Kentucky cruises past Hampton to stay unbeaten
Freshman Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots as the unbeaten Wildcats cruised past the Pirates, 79-56, in the NCAA Tournament round of 64 in Louisville, Ky.
Andrew Harrison contributed 14 points for top-seeded Kentucky (35-0), which will play Cincinnati in the round of 32 on Saturday. Tyler Ulis chipped in with 11 points off the bench, Trey Lyles had 10 and Willie Cauley-Stein grabbed 11 rebounds for the Wildcats, who held Hampton to 28.8 percent shooting.
Quinton Chievous returned despite suffering an ankle injury in the first-round win over Manhattan on Tuesday to score 22 points and grab 10 rebounds for the 16th-seeded Pirates (17-18). Brian Darden and Reginald Johnson each added nine points for Hampton, which saw its five-game winning streak come to an end.
Under-sized Hampton had the game tied at nine and was within four with 8:27 left in the first half before Towns scored eight as Kentucky ran off 14 straight points. The Wildcats held the Pirates to 27.6 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes as their swelled to 22 before settling for a 41-22 edge at intermission.
Towns made two free throws to start it and ended a 13-2 burst with a three-point play that began the second half as Kentucky pulled away for a 54-24 lead with 15:45 left in the contest. Hampton trimmed the deficit late, but the Wildcats moved within five victories of the first unbeaten NCAA season since Indiana’s in 1975-76.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Kentucky finished with a 51-31 advantage on the boards and limited the Pirates to two assists. … Hampton was without leading scorer and rebounder G Dwight Meikle (ankle) for the fifth consecutive game. … Kentucky is 19-3 under coach John Calipari in the NCAA Tournament.
