Men's College Basketball
University of Kentucky 92, Rider University 63
LEXINGTON, KY-The Broncs lost to the fourth ranked team in the nation, Kentucky, in historic Rupp Arena Saturday afternoon as part of the Cancun Challenge. "I'm proud of the way we competed," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "Kentucky is great, very impressive, but we played hard, we fought and we didn't quit. They are very hard to defend."
For Kentucky (4-0), freshman John Wall, a 6'4" guard who was considered the top prospect in the country last year, compiled a game-high 21 points along with 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals.
Rider (2-2) was led by senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape), who compiled 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Thompson suffered a poor shooting day from the field (one for 10) but made all 14 of his foul shots. "Ryan didn't get his shot going but he played big," Dempsey said.
Kentucky's 6'7" senior guard Ramon Harris went everywhere Thompson did. "Harris did a fabulous job on Thompson," Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. "That was his job today."
"I couldn't get into a rhythm with my shot so I tried to drive the lane and get to the foul line," Thompson said. "We all fought. If you don't look at the scoreboard you can be happy with the way we fought. Everybody played with a lot of intensity and we tried to win the game. Our offense is going to start clicking."
Sophomore Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added 14 points and junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Kentucky led 39-22 before out-scoring Rider 12-2 over the final 3:52 of the first half to take a 51-26 lead at intermission.
Holding an 18-12 lead, Kentucky out-scored Rider 15-4, eight points by 6'10" Dan Orton, to take a 33-16 lead with six minutes left in the first half. Orton finished with 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
Rider led 6-4 before the Wildcats went on a 12-2 run, seven points by Wall, to take a 16-8 lead.
The Broncs were 0 for 9 from three-point range in the first half and finished four for 17 from beyond the arc for the game. "We shot poorly," Dempsey said. "The ball didn't go in for us, but we played through it. At Virginia the ball didn't fall for us and it affected the rest of our game, our defense. Today we tried to defend and we competed as best as we could."
"They had some big guys out there," Thompson said of Kentucky. "They had an incredible size advantage that they took advantage of time and time again," Dempsey said.
6'9" junior forward Patrick Patterson compiled 19 points and 18 rebounds and 6'11" freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins had 18 points and five blocks, but the much larger Wildcats only out-rebounded Rider 43-38. "We had 18 offensive rebounds, which is a sign of effort," Dempsey said. "Our effort was there tonight."
Rider now travels to Cancun, Mexico to take on Florida A&M Tuesday and either Sam Houston State or Oral Roberts on Wednesday. "We've got some big games ahead of us," Dempsey said. "Playing a team like Kentucky exposes your weaknesses, so now we have to work on those things and get ready for Florida A&M."
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