The first half was fun to watch. The second half was fun to watch if you enjoy genocide.
The Penn Quakers were up 10 with four minutes left in the first half. The next 24 minutes, Kentucky outscored them by 34. Tyler Bernardini only had 6 second half points and Zach Rosen could never get going, but that’s not what was Penn’s undoing. The tempo went back to the way John Calipari likes to play it and the Wildcats scored 53 points in the second frame, ending it rather quickly.
Brandon Knight shot 3-3 from the outside in the half, bringing his game total to 22 and fellow freshman Doron Lamb added 16 off the bench to put the Quakers away. Josh Harrellson was far too much for their lack of size and Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins were impossible to get by on defense. Jerome Allen can be proud of his guys for hanging early, but a loss is a loss, even against a national powerhouse.
Penn’s next two games are at La Salle and Temple, then one at home against St. Joe’s before the Ivy League schedule kicks in. It doesn’t seem like this team is strong enough to steal the automatic bid this season.