And despite the 25-point spread and Kentucky taking over as the top-ranked team in all of college basketball, it was an outcome that really didn’t come as a surprise for the second-year head coach.
“I think it was competitive game, we just match up really well,” McCarty said during his post-victory press conference. “Our guys … we are connecting on the basketball court. We make plays for each other. … Our guys played excellent tonight. I thought we were really connected. All I’ve preached to them is if we are the hardest playing team, the most physical, the most connected, we can win a lot of ball games.