The Purdue exhibition has come and gone, and the Kentucky Wildcats dominated the #1 Boilermakers, which has Big Blue Nation fired up for the start of the season.
Kentucky was shorthanded in this game, so fans just wanted to see a few things to fully buy into the hype of this team, and the Wildcats exceeded expectations.
Last season, the offense was elite for Mark Pope in his first season at Kentucky, but the defense and rebounding struggled, and this ultimately led to the loss against Tennessee in the Sweet 16.
Kentucky fans wanted to see these two aspects of the game look better for the Wildcats, and they did on Friday night against Purdue. The Boilermakers came into this game ranked as the #1 offense in KenPom, so this was going to be an excellent test for the Wildcats’ defense, and Kentucky held them to 65 points. The Boilermakers shot 38.6% from the field and 17.6% from three. Pope’s defense was able to stifle this elite Purdue offense, proving the defense is going to be elite for Kentucky this season…