March 20, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 

Series Record

• Kentucky improves to 34-2 on the season while Wake Forest is now 20-11.
• UK is 5-0 in the series against the Demon Deacons and 3-0 against the Deacons in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Wildcats are 100-44 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. UK is 5-2 in NCAA Tournament games played in the New Orleans metro area. UK also is 18-6 in NCAA second round games and 31-8 while playing as a No. 1 seed.
• Kentucky is 6-2 against No. 9 seeds.
• This is the most wins for Kentucky since the 1998 team went 35-4.
• The Wildcats will be in action again on Thursday taking on the winner of the Cornell/Wisconsin game in the Sweet 16.

NCAA Tournament team notes

• UK outscored East Tennessee and Wake Forest by a combined 59 points. It is UK’s largest combined margin of victory in the first and second rounds since outscoring San Jose State (110-72) and Virginia Tech (84-60) by a total of 62 points in 1996.

Team game notes

• The Wildcats used the starting combination of Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson and John Wall for the 27 th time this season. Kentucky is 25-2 with that starting five.
• Daniel Orton was the first sub off the bench for Kentucky. It was Orton’s team-leading 19 th time as the first Wildcat off the bench.
• UK extended its streak of games with a three-pointer to 747 games, the third longest streak in the country.
• During a stretch in the first half, the Wildcats held Wake Forest scoreless for over five minutes from the 11:50 mark to the 6:44 mark.
• Leading 29-24, the Wildcats closed the first half on a 15-4 run to carry a 44-28 lead into halftime. Kentucky is 28-1 when leading or tied at the half.
• UK shot 66.7 pct. in the first half, the team’s highest percentage this season.
• UK finished at a season-high 60.3 percent from the field. It is the 18 th time this season that the Wildcats have shot at least 50 percent from the field.

Individual game notes

#1 Darius Miller

• Made fifth straight start
• Finished with a career-high 20 points
• Has connected on a three-pointer in three of the last four games.
• Pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, most for him this season and one shy of his career high vs. Miami on Dec. 6, 2008
• Scored in double-digits in the first half for the second time this season, and the first time since scoring 11-first half points against Sam Houston State (11/19/09).

#3 Darnell Dodson

• — Has hit a three-pointer in seven straight games.

#11 John Wall

• Finished with a game-high seven assists and averaged 9.0 assists in the first and second rounds.
• Extended his UK freshman season scoring record to 589 points.
• Extended his UK freshman season assists record to 228 assists.
• Extended his UK freshman season free throw record with 171 made.

#15 DeMarcus Cousins

• Totaled 19 points and eight rebounds
• Extended his UK freshman season rebounding record to 349 boards.

#24 Eric Bledsoe

• Has hit a three-pointer in four straight games and has totaled 16 during that span.
• Averaging 17.0 points in UK’s five postseason games.

#33 Daniel Orton

• Made all three of his field-goal attempts, good for six points

#54 Patrick Patterson

• Moved to within 28 points of 12 th on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,547 career points.
• Posted his 13 th multi-block game of the season.

#4 Jon Hood

• Contributed two points and a season-high three rebounds

#12 Mark Krebs

• Bagged a three-pointer, his second of the season and fourth of his career