And Kentucky advances to the Round of 32 to face Cincinnati on Saturday defeating Hampton 79-56! An always thrilling game from the Wildcats and we'll see them again in Louisville, KY against an older rival! Thank you for joining me for this live coverage of this NCAA Tournament game!
2nd Half, 0:50: Cooks knocks down the free throws.
2nd Half, 1:00: Dakari Johnson with a layup inside to make it 79-54 as Kentucky subs in the walk-ons.
2nd Half, 1:40: Key hits a three! Cuts the lead to 23.
2nd Half, 2:13: Aaron Harrison runs the floor and gets fouled and only hits one to make it 77-51.
2nd Half, 3:00: Towns with two offensive rebounds and a layup in the paint to push the lead.
2nd Half, 3:52: Cauley-Stein hits one free throw to make it a 25-point lead. But then a jumper by Hampton cuts it back down. 74-51 Cats.
The Wildcats have slowed down as the game got older and will likely advance when this game is all said and done. Kentucky did step up and attack when they were supposed to and were able to start the second half strong and put the Pirates away.
2nd Half, 3:52: Cauley-Stein fouled in the paint and will shoot free throws after the timeout.
2nd Half, 4:30: A foul on Lee as Johnson scores the and-1 but misses the free throw.
2nd Half, 5:40: Chievous is lighting it up as he hitd a three! Then Kentucky strikes back with a three of their own from Ulis! 73-47 as Hampton scores another quick bucket.
2nd Half, 6:50: Another Johnson on Johnson foul but the other way this time. He hits one free throw and a foul is called on Kentucky as Cheivous goes to the line and hits them both.
2nd Half, 7:00: Dakari Johnson fouls Reginald Johnson and he hits one free throw to make it 69-40.
2nd Half, 7:43: Chievous hits both free throws to cut it to 30.
2nd Half, 7:43: Chievous gets fouled inside and and comes up limping as we go to our under 8:00 media timeout.
2nd Half, 8:40: Hampton hits a three near the end of the shot clock. Then Andrew Harrison hits a jumper to make it 69-37.
2nd Half, 9:00: Pirates call a timeout late in the shot clock on a weird play. Blatent travel was not called as well.
2nd Half, 9:35: Chievous draws the foul on Towns and hits both to make it 67-34.
2nd Half, 10:20: Another lob from Aaron Harrison but this time to Towns!
2nd Half, 11:00: A nice jumper by Chievous to make it 65-32. Then a foul on the Pirates to take us to a media timeout.
2nd Half, 11:40: Hampton with a quick layup and then a lob on the other end from Aaron Harrison to Lyles!
2nd Half, 13:00: Lee with a dunk inside to push it to 35.
2nd Half, 13:23: Aaron Harrison fouled on a dunk attempt and hits both to make it 61-28.
2nd Half, 13:50: Dakari Johnson with a nice post move to score the layup.
2nd Half, 14:20: Lyles fouls Johnson in transition who hits both free throws to make it 57-28.
2nd Half, 15:00: Andrew Harrison with another three! 57-26 Kentucky.
2nd Half, 15:22: Lee fouls Johnson who hits both free throws to cut it to 28.
2nd Half, 15:45: Towns hits the free throw to make it 54-24.
Towns currently has 16 points and 9 rebounds. A fantastic performance from the freshmen who has never played in an NCAA Tournament game. He's definitely played tonight.
2nd Half, 15:45: And-1 by Karl-Anthony Towns! He'll shoot the free throw once we come back from our under 16:00 timeout!
2nd Half, 16:30: Andrew Harrison with a nice hesitation move to score a pretty layup!
2nd Half, 17:20: A strip by Kentucky and a layup in transition for Ulis! Timeout taken by the Pirates as Kentucky leads 49-24.
2nd Half, 18:40: Chievous hits a layup over many UK bodies. Then Cauley-Stein responds with a layup of his own. 47-24 UK.
2nd Half, 19:00: A nice pass inside to Booker for a layup!
2nd Half, 19:30: Towns retrieves Booker's missed runner and gets fouled. Hits both to make it a 21-point lead.
Second half action is about to begin between these clubs!
The Wildcats pushed the tempo late in the half as they attacked the paint more and went at the under matched size of Hampton. Cats will still need to play harder on defense and force more turnovers to keep the Pirates hopes of winning low.
1st Half, 0:01: Chievous hits both free throws and Kentucky takes an 19-point lead into the locker room. Up 41-22.
1st Half, 0:30: Darden hits two free throws to make it a 20-point deficit. Then a foul on Aaron Harrison with 0.8 seconds left.
1st Half, 0:50: THREE by Andrew Harrison! Kentucky leads 41-19!!
1st Half, 1:20: A nice pass from Lee to Lyles for a dunk!
1st Half, 2:22: Two more made free throws by Andrew Harrison to make it 36-19. Then an offensive foul on the other end.
1st Half, 2:30: A missed layup and then a follow-up dunk by Adams to cut it to 15.
1st Half, 3:12: Andrew Harrison hits two free throws to make it 34-17.
1st Half, 3:30: Towns continues to destroy the paint as he has 12 points after that layup. Then a quick three by the Pirates.
The Wildcats have finally hit a stride and the Pirates haven't scored in the last four minutes. The defense of Kentucky has picked up and given momentum to the top seed in the Tournament.
1st Half, 3:50: Pass tipped by Hampton out of bounds to take us to our final media timeout of the half. Kentucky leads 30-14.
1st Half, 4:10: Ulis hits a nice dancing jumper to make it a 6-point advantage!
1st Half, 5:00: Lyles with a nice layup of his own to make it 28-14! Timeout Pirates!
1st Half, 5:30: Towns with an athletic and-1! Hits the free throw to make it a 12-point lead!
1st Half, 6:00: Cauley-Stein called for his second foul.
1st Half, 6:50: Kentucky forces a shot-clock violation. Then Towns is fouled and hits one free throw to make it 23-14.
1st Half, 7:28: Ulis goes to the line and hits both to give UK their biggest lead.
1st Half, 7:28: A defensive stop by the Cats and Ulis is fouled on the attack to take us to our next media timeout. Kentucky leads 20-14.
1st Half, 8:15: Towns is dominating the paint right now and pushes the lead to 6!
1st Half, 8:30: Okoroba fouled and hits one free throw to cut it to 4 points.
1st Half, 9:30: Brown scores a fast break layup after a missed three by Andrew Harrison.
1st Half, 10:00: Booker called for his second foul.
1st Half, 10:30: Towns called for a foul as we go to another media timeout.
Kentucky may have come out relaxed as some expected because of who they're playing. But it looks as though they're getting more comfortable with the feel of the game and are scoring more.
1st Half, 11:30: Towns with another sweet post move! then Ulis with a fading jumper in the lane to make it 18-11 as Hampton calls timeout!
1st Half, 12:15: Aaron Harrison fouled driving the lane and misses the 1-and-1.
1st Half, 13:00: A layup by Hampton and then another offensive move inside by Cauley-Stein and fouled. Hits one to make it 14-11 Cats.
1st Half, 13:20: Cauley-Stein misses in close twice but manages to get fouled and hits both free throws to give them a 4-point lead.
1st Half, 14:00: Towns with a fantastic hook shot!
1st Half, 14:21: A layup by Pressley and a foul by Booker on Darden. Hits one free throw to tie the game.
1st Half, 15:00: Dakari Johnson with a nice inside move! 9-6 Cats
1st Half, 16:00: Marcus Lee with a jam of his own to push the lead to 3! Then Kentucky travels after Hampton cuts it back to 1. Cats lead 7-6 at the first media timeout.
1st Half, 16:24: Foul on Cauley-Stein after a rebound.
1st Half, 17:10: Kentucky regains the lead after a quick jumper. 5-4
1st Half, 18:20: Hampton with a quick basket to cut the lead to 1. Then they take the lead with a nice layup!
1st Half, 19:05: Lyles with NASTY dunk over Chievous! 3-0 UK
1st Half, 19:25: Cauley-Stein fouled after an offensive rebound. Hits one to give Kentucky the lead.
Let the madness begin!
Kentucky versus Hampton is about to be under way in Louisville, KY!
There is plenty of blue in the KFC Yum! Center as this crowd is expected to be loud. Hampton will have some trouble gaining momentum.
Kentucky-Hampton will be tipping at 10:18 PM EST. Get your blankets out this is gonna be a late one.
Cincinnati advances with a 1-point win! Will face the winner of this game coming up.
We've got a nail-biter between these two! Kentucky-Hampton will be up next.
Tip-off will be following the Purdue-Cincinnati ending. Overtime between those two clubs.
Hampton's line-up will likely be Quinton Chievous, Deron Powers, Brian Darden, Jervon Pressley and Reginald Johnson.
Kentucky's starting line-up will be Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns.
A crazy day of madness so far! Kentucky's game with Hampton will be tipping in less than an hour.
Live coverage of this second round game will be seen right on this LIVE Kentucky - Hampton, so keep it on this LIVE throughout.
There's a lot Hampton has to do to make history and pull off what would be, easily, the biggest upset in college basketball. The Pirates will need a lot of cell phones for this game.
Hampton could also give Kentucky a challenge just like everybody else. The Pirates may not be as talented but they have some athletic scorers if they're healthy. As long as Hampton plays relaxed and knows that all the pressure is on the Wildcats then they could actually give Kentucky a challenge.
If Chievous is able to play it adds a great deal of help to a Hampton squad who will need all they can get once they take the floor with goliath. Kentucky isn't invincible, but they're the closer to that than anyone else.
"It's really just going in with a great mindset. Not being intimidated. And just playing as hard as we can and knocking down all our shots and just never giving up. When adversity hits us, we can't get down on ourselves. We just gotta keep playing." Chievous said.
Hampton's Chievous has made statements on playing Kentucky and talked strategy coming into the game.
That motivation is what makes Kentucky scary. There's a revenge factor to these Cats, like they want to get back at the world for ruining what was an unforgettable run in the Tournament. They've given themselves plenty of reason to return to the National Championship and it only strengthened when junior veteran Alex Poythress went down with a season ending injury. Poythress helped Kentucky in late-game situations during the NCAA Tournament last year and his presence will be missed this March.
Some may forget that's what drives this Kentucky squad; failure. Yes, a team that has gone 34-0 this season thrives on the failure it has seen in the past. There's plenty of motivation for a revamped runner-up squad with 10+ losses last year.
We have also seen just how much of a post-season beast this Kentucky team can be. Maybe not this team, but the majority of this team returned from last season's magical run in the NCAA Tournament and they're hungry for more. After being so close to the big trophy it's hard to allow yourself to fail again.
We all have seen how Kentucky has played against teams that come into games under matched. The Wildcats have play lackadaisical and have allowed lesser skilled teams to stay in contention late in games. There has been less of that lately, but there have also been better teams against the Cats.
As Kentucky is mostly healthy they decided there would be an open practice to celebrate the beginning of March Madness. The KFC Yum! Center is not far from home for the Wildcats so they were able to fill the arena with fans who just wanted to see some scrimmaging. Big Blue Nation is crazy to say the least, but after this year, can you blame them?
Dwight Meikle, Hampton's leading scorer, has been sidelined with a high ankle sprain and is day to day as of reports from Joyner. Quinton Chievous also went down with an injury after a hard foul in Hampton's First Four game against Manhattan. Chievous said he's icing it and is hopeful he can play against Kentucky.
In the days leading up to the NCAA Tournament there have been multiple statements made about Kentucky's possibility at an undefeated season. At this point, there is no looking back for the Wildcats. 40-0 can finally be called the goal for this team as they work to get that championship that they fell short of a year ago.
This, of course, shows some humor in the match up and tends to take some pressure off of his team. It's a way of saying that this Pirates team has absolutely nothing to lose in this game.
"You've got to hope you've got Jesus on speed dial." Joyner said.
Hampton's head coach, Edward Joyner Jr., had some interesting statements concerning their meeting with Kentucky.
The Kentucky Wildcats opened as a 32-point favorite over the Hampton Pirates which was the largest point spread in a Tournament game since 2004. We've seen Kentucky cover the spread many times this season but we've also seen them fail at it too. It's entirely up to the team on which group of Wildcats decide to show up against the Pirates.
Hampton would need a near miracle to knock off undefeated Kentucky in the round of 64. Not only has a #16 seed never beaten a #1 seed, there have been few #1 seeds as talented as this Kentucky team is.
The Wildcats come into the NCAA Tournament with an unblemished record of 34-0 and fresh off an SEC Tournament Championship. The Pirates are at 17-17 on the season after their First Four win against Manhattan on Tuesday.
The overall #1 seeded Kentucky Wildcats will begin NCAA Tournament play in Louisville, KY when they take on #16 seed Hampton Pirates at 9:40 PM EST.