Kentucky at its best against rival

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points, including 17 after halftime, and No. 16 Kentucky blew out 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) blew it open in the second half and earned their biggest series win since a 76-46 rout in 1999-2000.

“I knew it would come eventually,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

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 (10-3) were held to 35% shooting, including three of 25 from long range. Coach John Calipari like how they responded to the loss to the Bruins.

“We played just about as good as we can play,” he said.

at No. 2 Michigan State 111, Cleveland State 61: Nick Ward had 22 points and 14 rebounds as the Spartans rolled to their third straight game topping 100 points.

No. 7 West Virginia 85, at Oklahoma State 79: Teddy Allen scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, rallying the Mountaineers to their 12th straight win in the teams’ Big 12 opener.

No. 11 Kansas 92, at Texas 86: Devonte’ Graham had 23 points and eight assists. The Jayhawks won their conference opener for the 27th consecutive season.

at No. 22 Texas Tech 77, No. 18 Baylor 53: Keenan Evans scored 18 points and the Bears were held to a season low in points in the teams’ Big 12 opener.