The Big Man’s Heart carries Kentucky past Missouri

By Lukas Witt (11 years old)

The Missouri Tigers came into Rupp Arena and a crowd of 20,396 to face #17 Kentucky. The Cats have had a week off since that huge rivalry win against the Louisville Cardinals back on December 28^th. The Tigers jumped out to a 17-9 lead before the Kentucky got things rolling as Nick Richards scored the first 14/16 points for the Cats. Richards has come to play the past two games and we are beginning to see him take a new role on the floor coaching up his teammates during breaks in play. Today he finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 4 big blocks before fouling out late in the 2^nd half. Ashton Hagans had another solid outing dishing out a game high 7 assists and adding 7 points and 5 rebounds. We heard about his improvement all summer and his has lived up to the hype, Immanuel Quickley finished the day with 23 points, 4/8 from behind the arch and 3 rebounds. The big take away from the game today was free throw shooting with 27/30 and Quickley on a 24 made streak. The road to March doesn’t get any easier as the Cats have a quick turnaround Tuesday game as they travel to Georgia, game time is 9 pm EST and can be seen on ESPN.