La Familia flips script in 2nd half: Kentucky basketball alumni team cruises past The Nawf

LEXINGTON — Some coaches rely on halftime adjustments to jumpstart their team. Tyler Ulis isn't one of them. Ulis, who starred at Kentucky and now tutors the alumni team, La Familia , said Sunday's game against The Nawf came down to his club.

And his club only.

"We knew before the game what type of team they were," said Ulis, referring to The Nawf. "We told them before the game that they were going to come out with a lot of energy, flying around, trying to get rebounds, loose balls."

La Familia — to put it politely — scuffled along for the first two quarters. It never led in Quarters 1 or 2. And outside of the only player on the roster who never wore a Wildcats jersey ( Kerem Kanter , younger brother of former UK forward Enes Kanter ), La Familia couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half.

Kanter had 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while the rest of the team combined to go 3 for 17 from the field to trail 34-31 at halftime.

In the third quarter, La Familia flipped the script and defended its home court like the former UK players did during their glory years at Rupp Arena .

La Familia almost doubled up the visitors from Georgia in the third quarter, winning the period 31-16, using that effort to cruise to an 81-64 win in a round of 32 matchup in The Basketball Tournament .

"If we didn't match their energy, then we would be in the position we were in in the first half," Ulis said. "They came out second half and did what they needed to do and they won the game."

Nate Sestina pointed the finger at himself for the team's slow start.

"I'm guilty of it, for sure: just not getting 50-50 balls, not getting offensive rebounds for us, trying to leak out and get points like that," he said. "(We) came in at halftime, talked about it, figured it out."

Having Kanter on their side helped.

After posting a double-double (21 points and 12 rebounds, game highs in both categories) in Friday’s opening round victory over 305 Ballers , Kanter kept up his stellar play Sunday. The 6-foot-9 forward finished with 26 points to lead all scorers Sunday, connecting on 83.3% (10 for 12) of his attempts, including both of his 3-point tries. His final points doubled as the final three of the game, as he swished a shot from beyond the arc to send The Nawf back to " The Peach State " with a loss in their luggage. Kanter also pulled down nine rebounds, tied with teammate Eric Bledsoe for the game high.

"I'm appreciative of them for accepting me as a teammate, as a brother," Kanter said. "Me coming here, not going to Kentucky, I just wanted to be aggressive. The last two games, I felt like we had an advantage with our size. We wanted to pound the ball inside, and we've been successful doing that."

Averaging 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds through two TBT games hasn't come as a surprise to Kanter.

"I feel like this tournament kinda reminds me of March Madness and all of us, we had great success in the tournament," he said. "Them with Kentucky, me with Xavier.

"It's win or go home."

While Kanter was dominating the interior, Sestina was doing the same from the perimeter, connecting on four of his eight 3-point attempts.

"From Tyler all the way down through to the little guys on the end of the bench cheering for you when you hit one, the hoop starts to get a little bit bigger," said Sestina, who ended with 15 points, "and then the crowd gets going. And Rupp Arena is infectious. As soon as you hit one, they start going and you start feeling great. And then it's just second nature. It's kind of like breathing now. So I had to get all those misses out the first game and figure it out and hopefully it carries over into Tuesday."

That game Tuesday is the Lexington Regional final, where La Famila will face Herd That (a 63-59 winner over War Ready earlier Sunday) — for a spot in the TBT quarterfinals. Tuesday’s round of 16 game between La Familia and Herd That will start at 9 p.m. at Rupp Arena.

With so much on the line, Ulis expects his team will be ready from the opening tip Tuesday night.

"These guys are professionals," he said. "They didn't come out here to waste their time. We're all here, taking time out of our schedules to be here weeks at a time. We understand the goal at hand."

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: La Familia flips script in 2nd half: Kentucky basketball alumni team cruises past The Nawf