Kentucky 67 Villanova 58

Kentucky played a smart balanced game tonight, and continued their streak of opening round wins in the NCAA Tournament. Everybody new that Morris needed to play well for UK to win, and he did. Randolph had 19 pts, 11 reb, and shot 9-15 FT to lead Kentucky to the win, but he wasn't the only one who produced. Bradley had 11, Crawford 10, Meeks 12, Perry 6, and Thomas had 7. Sheray played maybe the best all around game of his career. He played 28 minutes (each of them well deserved), and really helped the Cats in rebounding and defense.

In the beginning it looked like Kentucky was going to struggle guarding Nova's guards, especially Reynolds. Eventually UK got settled into playing tough, agressive defense, and contained the dribble penetration pretty well. Villanova is totally based on guard play, so they are going to score that way, but they weren't able to take over the game like many thought they would. The best thing about tonight's game was that when Villanova put on a late run, UK kept it's composure. There weren't unforced turnovers or stupid mistakes. Instead, people like Thomas and Bradley stepped up and made important free throws. Kentucky scored 22 of their 67 points from the line, while shooting 71.0% on free throws.

So, the reward for winning this game is the chance to face Kansas on Sunday. KU is one of the hottest teams in the country, and gave Tubby his worst loss in his career at UK last year. If Kentucky plays their game by controlling tempo they have a shot to win. But tonight we'll celebrate the victory over Villanova.