March 13, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 

• Kentucky improves to 31-2 on the season while Tennessee falls to 25-8.
• UK is 144-66 against the Volunteers, including an 11-4 mark against UT in the SEC Tournament.
• The Wildcats are 113-22 all-time in the SEC Tournament and 35-2 in SEC Tournament semifinal games.
• UK is 7-1 all-time in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
• Kentucky has now won three straight against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament.
• Kentucky will take on the winner of Mississippi State/Vanderbilt in the championship game on Sunday. Tipoff is set for noon CT on ABC.
• UK advances to the championship game for the 34 th time in school history, 21 more than any other league member (Alabama has made 13 tourney finals).
• UK is seeking its 26th SEC Tournament title. Since the tournament was renewed in 1979, UK is 13-5 in title games.

Team game notes

• The Wildcats used the starting combination of Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson and John Wall for the 24 th time this season. Kentucky is 22-2 with that starting five.
• DeAndre Liggins and Daniel Orton were the first subs off the bench for Kentucky.
• Kentucky extended its streak of game with a three-pointer to 744 games, the third longest streak in the country.
• UK closed out the first half on an 11-2 run and held Tennessee scoreless for the final 6:12 of the half.
• Leading 50-41, Darnell Dodson hit two-straight three-pointers followed by a dunk, scoring eight straight points and pushing UK’s lead to 58-41.
• After shooting 2-of-22 from behind the three-point line in the last game against Tennessee, the Wildcats hit 8-of-22 from three-point range while holding the Volunteers to 2-of-15.
• The Cats have hit at least eight three-pointers in three of their last four games.
• UK finished the game on a 29-6 run over the final 9:32.
• UK held Tennessee to its worst shooting performance of the year at 30.9 (17-of-55) percent.
• UK hit 50 percent of its shots for the second-straight game – 52.1 percent (25-of-48). The Cats improve to 16-0 when shooting over 50 percent from the field.
• UK won the rebounding battle (44-29) and improves to 24-1 when doing so.

Individual game notes

#1 Darius Miller

• Has hit a three-pointer in six of the last eight games.

#3 Darnell Dodson

• Has hit a three-pointer in four-straight games
• Has multiple threes in three of the last four games.

#4 Jon Hood

• Scored first points since tallying three at LSU (2/6).

#11 John Wall

• Finished with 14 points, six rebounds and a game-high nine assists.
• Averaging 12.3 points and 4.6 assists in the SEC tournament.
• Has five or more rebounds in seven of his last 10 games.

#15 DeMarcus Cousins

• Finished with a game-high 19 points and 15 rebounds.
• Recorded his 19 th double-double this season, tying him for fourth on UK’s all-time single season list. It’s the most since Jim Andrews’ 21 in 1973.
• Scored in double-figures in the first half (11 points) for the 10 th time this season.
• Drew two charges today and leads the team with 11 drawn charges this season.

#24 Eric Bledsoe

• Finished with five three-pointers, tying his career high. He also hit five vs. Sam Houston State (11/19).
• Has hit at least one three in four of his last five games.
• Has eight games with multiple three-pointers this season.
• Has scored in double-figures in three-straight games.
• Averaging 9.0 points in the SEC tournament.

#55 Josh Harrellson

• Scored first points since tallying four against Arkansas (1/23).