Kentucky blows out archrival Louisville
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his Kentucky teammates knew they were capable of a dominant performance. Facing archrival Louisville motivated the No. 16 Wildcats to go out and prove it.
Gilgeous-Alexander came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points, including 17 after halftime, PJ Washington added 16 and Kentucky used several runs to blow out rival Louisville 90-61 Friday in the annual showdown for Bluegrass supremacy.
Seeking to regroup after last week’s 83-75 loss to unranked UCLA, the Wildcats (10-2) used a 20-6 run to close the first half with a 41-27 lead. Their 24-11 surge over 8:41 in the second helped built a 67-38 lead that eventually reached 32, a gap helped by 57 percent second-half shooting.
Gilgeous-Alexander had a lot to do with that, especially inside.
The freshman guard from Canada shot 6 of 10 after the break to finish 9 of 16 from the field and top his previous scoring best of 15 points against Monmouth on Dec. 9. Playing at times with Washington and Quade Green (13 points), Gilgeous-Alexander registered five second-half layups alone.
“I knew it would come eventually,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who also had five rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. “I’ve just been working, and once you work good things will happen. And it happened tonight.”
Washington helped earlier with 10 points down the stretch in the first half for a halftime lead that expanded as Kentucky earned its biggest series victory since a 76-46 rout in Lexington during the 1999-2000 season.
The Wildcats’ mix of man and zone defenses meanwhile held Louisville (10-3) to 35 percent shooting, including 3 of 25 from long range. Most impressive to Coach John Calipari was doing that after last weekend’s disappointing effort against the Bruins.
“That’s as good as we play,” Calipari said. “We played just about as good as we can play, mainly because we finally competed and battled for an entire game.”
Playing its first rivalry game in 16 seasons without coach Rick Pitino, who was fired in October amid a federal bribery investigation of college basketball, the Cardinals faltered after leading for the last time at 19-16.
They were outscored 42-30 in the paint and couldn’t hit from behind the arc, with and without being contested, in having their six-game winning streak stopped. Deng Adel had 13 points.
“We had to try and weather the storm there as much as we could to get to halftime,” Coach David Padgett said, “and that’s when they made their run and we just couldn’t overcome it at the end of the day.”
Though it came several days after Christmas, Green delivered on his promise of a victory for Kentucky fans.
“We had to give it to them,” said Green, who made 3 of 4 from long range and 4 of 6 overall. “We just had to come out and play hard and try to blow them out today, and we did.”
In other Top 25/SEC men’s games Friday, Nick Ward had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 2 Michigan State rolled to a 111-61 victory over Cleveland State, the third consecutive game for the Spartans with over 100 points. Joshua Langford scored 23 points for Michigan State (13-1). Bobby Word scored 26 points for Cleveland State (3-10) and made 7 three-pointers. … Devonte’ Graham had 23 points and 8 assists, converting 6 three-point baskets, and No. 11 Kansas defeated Texas 92-86 in the Big 12 opener for both teams. Lagerald Vick scored 21 points, making a career-best 5 threes for Kansas (11-2), and Svi Myhailiuk added 20 points, hitting 5 three-pointers. Freshman Mohamed Bamba led Texas (9-4) with 22 points, 15 rebounds and 8 blocks, all season bests. … Teddy Allen scored 15 points, leading six West Virginia players in double figures as the No. 7 Mountaineers rallied to an 85-79 victory over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 opener for both teams. The Mountaineers (12-1) got 13 points from Sagaba Konate, 12 each from Javon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr., 11 from Lamont West and 10 from James Bolden. Jeffrey Carroll and Tavarius Shine scored 17 points each to lead the Cowboys (103). … Keenan Evans scored 18 points, freshman Zhaire Smith added 15 in his Big 12 debut and No. 22 Texas Tech rolled past No. 18 Baylor 77-53 in the conference opener for both teams. Jarrett Culver finished with 13 points and Niem Stevenson had 11 points and a game-high 5 assists for the Red Raiders (12-1). Mark Vital scored 12 points for the Bears (10-3).