- Kentucky is 15-0 while Louisville is 10-4, ending a five-game win streak by the Cardinals.
- Kentucky’s 15-0 start is its best since the 1969-70 squad opened with 15 consecutive wins.
- This is the fifth time in school history that the Wildcats have begun a season with at least 15 straight wins.
- This was the 600 th game of Coach John Calipari’s career. He has tallied a 460-140 (.767) record.
- John Calipari’s 15-0 start is the best start by a UK coach in his augural season in UK history.
- This is the seventh time in John Calipari’s collegiate coaching career that he has had a winning streak of at least 15 games.
- Kentucky leads the Louisville series, 27-14.
- The Wildcats are 165-70 all-time against the current membership of the BIG EAST Conference, including an earlier win this season against Connecticut.
- Today’s attendance of 24,479 is a Rupp Arena attendance record. The previous mark was 24,468 earlier this season vs. North Carolina.
- After a mid-week open date, the Wildcats open Southeastern Conference action on Sat. Jan. 9 at home against Georgia. The game will tip off at 4 p.m. and will be a regionally syndicated telecast on the SEC Network.
First-Half Notes
- Kentucky used the starting lineup of Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins for the 13 th time this season.
- Kentucky scored first when Louisville was assessed a technical foul at the 19:15 mark and Cousins made two foul shots.
- Cousins made the first six points of the game, adding a tip-in at 18:58 and a jump hook at 18:22.
- Louisville got on the board at 16:26 with a Samardo Samuels free throw, making the score 6-1.
- Patterson got the game’s first three-pointer at 14:45, giving Kentucky a 9-1 lead. Patterson’s 3-pointer extended UK’s streak to 726 consecutive games with a 3-pointer, the third-longest streak in the nation.
- After 14 misses to open the game, Louisville got its first basket at 10:53 on a Samuels tip-in.
- Kentucky led by as many as 13 points at 18-5. The Wildcats had a drought, however, going without a basket for nine minutes, from 12:04 to 3:03.
- Louisville used a 7-0 spurt to pull within 18-12.
- The Wildcats got a great play with 1:35 to go. After a missed shot was loose in the lane, DeAndre Liggins darted in to tip the ball to Patterson, who swooped in for a dunk, putting UK ahead 25-12.
- In the final eight seconds, Louisville got two foul shots from Reginald Delk and three from Preston Knowles to pull within 27-19 at halftime.
- UK and UofL combined for 46 points in the first half. This was the lowest scoring first half of the Kentucky-Louisville series since Jan. 21, 1922, when the teams combined for 21 points (UK 11-10; UK went on to win that game, 29-22).
Second-Half Notes
- Cousins reached a double-double on a basket with 15:23 remaining.
- Trailing 41-33, Louisville went on a 9-0 run, taking its first lead at 42-41 on a Terrence Jennings foul shot with 9:51 on the clock.
- UK bounced back with eight straight points, the first six by Wall, as the Wildcats went back up 49-42.
- Kentucky increased the lead to 12 at 60-48 with 3:44 to go. Louisville got no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Team Notes
- Louisville missed its first 14 field-goal attempts and Kentucky eventually limited the Cardinals to 32.2 percent from the field.
- It is the 10 th time in 15 games that UK has held the opponent under 40 percent shooting.
- It is Louisville’s lowest shooting percentage of the season.
- UK won points in the paint, 40-24.
- The Wildcats also had a significant advantage in points off turnovers, 26-15.
Individual Notes
- DeMarcus Cousins totaled 18 points and 18 rebounds.
- It is his fourth-consecutive double-double and eighth of the season.
- Cousins is the first Wildcat to have four-straight double-doubles since Patrick Patterson achieved the feat last season.
- Cousins tied a UK/UofL series record for rebounds. Louisville’s Bob Lochmueller had 18 boards in 1951.
- Patrick Patterson had 17 points, scoring in double figures in 14 of 15 games this season.
- John Wall scored 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half.
- When UK trailed 42-41, Wall scored six straight points, two baskets and two foul shots, to put the Wildcats back on top for good.
- Wall and Eric Bledsoe had four assists each, tying game-high honors.
- Eric Bledsoe tallied 12 points, 10 in the second half.
- Bledsoe went 6-of-6 at the foul line, all coming in the second half.
- Bledsoe and John Wall each had a game-high four assists.
