Indiana All-Stars shocked by Kentucky All-Stars, 100-89

  • 06/09/2018 6:15 am in

LOUISVILLE, Ky – The Indiana All-Stars were stunned by the Kentucky All-Stars on Friday night, 100-89, at Knights Hall on the campus of Bellarmine University.

Indiana never led in the second half and shot just 40 percent from the floor for the game and 29 percent from three (10-of-34).

“We were just playing catch-up all night it seemed like,” Indiana head coach Jim Shannon said. “Never felt comfortable about how we were playing.”

Kentucky, with no players ranked higher than three stars on their roster, outhustled and outplayed Indiana for nearly the entire game. For a Kentucky team with no players heading to Division I major conference schools, hard work was a necessary component in a dominating win over an Indiana team with five players heading to Big Ten programs.

“We didn’t play hard,” Romeo Langford said after the loss.

Markelo Sullivan, a Moberly Community College commit, dropped a game-high 28 points and hit five of his nine three-point attempts for Kentucky, while Wright State commit Skyelar Potter had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

“You can’t always control your offense,” Shannon said. “Whether it’s (Romeo Langford) or anybody else, you just can’t always do that. You can control your defense, your effort, getting on the boards, things like that. Those were the things we were trying to talk to our kids about. Let’s do those things. Those are the blue-collar things you can do each and every night.”

Langford led Indiana in scoring, but his 17 points took him 16 shots to reach. He was just 6-of-16 from the floor, including 0-of-6 from three, and missed four free throws.

Damezi Anderson only saw 17 minutes of playing time, finishing the night with four points, one block and four fouls.

Kentucky deployed a zone defense for much of the game, and the Indiana offense struggled to adjust, recording just 12 assists on 34 made shots for the night.

“I didn’t think at times tonight we attacked (the zone) very well,” Shannon said. “Sometimes when somebody throws something at you that you aren’t really expecting, you don’t attack it very well. I didn’t think we did.”

After winning 17 straight games in the series, Friday’s result marks the second consecutive defeat for Indiana. The series shifts to Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Saturday evening.

“It’s disappointing,” said Rob Phinisee, who posted 11 points and six rebounds. “We just have to come out and play harder tomorrow. We can’t really lose, it’s on our home court.”

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