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Daniels, Barbour Keys to VictoryErik Daniels had a career night and Antwain Barbour came up big as the Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 71-61 in a hard-fought, somewhat sloppy game. Erik Daniels made 9 of his 12 shots on the way to a career-high 24 points. He was also effective getting to the line, connecting on 6 of 8 free-throws. But the story of the game was the continuing evolution of the Wildcats' bench play. For the second-straight game, Tubby Smith got solid production from his subs. After struggling most of last season and all of this one, Antwain Barbour came off the pine to provide some much-needed offensive firepower. Coming into the game, Antwain had made only 1 three-pointer all season. Tonight, Barbour connected on 4 of 5 from long-distance, raising his three-point percentage from 8% to a much more respectable 28%. In addition to Barbour's 12 points, Josh Carrier, seeming to gain confidence from his performance the previous game, contributed with a three of his own. Defensively, the Cats were led, as usual, by Chuck Hayes. The 6'6" forward played much bigger on the defensive end of the court, with a career high 5 blocked shots. He also helped keep Justin Reed in check, as he shot just 6 of 20. Cliff Hawkins did an excellent job running the team, taking just three shots and dishing out 8 assists while only turning it over once. Despite these fine individual performances, the Cats had to claw their way to this victory. Their largest lead in the first half was six, and they actually trailed late in the half before tying it up going into the locker-room. After the break, the Cats took the lead on a three-pointer by Gerald Fitch, and Ole Miss played the rest of the game from behind, though Kentucy's largest lead was only 13 at the tail-end of the contest.
One reason for the Cats' inability to put away the Rebels was turnovers. The Cats gave it away 19 times. While Ole Miss's tough-as-nails defense was a factor, turnovers have been a plague for this team all season. The Cats' defense helped to offset their ball-handling woes, as they forced the Rebels into 18 turnovers of their own. A good sign for Kentucky is that they did out-rebound their opponents tonight, 29-25. This, along with the turnovers and bench play, have been the major concerns so far this season.
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