players, going four Final Fours and winning the 2012 NCAA Championship under Calipari.
This year’s Cats are built around more experienced players. Defending National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, senior transfer Antonio Reeves and others have led the way for UK this season.
But with the Cats facing No. 10 Tennessee in an extremely important game on Saturday, it was the Kentucky freshmen who stepped up, in a big way.
Kentucky (18-9, 9-5 SEC) got off to an outstanding start in the game, holding UT to one for 11 shooting early in the game and grabbing a 10-2 lead.
The early onslaught continued throughout the half, with UK expanding the lead as the half progressed. The half closed with an 8-0 Kentucky run that gave the Cats a 39-19 lead at the break.
Oh, and those freshmen? Cason Wallace had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists in the game and Chris Livingston had 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, his first career double-double, as the Cats beat Tennessee 66-54, giving the Cats a sweep of the regular season series between the rivals.