Saying that a player who finished with a single point was a necessary factor in a win might sound like we’re embellishing, but that’s not the case at all. In a 98-69 drumming of North Carolina on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Lance Ware provided nine first-half spot minutes in place of a foul-troubled Oscar Tshiebwe that made it feel like no substitution had happened at all.
Okay so maybe that last part is a bit of an exaggeration, but Ware did everything that head coach John Calipari could have asked for–and then some. The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward made his first appearance at the 9:08 mark of the first half with Kentucky ahead 23-8.