Wildcats top Huskies in Hawaii
Jones, who was headed to UW, sparks Kentucky
LAHAINA, Hawaii – Despite the denials from everyone involved, this game was all about Terrence Jones.
The supremely talented freshman created a mini-maelstrom in April when he verbally committed to Washington at a news conference before reversing his decision and signing scholarship papers with Kentucky.
Instead of starring for the 13th-ranked Huskies in the Maui Invitational semifinals, the 6-foot-8 forward wore a royal blue jersey and helped No. 8 Kentucky hand Washington its first defeat this season.
The Huskies had no answers for Jones and UK freshman Brandon Knight in their 74-67 loss in front of an ESPN audience and a capacity crowd at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Jones notched his second straight double-double and finished with 16 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, while Knight scored a game-high 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting.
Meanwhile, the Huskies’ main guns were stymied and they had difficulty generating points after averaging 107.3 points in its previous three games.
From the opening minutes, Kentucky served notice this wasn’t going to be easy for UW.
Not like Washington’s 43-point win over Virginia on Monday.
The first half featured wild momentum shifts.
Washington led 6-2 before the Wildcats used a 16-0 run to take a 20-6 lead.
The Huskies fought back and Abdul Gaddy tied the score 30-30 on a jumper with 1:54 left.
Washington led 35-34 at the break behind 10 first-half points from Darnell Gant.
The lead see-sawed early in the second half and Isaiah Thomas had a chance to put UW ahead with the scored tied at 50, but he missed a pair of free throws.
It was that kind of night for the Huskies and Thomas, who was 5 of 10 at the charity stripe.
On the ensuing possession, Jones sank two foul shots to give the UK a 52-50 lead with 9:05 left and they never trailed again.
The Huskies play No. 2 Michigan State at 2 p.m. today in a consolation game.