Smothering defense leads UK to easy win over Texas A&M

LEXINGTON, Ky. — At Kentucky's media day in October, John Calipari said he'd be disappointed if, by February, this Wildcats team isn't the best he's had defensively. For much of the season it looked as though Calipari would be disenchanted.

But on Tuesday night against Texas A&M, the defense Calipari envisioned in the preseason came to life. The Wildcats forced 25 turnovers, collected 10 steals and held Texas A&M to a season low in points en route to an overpowering 100-58 win.

Kentucky used suffocating defense and terrific shooting to jump out to a 15-3 run early in the game. Aggies point guard Admon Gilder hit a three-pointer to start the game, but Kentucky tallied the next 15 points. Malik Monk's two three-pointers and nasty dunk off of an Isaiah Briscoe steal highlighted the run.

By halftime, the Wildcats had forced 15 turnovers.

In the second half Kentucky's guards kicked it up a notch. Monk drilled three straight three-pointers while Briscoe hit two of his own. Mychal Mulder came off the bench and also connected from outside. De'Aaron Fox, while not hitting any three-pointers, stuffed the stat sheet. The freshman point guard had 15 points, five rebounds and six assists.

Monk, who finished the game with 26 points, had a scare in the first half when he took a shot to the face on a screen. He went to the locker room after the play but returned to the bench a few minutes later and reentered to the game.

Isaiah Briscoe. Dating back to the Ole Miss game last week, Briscoe has connected on his last four three-point attempts. He was 3 of 3 from long range against the Aggies and is shooting 41 percent from three this season, a remarkable improvement over his 13.5 percent from deep a year ago.

Briscoe finished the game with 13 points and also collected one rebound and dished out seven assists.

The top play of the game came just a few minutes into the game for the Wildcats. Briscoe created a turnover and saved the ball inbounds to Fox who tossed it off to Monk for this nasty jam.

Turnovers. Kentucky scored 35 points off turnovers while only turning the ball over nine times. At one point in the first half the Aggies had four times as many turnovers (12) as made baskets (3).

Kentucky (12-2): The Wildcats will host Arkansas (12-2) on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. The Razorbacks are coming off a 82-78 win over Tennessee.

Texas A&M (8-5): The Aggies will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday.