National Basketball Association
Kentucky 84, Arkansas 67
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 28, 2015
Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Officials:
# Mike Nance, # Doug Shows, # Olandis Poole
Attendance:
24416
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 1 Kentucky 84, No. 16 Arkansas 67: Trey Lyles and Andrew Harrison scored 18 points apiece as the unbeaten Wildcats led wire-to-wire in a dominant victory over the visiting Razorbacks.
Tyler Ulis added 14 points, Devin Booker recorded 10 and Aaron Harrison collected nine, seven rebounds and five steals for Kentucky (29-0, 16-0 SEC), which snapped the Razorbacks’ seven-game winning streak and clinched the outright SEC regular-season title. The Wildcats led by as many as 31 points in the second half and moved within two wins of a perfect regular season.
Michael Qualls led Arkansas (23-6, 12-4) with 17 points and nine rebounds while Bobby Portis registered 15 and eight. The Razorbacks shot 37.5 percent and were 5-for-18 from 3-point range as their three-game winning streak against Kentucky came to an end.
The Wildcats, who are off to the first 29-0 start in school history, began the game with Lyles’ alley-oop dunk and took a 42-26 lead into the break after holding Arkansas to 29.6 percent shooting – including 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. Arkansas, which came in averaging a league-high 79.5 points, cut the deficit as low as 13 points early in the second half before falling behind by 23 with 12 1/2 minutes remaining.
Kentucky made seven straight field goals during a 9-0 run and moved ahead 78-47 on Ulis’ 3-pointer with just under eight minutes left. Karl-Anthony Towns scored eight points while Willie Cauley-Stein recorded seven and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, who improved to 101-4 at Rupp Arena under coach John Calipari.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Arkansas coach Mike Anderson was assessed a technical foul for arguing a non-call with 12:31 remaining and Kentucky leading by 21 points. … Kentucky has trailed for only 149:01 of a possible 1,175 minutes this season. … Portis scored in double figures for the 24th straight game for Arkansas, which was outrebounded 38-32 and committed 12 turnovers.
Top Game Performances
Arkansas |
|
Kentucky |
Michael Qualls 17 |
Scoring |
Andrew Harrison 18 |
Rashad Madden 3 |
Assists |
Andrew Harrison 3 |
Michael Qualls 9 |
Rebounds |
Willie Cauley-Stein 9 |
Michael Qualls 7 |
Free Throws Made |
Andrew Harrison 8 |
Anton Beard 2 |
Steals |
Aaron Harrison 5 |
N/A |
Blocks |
Willie Cauley-Stein 4 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Arkansas
|
67 |
37.5 |
5-18 |
20-25 |
10 |
29 |
0 |
4 |
12 |
Kentucky
|
84 |
48.3 |
5-17 |
21-28 |
13 |
34 |
6 |
8 |
9 |