Cats Fall Just Short at No. 10 Louisville
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – De’Aaron Fox had 21 points and Malik Monk added 16, but No. 6 Kentucky lost at 10th-ranked Louisville 73-70 on Wednesday night at the KFC/Yum! Center.
Bam Adebayo had 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Kentucky, which saw its four-game winning streak over Louisville snapped. Isaiah Briscoe had eight points, five rebounds and three assists while playing through foul trouble for much of the game.
The Wildcats hit 23-of-58 (39.7 percent) from the floor in the game, and five-of-22 (22.7 percent) from three-point range. Louisville connected on 26-of-60 (43.3 percent) from the floor and six-of-14 (42.9 percent) from three-point land.
Kentucky (10-2) scored the first four points in the game on a Fox layup and two free throws from Briscoe. The Wildcats would build a six-point lead at 20-14 on a three from Mychal Mulder. But the Cardinals assembled a 9-2 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 29-22.
The Wildcats then seized the momentum with a 9-0 run to take a 31-29 advantage. Kentucky seemed poised to end the half in style after Fox hit a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats a 40-35 lead. But Louisville scored the final four points of the first stanza to cut Kentucky’s lead to 40-39 at the break.
Early in the second half, Louisville used a 7-1 run to take a 49-44 lead. Kentucky fought back and tied the game at 51-51 on another three from Mulder. The game was tied again at 53 before Kentucky scored four in a row to lead 57-53. But again the Cards answered, this time with an 8-0 run to take a 61-57 advantage.
Louisville (11-1) led 69-63 with less than a minute to go, but Kentucky was not finished. Fox converted a conventional three-point play with 57 seconds left and Derek Willis hit one-of-two from the line with 41 seconds remaining to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 69-67. After a Louisville layup, Monk connected on a deep three-pointer to make it 71-70 with 10 seconds left.
Louisville then hit two free throws with eight seconds left, giving the Cardinals a 73-70 advantage. Kentucky got one last chance, but Monk’s three-pointer came up short.
Kentucky returns to action on Dec. 29 when the Wildcats open SEC play on the road at Ole Miss. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN2.
