Team Records and Series Notes
· Kentucky is now 10-2 on the season while Louisville falls to 9-4
· UK increased its series lead to 36-16 over its in-state rival. UK has also won two straight and is now 10-2 vs. Louisville under John Calipari.
· Next for Kentucky: The Wildcats begin Southeastern Conference play Jan. 8 at Alabama. That game will be televised on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET
o UK has won 48 regular-season SEC titles and five under Calipari
· Kentucky improved to 13-9 in Louisville vs. the Cardinals.
In the First Half
· Kentucky started Ashton Hagans, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, PJ Washington and Reid Travis for the fifth time this season and fourth game in a row.
· UK made its first five shots of the game: a Johnson 3-pointer from the right elbow, dunks from Travis and Washington, and two field goals from Herro
o Hagans threw two nice passes on the dunks
· Herro was on fire in the first half. He had 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first 20 minutes, including two 3-pointers, a block and a steal.
o Key plays from Herro included a 3-pointer early in the first half to snuff a 5-0 Louisville run and a 3-pointer, his second of the half, that was a part of an 11-0 UK run.
· Nick Richards had a nice sequence midway through the first half when he collected two offensive rebounds and kept another ball alive on the same possession to ultimately set up a Jemarl Baker Jr. 3-pointer from straightaway.
· Kentucky stretched its lead to 31-17 on a Washington layup for an 11-0 run over a 3:54 stretch.
· The Wildcats held Louisville without a field goal for 7:25 of game time (from the 12:45 mark to 5:20).
· Louisville countered UK’s 11-0 run with a 5-0 spurt of its own to cut the UK lead to 31-22. The Wildcats had three turnovers during the stretch and went 4:17 without a point after taking a 31-17 lead. Johnson ended it with a leaner in the lane.
· Kentucky went into the halftime locker room with a 35 27 lead.
In the Second Half
· The Wildcats started the second half the same way it started the first: Hagans, Herro, Johnson, Washington and Travis.
· After Louisville opened the half with a basket, UK countered with six straight points, featuring a nice block by Travis and a tip-back by the Stanford transfer to increase Kentucky’s lead to 41-29.
· Kentucky’s defense, which was strong in the first half holding Louisville to 31.7 percent, was even better early in the second half. The Wildcats held the Cardinals to 3 for their first 17 to begin the half, including a 1-for-10 stretch as UK increased its lead to 47-35
· The highlight of the game came courtesy of Washington and EJ Montgomery. After Quickely knocked the ball loose on the defensive end, Washington got the ball, raced up the floor through the Louisville defense and threw a perfect lob for Johnson for a lob dunk.
· UK took a 15-point lead, 50-35, on a Herro 3-pointer.
· Louisville countered with a 6-0 run but Hagans silenced the run and the crowed with back-to-back baskets.
· UK’s largest lead was 16 with 2:35 to play.
Team Notes
· Kentucky still has one more remaining nonconference game remaining in the middle of conference play. The Wildcats will host Kansas on Jan. 26 at Rupp Arena.
· UK improved to 8-2 in the KFC Yum! Center (including NCAA Tournament appearances).
· The Wildcats are 93-43 in true road games under Calipari.
· Kentucky is now 243-5 in the Calipari era when leading by at least 10 points at any time in the contest. UK has had a 10-point lead in a whopping 85.3 percent of Calipari’s 285 wins at Kentucky.
· UK dominated in the paint, outscoring the Cardinals 42-2 in the interior. The Wildcats are now 8-1 on the season when outscoring its competition in the paint.
· Kentucky blocked eight shots and has now tallied four or more blocks in all 11 games.
· The Wildcats are now 159-7 when limiting the opponent to 63 points or less. Kentucky held Louisville to 58 points.
· In limiting the Cardinals to 36.4 percent from the field, UK improved to 168-15 under Calipari when limiting the opponent to 40 percent or less.
Player Notes
· Tyler Herro, named the Bluegrass Sports Commission Most Valuable Player, led the effort Saturday with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting.
· He made a career-high four 3-pointers and a career-high 10 shots.
· He also added five rebounds, two steals and a block.
· He’s averaging 16.7 points over the last six games.
· Keldon Johnson, UK’s leading scorer for the season, continued his great play with 15 points and seven rebounds.
· Ashton Hagans played the role of floor general again while scoring a career-high 11 points.
· He also contributed three assists and three steals in 24 minutes.
· PJ Washington tied his career high with four blocked shots.
· In his second straight all-around game, he added five points, a team-high eight rebounds and three assists
· Immanuel Quickley tied his career high with two steals.
Calipari
· Calipari is now 285-66 at UK.
· Calipari has a 730-206 all-time on-court record.
· He is now 12 wins away from tying Joe B. Hall for the second-most victories by a UK head coach in program history.
· Calipari is now 16-7 all-time vs. Louisville and 10-2 as the coach at Kentucky.
· It was Calipari’s first meeting vs. first-year Louisville head coach Chris Mack, who previously served at Xavier.
