All through his tenure at Kentucky, John Calipari has counted on freshmen each season. The Cats have had nice success with a lot of first-year gamers, going 4 Remaining Fours and successful the 2012 NCAA Championship underneath Calipari.

This yr’s Cats are constructed round extra skilled gamers. Defending Nationwide Participant of the 12 months Oscar Tshiebwe, senior switch Antonio Reeves and others have led the way in which for UK this season.

However with the Cats going through No. 10 Tennessee in an especially necessary recreation on Saturday, it was the Kentucky freshmen who stepped up, in an enormous means.

Kentucky (18-9, 9-5 SEC) obtained off to an excellent begin within the recreation, holding UT to 1 for 11 taking pictures early within the recreation and grabbing a 10-2 lead.

The early onslaught continued all through the half, with UK increasing the lead because the half progressed. The half closed with an 8-0 Kentucky run that gave the Cats a 39-19 lead on the break.

Oh, and people freshmen? Cason Wallace had 16 factors, six rebounds and 6 assists within the recreation and Chris Livingston had 12 factors and a career-high 10 rebounds, his first profession double-double, because the Cats beat Tennessee 66-54, giving the Cats a sweep of the common season sequence between the rivals.

The freshmen carried the Cats within the first half. Wallace had 12 factors, 4 rebounds and three assists, whereas Livingston had 9 factors and 5 rebounds. That made it 21 factors for the UK freshmen and 19 for the Vols within the first half.

And Kentucky wanted these freshman on this present day. The Cats have been once more with out CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler, who each missed the sport because of damage. Second-leading scorer Antonio Reeves spent a lot of the sport in foul bother.

Alas, Tennessee made its run within the second half, one befitting of the nation’s Tenth-ranked staff. The Vols would get the result in single digits, ultimately getting inside eight factors, 62-54, with 2:09 to play. However the Cats scored the ultimate 4 factors of the sport from the free throw line to seal the victory.

Tennessee (20-7, 9-5) obtained a game-high 17 factors from Santiago Vescovi.

Kentucky returns to motion on Wednesday evening, visiting Gainesville to face Florida. Tipoff is ready for 7 p.m. and the sport will be seen on ESPN.