Otega Oweh’s shot, Brandon Garrison’s blocks help Kentucky avoid upset scare from Santa Clara
By Adam Spencer
Published:
ST. LOUIS — Brandon Garrison picked up his fourth foul with 8:17 remaining in the second half.
It was an offensive foul at the top of the 3-point arc — the kind of silly foul that takes years off of a coach’s life.
He went straight to the bench to sit for a couple of minutes, and managed to make it the rest of the second half without picking up his fifth.
Thank goodness for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats.
In overtime, Garrison was a machine on the defensive end.
Before fouling out with 2 seconds left in a Kentucky victory, Garrison totaled 2 points, 3 rebounds and 3 massive blocks in the overtime period.
The 6-foot-10 junior from Oklahoma City was everywhere defensively, swatting away 3 attempts from Santa Clara shooters to keep their team in the game. This sequence was the dagger in the back of Santa Clara’s upset bid:
Offensively, Otega Oweh was the hero for the Wildcats. You can go ahead and mark this wild sequence at the end of the second half down as something that will show up in “One Shining Moment”:
Oweh finished with a game-high 35 points. It was far from a scoring-only effort from Oweh, the preseason SEC Player of the Year, as he grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 7 assists in his near-triple-double.
Friday’s Round 1 NCAA Tournament matchup between No. 7-seed Kentucky and No. 10-seed Santa Clara was an early wakeup call for the Broncos.
Tipping off at 9:15 a.m. Santa Clara time, it was fair to think Herb Sendek’s players might need some time to adjust their body clocks.
Instead, the Broncos charged ahead to a narrow 31-29 halftime lead over the Wildcats, as the Kentucky fans in attendance started to get restless.
The 3-point shooting was as cold as the ice beneath the court at the Enterprise Center in the first half (home of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues), with both teams posting 4-for-15 marks from deep in the first 20 minutes. Collin Chandler was particularly off his game, going 0-for-5 on his first-half 3s.
Let’s just say things heated up in the second half.
The Wildcats went 6-for-13 from deep after the intermission, while the Broncos countered with an 8-for-18 effort from beyond the arc in the second half and overtime.
Elijah Mahi had 20 points for the Broncos. Allen Graves added 17 points and 7 rebounds. But it wasn’t enough to stop Garrison, Oweh and the Wildcats.
After the game, Pope praised his team for not giving up on the game when Graves hit a 3 to put the Broncos up 73-70 with just under 3 seconds left.
“There was no pause, throw your hands up, feel sorry for yourself reaction to that shot,” Pope said.
As for Oweh’s shot? Pope had a front row seat.
“As (Oweh) raised up right in front of me, he said ‘That’s a bucket,'” Pope said. “I was nervous with the trajectory, but when it hit the glass at exactly the right spot, I was like ‘Oh this is beautiful.'”
“It’s Otega. He’s proven he can make game-winners,” Garrison added.
But overtime belonged to Garrison. Pope said it’s no surprise the Wildcats took over when Garrison became a 1-man wrecking ball on defense.
“When BG plays good, we win. It’s just how it is,” Pope said. “BG keeps showing up every single day and fighting and fighting and fighting. He was brilliant today.”
Kentucky advances to Round 2 on Sunday. The Wildcats will face the winner of No. 2 Iowa State and No. 15 Tennessee State at a time to be announced.
Will the Wildcats advance to the Sweet 16? Here’s the latest Kalshi market:
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
