Kentucky comes back to top St. John's: Wildcats turn it on in second half to win in CBS Sports Classic

After opening the season ranked No. 5 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, there's a case to be made that St. John's, which dropped to 1-4 in Quadrant 1 opportunities with the loss, has had the most disappointing start by any team inside the preseason Top 25 poll.

Of the four losses, three were to ranked opponents and two were to teams ranked inside the top-15. So it's not as dire in real life as it seems on paper.

But this is Rick Pitino's team, after all. Expectations are always going to be high. And at 7-4 expectations are nowhere close to being met after a season that began with such immense promise.

It was all St. John's in the first half. It was all Kentucky in the second half. And the former was more productive than the latter in Kentucky's 78-66 win Saturday in Atlanta.

In the opening 20 minutes, Kentucky couldn't buy a bucket; it was 1-of-6 from 3-point range and 10-of-28 from the field. St. John's in that frame made three 3s, forced 11 turnovers and took a seven-point lead into the half.

In the closing 20 minutes -- notably with Jaland Lowe playing 15 minutes for UK after playing less than one minute in the first half -- Kentucky blew things open and outscored St. John's 53-34. The aforementioned Lowe was a team-high plus-20 in the win in his 15 total minutes as he added 13 points and three assists. Fellow guard Otega Oweh also caught fire in the second half with 11 of his 20 points coming down the stretch run.

Kentucky opened the second half with a 27-11 run and at one point had a 14-0 run that blew open the game, and St. John's was despondent thereafter.

Kentucky big man Jayden Quaintance was impactful and productive in his season debut with the Wildcats. Coming off an ACL injury last season, Quaintance played 18 minutes and added 10 points, eight boards and a pair of blocks. He looked every bit the star defender he was last season as a freshman and was an impactful, energetic and physical presence in the post, which UK has sorely lacked.

It's hard to imagine a debut going much better for him. He missed only two of his seven shots -- one a turnaround jumper and another at the rim -- and was exceptional cleaning up on the offensive glass and using his physical frame to carve out space down low. 

It's no coincidence St. John's struggled to score in this one even if its offense has largely underwhelmed of late. Quaintance was a plus-18 in his 18 minutes of action -- second-highest on the team -- during which he vacuumed up five offensive rebounds. 

FINAL: Kentucky 78, St. John's 66

Kentucky dug its way out of a double-digit deficit and buried No. 22 St. John's down the stretch in the CBS Sports Classic to tip off this year's event with a 78-66 win. The Wildcats outscored the Red Storm 53-34 in the second half and flipped the script after an ugly start by tightening up defensively, finding an offensive groove and taking better care of the basketball.

The latter was a credit to point guard Jaland Lowe, who played 14 minutes in the second half after exiting less than a minute into his first action early in the first half upon seemingly aggravating his shoulder injury. UK finished the first 20 minutes with 11 turnovers and St. John's scored 16 points off those blunders. Lowe in the second half quarterbacked an efficient offense by dishing out three dimes to zero turnovers, and UK had just five second-half turnovers while more than doubling up their point production from the first half.

Lowe returning and UK squeezing the life out of St. John's was an encouraging sign of life from a team that before Saturday had not yet played at full health. His spectacular game was overshadowed only by a terrific season debut from teammate Jayden Quaintance, a transfer from Arizona State who was recovering from a torn ACL. He was effective even in limited action and finished with 10 points, eight boards and two blocks in 18 minutes.

The loss marks Pitino's second career loss as coach in games played in Atlanta and moves his all-time career record in the city to 9-2. It also moves Pitino, the former Kentucky coach, to 6-13 all-time when facing Kentucky.

St. John's with the loss drops to 7-4 on the season with only a game vs. Harvard on Tuesday standing between it and the start of Big East play on New Year's Eve. For Kentucky, it's a much-needed win -- its first in five attempts vs. a ranked opponent this season -- that moves it to 8-4 overall. Kentucky faces Bellarmine on Tuesday before SEC play begins Jan. 3.

Kentucky has opened up its largest lead of the game at the 5:59 mark of the second half as it leads 61-51. Its defense has held St. John's to 1-of-9 shooting over the last few minutes and slowed this game to a crawl. This might be the recipe to success for UK this season as it figures out a way to win with defense, rather than offense like it did last season.

Kentucky has outscored St. John's 27-11 in the second half -- including an 14-0 run -- to retake the lead at 52-43. This is the UK team we hoped to see earlier in the season: Jaland Lowe attacking and making plays, Jayden Quaintance disrupting defensively. Lot suddenly going UK's direction here in Atlanta. 

After aggravating his shoulder just seconds into his first action today, Kentucky guard Jaland Lowe has remarkably returned to the floor for the Wildcats. No idea how. He looked in serious pain and missed the entire first half save for about 20 seconds.

He's a difference-maker on the floor and his presence is just a welcome sight for the Wildcats.

HALFTIME: St. John's 32, Kentucky 25

The first of a doubleheader in the CBS Sports Classic from Atlanta is -- at least so far! -- shaping up to be a defensive battle. That favors No. 22 St. John's so far as it takes a seven-point lead into the break.

Ian Jackson leads the Johnnies with seven points and Zuby Ejiofor and Oziyah Sellers each have five. 

Kentucky's offense -- or lack thereof, rather -- has been the story so far. It is 1-of-6 from 3-point range, 10-of-28 from the floor and has committed 11 turnovers through 20 minutes of play. St. John's has taken advantage with 16 points off those forced turnovers.

There's been two short but quality stints for Kentucky big man Jayden Quaintance in this one showcasing his versatility and value. Two points, two boards and one block in four minutes. Also some stuff not showing up in the box score: Hustle play to try and chase down a Johnnies guard in transition and a big jump ball on a 50/50 rebound. He's made a good impact already. 

7:52, 1H: St. John's 14, Kentucky 12

St. John's is back on top but it has not been a stellar showing thus far from either team. They are a combined 10-37 shooting from the field and Kentucky has six turnovers to St. John's four. UK has also missed all four of its 3-point attempts.

Perhaps to be expected from two very good defensive teams that have been streaky on offense to open the season -- but an ugly start, nonetheless. 

11:47, 1H: Kentucky 10, St. John's 8

Kentucky grabs its first lead of the game going into the U12 media timeout after a 6-0 run over just under a three-minute span. Comes just as the Johnnies' offense is sputtering, too. St. John's has missed eight of its last nine shots from the field and has been scoreless for the last 3:25 of game action.

Star Arizona State transfer big man Jayden Quaintance, who has not played this season as he rehabs a torn ACL from last season, has checked in for Kentucky and is making his season debut, as expected. Big news for UK, but unfortunately comes just as guard Jaland Lowe exits with an apparent aggravation of his nagging shoulder injury.

Kentucky guard Jaland Lowe checked in to the game for the first time today with just over 16 minutes remaining and immediately aggravated his injured shoulder while contesting a shot inside the paint. Lowe walked right to the locker room after the play and is presumably getting further evaluation.

He was playing with a brace on the shoulder but safe to say his return might be questionable. Appeared to be in a lot of pain.

Today marks the first time St. John's coach Rick Pitino faces his former employer, Kentucky, as the Johnnies coach. He is 6-12 all-time facing the Wildcats -- a record accumulated all while coaching at Louisville.

Atlanta is a special place for Pitino as it was the city where he led Louisville to its 2013 national championship. He is 9-1 in games played in Atlanta with a nine-game winning streak in the city.

Our team of experts is split today on who takes the win between No. 22 St. John's and Kentucky from Atlanta. The line opened St. John's -2.5 but has since dropped to St. John's -1.5.

I'm taking the Johnnies to win and I liked laying the 2.5-point spread. Think I'm still there with it being a 1.5-point spread but it's close. Of the six of us who made picks, four like St. John's in this one and two are taking UK. Pivotal game for both.

It has been an ugly start to the season for one of college basketball's most expensive rosters. At 7-4, the unranked Kentucky Wildcats -- who opened the season inside the top 10 of the rankings -- have lost to Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina and most recently to Gonzaga (by a margin of 35 points).

But UK has won back-to-back games leading into Saturday including a 72-60 win over Indiana last weekend. And now the team is expected to add big man Jayden Quaintance into its rotation for the first time after he missed the team's first 11 games recovering from a torn ACL.

Quaintance was an All-Big 12 defender as a freshman last season at Arizona State.

"Things haven't gone the way we had hoped," Pope said this week. "The expectation here is to win every game always. It hasn't gone like that, but I love being in the trenches. I love the anxiety and the stress, whether that's with my staff in the war room or on the practice floor, unleashing some frustration. Finding a new voice. Finding answers to the pathway that we know where we're going. I love the fact that it's sleepless night after sleepless night because we're trying to get this exactly right. It's fun when you're sitting on a team with unlimited potential."

Kentucky will be the narrow underdog today vs. St. John's but we should be in for a good one between two tough teams who seem to be figuring out some answers after slow starts to the season.

There are no shortage of sports options on the TV today but I strongly advise figuring our a situation to make sure CBS is on. Kentucky-St. John's -- which tips at 12:30 p.m. ET -- is part of a doubleheader in the CBS Sports Classic and the first of three terrific games airing on CBS.

Here's what to expect Saturday.

CBS TV schedule 

• 12:30 p.m. ET: No. 22 St. John's vs. Kentucky
• 2:00 p.m. ET: Colorado State vs. Utah State (CBS Sports Network)
• 3:00 p.m. ET: No. 12 North Carolina vs. Ohio State
• 5:30 p.m. ET: No. 8 Houston vs. No. 14 Arkansas

That's the goods!

Today's game is more than just a terrific matchup between No. 22 St. John's and Kentucky. It's a matchup between former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino taking on his current team -- and former pupil.

Pitino coached at UK from 1989-1997 won a championship there in 1996 -- in what was current UK coach Mark Pope's final season with the team. Pope played with the Wildcats in 1994 and 1995 after transferring from Washington.

"I'm really grateful for him," Pope said this week on Inside College Basketball Now. "I can't wait for this game to try and go rip each other's throats out."