LEXINGTON, Ky. — D.J. Wagner scored a career-high 28 points, Antonio Reeves added 23 and No. 16 Kentucky routed Marshall 118-82 on Friday night for its highest-scoring game under John Calipari.
Four nights after getting past Saint Joseph’s 96-88 in overtime, the Wildcats (6-1) shot 26 of 40 in the first half (65%) on the way to a 69-41 lead at the break, their highest-scoring half this season. They led 90-53 with 13:34 remaining, and it was just a matter of when they'd exceed the 115 points scored against Arizona State on Nov. 28, 2016.
The halftime total alone amazed the Hall of Fame coach.
“Normally, I won’t look up at the score much in the first half, I’m not that worried about it," Calipari said. "But I saw we have an 18-, 19-point lead at one point, I just glanced up and didn’t know we had 69 until I called that last timeout.
“I said, ‘dude, you got 69 points.’ That’s crazy. And it was based on assists, on shots made. We’re creating great opportunities for a team that can shoot.”
Kentucky tied the mark with 2:44 left on Reed Sheppard's 3-pointer and broke it with 40 seconds left on another 3 from the left corner by reserve Joey Hart.
Wagner, who had 13 points at halftime, scored seven in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half and soon surpassed his previous best of 22 against St. Joe's. The freshman guard exited with 3:23 left after hitting 10 of 14 shots from the field, including two 3s, and 6 of 7 free throws.
Reeves made 5 of 7 from behind the arc and 8 of 13 overall. Tre Mitchell added 18 points, Rob Dillingham 16 and Sheppard 12 off the bench respectively, and Justin Edwards 10. Kentucky finished 45 of 74 from the field (61%), and nine of 13 players scored.
“That just shows how much any night could be somebody’s night," Wagner said of six players scoring in double figures. "Coach says all the time, because everybody are such good players, everybody puts so much work in. So, any night could be somebody’s night. And you just never know who it is.”
Obinna Anochili-Killen scored 22 points, Nate Martin added 14 and Jacob Conner 13 for the Thundering Herd (2-4), who shot 42% and dropped their fourth of five games. All have been played away from their Huntington, West Virginia, campus.
“We know coming in we’d have to score on them," Herd coach Dan D'Antoni said. "We’re just not at that level yet. I didn’t think we got beat athletically. ... When we ran our stuff, we scored. They didn’t stop us.”
BIG PICTURE
Marshall: The Herd came out firing from long range and managed to stay close in the early minutes. Several cold spells followed along with a failure to slow Kentucky's transition game and strong shooting, building a deep halftime hole they couldn't overcome. They finished 9 of 27 from deep.
Kentucky: The Wildcats owned paint scoring 48-28 and shot 16 of 27 from deep. They also had a season-high 27 assists, with eight by Dillingham. The only blemish was being outrebounded 38-37, including 17-10 offensively. On the other hand, the Herd shot a lot out of necessity.
UP NEXT
Marshall hosts Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Dec. 2.
Kentucky hosts No. 10 Miami (Florida) on Tuesday night in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
