Boxscore |
KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
FOOD CITY CENTER | KNOXVILLE, TN
MARCH 9, 2024
Final Score: No. 15/13 Kentucky 85, No. 4 Tennessee 81
Team Records and Series Notes
- Kentucky completes the regular season 23-8, 13-5 in the Southeastern Conference.
- Kentucky extended its win streak to five games in a row.
- Kentucky finishes in a tie for second place in the SEC.
- Tennessee is 24-7 overall and won the SEC regular-season championship with a 14-4 league mark.
- Kentucky leads the series 161-78. This was UK’s second consecutive win in Knoxville and UK leads 59-53 in games played there.
- Next for Kentucky: the Wildcats clinch a double bye in the SEC Tournament and will play Friday in Nashville. As this was written, time and seeding have not finalized.
Team Notes
- Kentucky is now 5-2 this season against ranked opponents.
- Kentucky finished the regular season 9-4 away from Rupp Arena, including 7-3 on the opponent’s home court.
- Kentucky limited Tennessee to 37.8% from the field. UK is 8-0 this season, and 241-24 (90.9%) in the Coach John Calipari era, when keeping the opponent shooting percentage to 40 percent or less.
- Kentucky scored 85 points.
- UK entered the game third in the nation in scoring at 89.7 points per game.
- Kentucky shot 45.8%, not far from the season mark of 49.8%, which is fifth in the nation.
- Kentucky shot 51.7% from 3-point range, 15 of 29.
- 15 long balls tied UK’s season high in an SEC game.
- The Wildcats entered the game second in the nation at 40.8%.
- Kentucky shot 88.9% on free throws, 16 of 18, the 10th straight game at least 75% at the line.
- Kentucky won the rebounding, 42-37. UK is 15-0 this season when winning or tying the board work.
- Kentucky won bench points, 38-5.
- Kentucky led by as many as 14 points. UK is 349-17 (95.4%) in the John Calipari era when leading by at least 10 points at some point in the game.
- Dalton Knecht had 40 points for Tennessee, most for a Kentucky opponent since Elston Turner of Texas A&M tallied 40 on January 12, 2013.
Player Notes
- Antonio Reeves had 27 points, his seventh straight 20-point game and 18th of the season. He grabbed seven rebounds, the second game in a row he led the Wildcats in rebounding.
- Reeves is first Wildcat with seven consecutive 20-point games since Jamal Murray had 12 in a row in February/March 2016.
- He has scored in double figures in every game but one this season.
- He also has hit at least one 3-pointer in every game but one this season.
- He has 1,115 points in his two seasons as a Wildcat – moving past Jeff Sheppard to No. 49 on the all-time UK list. He remains No. 3 among Wildcats who played only two seasons at UK.
- Reed Sheppard had 27 points, including 22 in the second half. He made 7 of 10 on 3-pointers.
- He led the team in assists with five.
- He had one steal, remaining in third on the UK single-season list with 78.
- Justin Edwards had 16 points, including his career-high-tying four 3-pointers.
- He had six rebounds and led the Wildcats in plus/minus at +13.
- It is his 13th double-figure game of the season.
- Limited to 17 minutes because of foul trouble, Rob Dillingham scored 11 points, his 25th double-figure scoring game of the season.
Coach John Calipari
- Calipari has an 855-261 (76.6%) all-time on-court record, including 410-121 (77.2%) at Kentucky.
- Calipari is 74-51 (59.2%) against ranked opponents while at Kentucky.
- Calipari is 406-131 (75.6%) in conference games during his career, including 198-65 (75.3%) in the SEC.
- Calipari is 22-16 vs. Tennessee.
In the First Half
- Kentucky started D.J. Wagner, Antonio Reeves, Justin Edwards, Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso for the sixth game. UK is 5-1 with this lineup.
- Tre Mitchell was UK’s first substitution with 17:59 remaining.
- Trailing 12-9 midway through the half, Kentucky hit three straight 3-pointers to claim an 18-12 lead and the Wildcats never trailed again.
- UK led by 11 points at 31-20, but Tennessee ended the half on a 9-2 run to narrow the gap to 33-29 at intermission.
- Edwards led the Wildcats with 13 points and Reeves had 11.
- UK is 20-3 this season when leading at halftime.
In the Second Half
- Kentucky began the second half with Wagner, Reeves, Edwards, Thiero and Onyenso.
- A 9-0 run gave UK its then-largest lead at 51-39.
- Moments later, a 9-2 spurt pushed the lead to its largest of the game at 60-46.
- Kentucky led 68-54 when Tennessee hit a 9-0 run to close within five at 68-63.
- Kentucky pushed it back to 84-73 with 55 seconds left when Tennessee scored eight straight to make it 84-81.
- Dillingham was fouled with 5.9 seconds left and made the second of two free throws for the 85-81 final.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.
