East Tennessee St. Buccaneers vs Kentucky Wildcats Match Player Stats On Nov 17, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Nov 17, 2017

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- No. 7 Kentucky opened a four-game homestand on Friday night with a 78-61 victory over East Tennessee State.

Freshman point guard Quade Green enjoyed a career night with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Freshman forward Kevin Knox supported the effort with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Kentucky (3-1) blew open the game with a 9-0 run to start the second half, pushing the lead to 45-30 with 16 minutes left to play. Knox scored five of the nine points.

The lead grew to as many as 21 points at 67-46 with 6:52 to go.

For the game, Kentucky shot 56.9 percent, including 9 of 16 from 3-point range. But Kentucky had 21 turnovers and converted just 3 of 15 free throws.

East Tennessee State (1-2) got 17 points from freshman center Peter Jurkin, 11 from senior forward David Burrell. The Bucs shots 32.4 percent and had 19 turnovers.

Despite being a 20-point underdog, East Tennessee State took control of the game out of the starting blocks, racing to an 18-8 lead with 11:57 left in the first half.

The Buccaneers built the lead on the strength of an 8-0 run over a two-minute span during which time they hit four of five shots. Devontavius Payne and Jurkin had 3-pointers, Burrell a dunk.

That would prove to be Kentucky's lowest point, however, as Green single-handedly shot the Wildcats back into contention. The point guard scored 10 of Kentucky's next 12 points to pull the Wildcats within three points at 23-20, forcing an ETSU timeout with 8:14 left before intermission.

Kentucky finally overtook ETSU for a 26-25 lead on a layup by freshman Hamidou Diallo with 5:23 before halftime. UK led 36-30 at halftime.

NOTES: Kentucky is now 39-8 in games following a loss under coach John Calipari ... For the second time this year, Kentucky's starting lineup was all freshmen ... Calipari is now three wins shy 700 career coaching victories ... East Tennessee State returned only one starter from last year's 27-win team that received a berth in the NCAA Tournament. ... Friday's game was the 300th for Steve Forbes as a head coach. He is now 218-82.