Kentucky basketball blows second-half lead, dominates OT to top UCF
Kentucky will open its basketball regular season next week with three tune-ups to its name. But Mark Pope's Wildcats exit preseason camp with an engine that isn't exactly purring. The Cats closed out the exhibition season Wednesday with a 90-76 overtime win against UCF, a game in which UK looked alternately laser-focused and lost. The good was pretty good. But the bad could be awfully bad. Zoom Diallo and Wilkins, the starters in the backcourt over Williams, shot a combined 5 for 14 from the floor; Diallo played 10 minutes in the second half and none in OT. UK was woeful stopping the ball as UCF scored repeatedly off drives and dribble penetration in the second half. And the Cats missed eight free throws that nearly cost them the game in regulation, including two from Braydon Hawthorne with 9 seconds to play and UCF leading by a point. Still, UK was at its best when the game mattered…