National Basketball Association
Kentucky 58, Louisville 50
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 27, 2014
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Officials:
# Roger Ayers, # Karl Hess, # Mike Roberts
Attendance:
22812
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 1 Kentucky 58, No. 4 Louisville 50: Freshman Tyler Ulis scored a season-high 14 points off the bench as the Wildcats ended the Cardinals’ 35-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 10 points and nine rebounds for Kentucky (13-0), which has handed Louisville two of its three losses in 46 games at the KFC Yum! Center. Devin Booker chipped in nine points while Trey Lyles and Dakari Johnson pulled downed nine boards apiece as the Wildcats won the battle on the glass 46-33 and held the Cardinals to a season-low 25.9 percent from the field.
Louisville’s starting backcourt of Terry Rozier (15 points) and Chris Jones (13) led the team in scoring, but combined to shoot 8-of-33 as the Cardinals (11-1) fell to Kentucky for the seventh time in the last eight meetings. Wayne Blackshear contributed 10 points while Montrezl Harrell tallied nine points and eight rebounds in his return from a one-game suspension.
Kentucky committed 10 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, but held Louisville to 21.4 percent from the field and the Wildcats led 22-18 at the break before doubling their margin in the first 2:03 of the second half on a jumper by Ulis. Louisville trimmed the deficit to 35-32 with 8:48 to go before a 3-pointer from Ulis keyed a 15-6 surge that allowed the Wildcats to build their biggest lead of the game at 50-38 with 4:43 to play.
The Cardinals got a triple from Jones and had a chance to close within five with 1 ½ minutes left, but Blackshear could only hit one of his three free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and Aaron Harrison stung Louisville on the other end with his second triple of the game. Ulis, Booker and Willie Cauley-Stein combined for five free throws over the final 31 seconds to seal it.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The opening 20 minutes marked the lowest-scoring half by both teams this season. … Kentucky did not shoot its first free throw until Towns’ three-point play with 14:27 remaining, but finished 10-of-14 from the stripe. ... The Wildcats have held 11 of their 13 opponents to 52 points or fewer. ... Louisville managed only one assist on 15 baskets - the fewest assists by any ranked team in 19 seasons - while its field-goal percentage was its lowest since 1979-80.
Top Game Performances
Kentucky |
|
Louisville |
Tyler Ulis 14 |
Scoring |
Terry Rozier 15 |
Andrew Harrison 4 |
Assists |
Chris Jones 1 |
Dakari Johnson 9 |
Rebounds |
Montrezl Harrell 8 |
Karl-Anthony Towns 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Wayne Blackshear 6 |
Willie Cauley-Stein 3 |
Steals |
Wayne Blackshear 2 |
Marcus Lee 3 |
Blocks |
Montrezl Harrell 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Kentucky
|
58 |
42.0 |
6-14 |
10-14 |
11 |
45 |
3 |
6 |
18 |
Louisville
|
50 |
25.9 |
3-14 |
17-24 |
1 |
31 |
2 |
10 |
9 |