This was billed as the Kemba Walker-Terrence Jones showdown. It ended up being a commercial for University of Connecticut basketball. A dominant first half carried UConn, which smoked No. 8 Kentucky, 84-67, to win the Maui Invitational.
Walker led all scorers with 29 points and looked completely unstoppable throughout. Jones tried valiantly to rally Kentucky, but his 24-point effort came up well short.
Jones showed up early, scoring Kentucky's first 10 points, including a monstrous dunk over a couple UConn defenders. However, that would be all of his early output. Foul trouble sent him to the bench midway through the first half.
Walker, who had scored 103 points combined in his previous three games, continued his amazing hot streak and he was able to get his teammates involved as well. Alex Oriakhi added 18 points and 11 boards.
Doron Lamb's runner with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half made it 29-27, but Kentucky would not get that close again. The Huskies exploded, ending the half on a 21-2 run en route to a 50-29 lead at the break.
Though Jones and Lamb both sat for much of the half, the Wildcats still had a few scoring opportunities. Brandon Knight proved he had a long way to go before he can compete with the Kemba Walkers of the world. Knight, pardon the pun, had a nightmare of a tournament as a floor leader, finishing with eight assists against 17 turnovers. Knight would repeatedly dribble into traffic and either force a poor shot against taller defenders or simply lose the ball before he could even force a poor shot. In all, he finished with six points, going 3-of-16 from the floor.
Kentucky put up a bit of a fight in the second half, cutting the lead to 13, but could get no closer. UConn was too much. Sharp outside shooting and solid defense kept the Huskies comfortable throughout, and they cruised through the final 13 minutes.
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