Wallace scores career-high 27 points, No. 19 Kentucky rolls

By STEVE McCLAIN
Associated Press

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Cason Wallace scored a career-high 27 points to help No. 19 Kentucky beat Florida A&M 88-68 on Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-4 freshman guard also had four steals and nine assists.

Wallace scored the first seven points of the second half for the Wildcats (8-3) as they took a 69-48 lead. The Rattlers (2-8) answered with a 14-0 run, cutting the deficit to seven points on Jaylen Bates’s 3-pointer. Wallace steadied Kentucky with a jumper and an assist on Antonio Reeves’ dunk.

Bates led the Rattlers with 21 points and Dimingus Stevens added 13 points.

Oscar Tshiebwe scored 14 points for Kentucky.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari had said he would change the lineup to get a better flow on offense after the Wildcats lost to UCLA on Saturday. He did just that starting, Lance Ware and Chris Livingston in place of Jacob Toppin and Antonio Reeves.

The new lineup provided a quick spark as the Wildcats raced to an 18-2 lead, with Wallace scoring seven of the team’s first 13 points.

THE BIG PICTURE

Kentucky: Free-throw shooting continued to plague the Wildcats, ranked 293rd in the country. Kentucky was 13 of 19 after going 5 of 13 agains UCLA.

Florida A&M: The Rattlers enjoyed one of their better shooting nights against a challenging schedule that has included three SEC teams. They shot 52% from the floor and 56% percent from 3-point range.

UP NEXT

Kentucky: Starts Southeastern Conference play at Missouri on Dec. 28.

Florida A&M: At top-ranked Purdue on Dec. 29.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25