Evansville stuns No. 1 Kentucky at Rupp Arena
LEXINGTON, KY. » Sam Cunliffe scored 17 points, including two free throws with
6.8 seconds remaining, and Evansville silenced Rupp Arena with an improbable
67-64 victory over No. 1 Kentucky Tuesday night.
K.J. Riley added 18 points as the Purple Aces — coached by Walter McCarty, who won a national title with Kentucky in 1996 — pulled off the biggest upset in program history with their first win over a No. 1 team in three tries.
Evansville (2-0) led much of the game and answered each Kentucky rally with clutch baskets to grab the lead and then maintain it for the season’s biggest upset. The Wildcats (2-1) were a 25-point favorite.
Kentucky had been 39-0 at home against unranked, nonconference opponents when ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press poll. Evansville,
meanwhile, got its firstever road win over an APranked team.
Tyrese Maxey’s layup with 8 seconds remaining got Kentucky within 65-64, but with his teammates locking arms on the bench, Cunliffe stepped to the line and calmly made both ends of the 1-and-1 to seal the victory. The Purple Aces raised their hands and ran around a silent Rupp Arena after the final horn as the Wildcats slowly walked off.
Cunliffe did most of his damage with 15 first-half points off the bench.
Evansville won just 11 games last season, its first under McCarty, who played in the NBA for 10 years and was an assistant at Louisville under Rick Pitino and in the NBA before returning to his hometown to coach the Purple Aces.
Evansville made nine of 30 3-point attempts while shooting 38% from the field to Kentucky’s 37%.
(21) XAVIER 63, MISSOURI 58 » Naji Marshall hit a 3-pointer that tied it in regulation and made a pair of free throws in overtime as Xavier (3-0) overcame poor outside shooting and rallied to a victory over Missouri (2-1).
The Musketeers let a
15-point lead slip away because they couldn’t hit an outside shot, going only 3 of
21 from beyond the arc. Marshall’s 3-pointer — Xavier’s only one in the second half — tied it 51-all with 27.1 seconds left. Marshall finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Missouri missed a 3 at the end of regulation and never led in overtime, losing to a ranked team for the seventh time in a row. Dru Smith led the Tigers with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
(2) DUKE 105, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 54 » Freshman Matthew Hurt scored a season-high 19 points to help Duke (3-0) beat Central Arkansas (1-3).