No. 1 Kansas prevails over No. 17 Kentucky, 89-84

CHICAGO, Ill. — In a game that saw massive momentum shifts, eight ties, 10 lead changes, and 173 combined points between the two-winningest programs in college basketball, both fan bases certainly got a show.

Ultimately, No. 1 Kansas prevailed. The Jayhawks earned an 89-84 win over No. 17 Kentucky Tuesday evening in the latest installment of the State Farm Champions Classic.

Senior center Hunter Dickinson led all scorers with 27 points and 21 rebounds. Antonio Reeves paced the Wildcats with 24, while Rob Dillingham added 18, Adou Thiero finished with 16 and Reed Sheppard had 12. Keivn McCullar Jr. recorded a triple-double: 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The nation's top-ranked team played that way to start the game. The Jayhawks jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Adou Thiero put Kentucky on the board with a three pointer. The night was just beginning for Kentucky's sophomore forward.

Thiero was a spark throughout the opening half, seemingly always in the right place at the right time. He had 13 points and nine rebounds by the end of the first half.

If Thiero lit the spark, Rob Dillingham set a fire. The freshman guard sank four, three-point shots in two minutes.

14 seconds later, he dished out an assist for another.

As a team, the Cats had nine three-pointers before the under-four timeout.

Kansas went cold to end the half. That is, until senior center Hunter Dickinson sank a three at the buzzer to cut the lead to single-digits. The Cats still went to the locker room with the 48-41 advantage.

Dillingham was leading the way with 16 points, followed by Thiero's near double-double. Despite being noticeably undersized for this particular matchup, the Cats were out-rebounding the Jayhawks 23-21.

Kentucky's backcourt trio of Reeves (1-8), Wagner (0-6) and Edwards (0-4) struggled offensively throughout the first half, shooting a combined 1-18 from the floor throughout the first 20 minutes.

Kentucky had 48 points at the break anyway.

Wagner got out in transition within the half's opening minute to score his first field goal of the night and stretch Kentucky's lead to ten, 51-41.

Then, the Cats went cold. Kentucky's offense stalled mid-way through the second half, while allowing the Jayhawks to rattle off an 8-0 run over 2:25.

Kentucky refused to flinch.

An Antonio Reeves three helped end the drought and tie the game back up, this time at 65-all. He continued to keep the Cats in it throughout the second, in a great showing after a not-so-great first half for the senior guard.

Reeves secured an and-one with six minutes to play that put the Cats back on top, 75-70, but the Jayhawks simply wouldn't go away.

Even after KJ Adams fouled out with 3:46 to play, Kansas found ways to score, while Kentucky went 2:40 without a field goal. After leading by as many as 14 in the second half, Kentucky's final lead of the game came in the form of an 83-82 advantage with 2:35 play. After that, the Jayhawks ended the night on an 11-1 run. Reeves had back-to-back open looks to tie the game, but neither fell. Reed Sheppard had a chance at the final shot, but it was also off the mark.

DJ Wagner finished with four points (1-12 from the floor), while Justin Edwards ended the night 0-6, with his lone point coming from the free throw line. The team as a whole shot 33 percent from the field and 32 percent from deep (12-of-38).

With the loss, Kentucky falls to 2-1 on the season.

The Wildcats will return home for their next game inside Rupp Arena this Friday at 7 p.m. to take on Stonehill College The game will be shown on the SEC Network+.

BBN TONIGHT

For more on the game and the season ahead, watch BBN Tonight week nights at 7:30 p.m. on the official station for Big Blue Nation, LEX 18 News. Full episodes are available all the time on BBNTonight.com