Top-seeded Kentucky's victory over 16th-seeded San Jose State in the first round of the Midwest Regional wasn't unexpected. How long it took for the Wildcats to take control was a little surprising.
They didn't take the lead for good until the final three minutes of the first half Thursday. They only led by seven at halftime, and by 12 with 12 minutes left in the game.That's when San Jose State finally ran out of steam, and Kentucky went on to a 110-72 victory.
"We've been in this situation before, playing the 16th seed, and we've been able to dominate them from beginning to end," coach Rick Pitino said. "They just had too much heart, too much courage and too much good play."
The victory sends Kentucky (29-2) against No. 9 seed Virginia Tech, which got a career-high 25 points from Shawn Good in beating eighth-seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay 61-48.
In the other two first-round games, No. 5 seed Iowa State beat Cal 74-64, behind 23 points by Dedric Willoughby, and fourth-seeded Utah rolled over Canisius 72-43.
San Jose State coach Stan Morrison challenged his players not to leave anything on the court, and the Spartans did that. They simply got worn out by Kentucky's pressure and depth.
San Jose State committed 26 turnovers, leading to 31 Kentucky points.
After shooting 61 percent in the first half, San Jose State started 3-of-15 with eight turnovers in the opening eight minutes of the second half. Kentucky widened its lead to 66-52.
Jahi Bacon made a shot with 11:46 remaining to get the Spartans to 66-54, then Kentucky buried them by scoring on seven straight possessions. Tony Delk finished the run with a 3-pointer that made the score 81-59 and the Wildcats continued to widen the lead after that.
Walter McCarty tied his career high with 24 points, Delk scored 22 and Kentucky set a school record with 35 assists.
Olivier Saint-Jean had 18 points for the Spartans, who finish 13-17.
While Good was just that at the offensive end for Virginia Tech, the Hokies were outstanding on defense. They held Wisconsin-Green Bay to 38 percent shooting and came up with a dozen turnovers.
Good was among those who made it tough for Jeff Nordgaard, the Phoenix's outstanding senior forward. Nordgaard scored 22 points, but needed 19 shots to do it. He also went scoreless for more than 12 minutes in the second half when Virginia Tech (23-5) took control.
Wisconsin-Green Bay (25-4) scored on four of five possessions to close to 34-32 with 12:40 left. Then Good converted a four-point play - a 3-pointer and free throw - to start a 15-4 run that gave the Hokies control.
Willoughby played his usual solid game for Iowa State (24-8), but it was the defense that made the difference. The Cyclones used a press to rattle Cal in the early going and take a 14-3 lead, and shut down star freshman Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
Abdur-Rahim scored just seven points on 1-of-6 shooting. He came in averaging nearly 22 points.
Cal got a career-high 26 points from Tremaine Fowlkes.