Kentucky-Missouri Men's Basketball Postgame Notes

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
RUPP ARENA AT CENTRAL BANK CENTER | LEXINGTON, KY.
JAN. 9, 2024
ATTENDANCE: 20,086

Final Score: No. 6 Kentucky 90, Missouri 77

Team Records and Series Notes

Kentucky is 12-2 on the season and has won six in a row. UK is 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference.
Missouri is 8-7, 0-2 in league play.
UK leads the series 15-3, including 9-0 in Lexington.

Next for Kentucky: UK travels to Texas A&M on Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup (1 p.m. in Bryan-College Station) with the Aggies. It will be televised on ESPN.

Team Notes

Kentucky is 14-1 in SEC home openers under John Calipari.
Kentucky has had five players score in double figures in both SEC games.
UK scored 90 points tonight. The Wildcats entered the game third in the nation at 90.8 per game.
- UK has scored at least 80 points in all but one game this season.
UK shot 50 percent from the field, 28 of 56. The Wildcats are 7-0 this season when making at least half their shots.
The Wildcats did a great job getting to the free throw line and taking advantage of their opportunities. The Cats made 27 of 32, season highs in both categories, for 84.4%.
Kentucky won the rebounding, 42-27, posting a season-high +15 in rebound margin.
- UK is 7-0 this season when winning the rebounding.
Kentucky led by as many as 15 points. UK is 339-15 (95.8%) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points during any point of the game.
Although UK committed more turnovers, 13 vs. 11 for Mizzou, the Wildcats did the better job of converting the miscues. UK won points off turnovers, 16-4.
Sparked by a season high 23 points from Rob Dillingham, UK won bench points 26-10.

Player Notes

Rob Dillingham poured in a season-high 23 points, featuring 6 of 7 from the field, 3 of 3 on 3-pointers, and 8 of 10 at the foul line.
- After the game, Missouri Coach Dennis Gates said of Dillingham, “He’s probably the best isolation player in college basketball, that’s what I believe.”
Tre Mitchell notched 20 points and 14 rebounds, his third double-double in the last four games (second in a row) and 14^th of his career.
- It is his fourth straight game with double-digit rebounds and he has had at least four boards in every game this season.
- It is UK’s first 20-10 game since Oscar Tshiebwe had 25 points and 18 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament vs. Kansas State.
J. Wagner had 16 points, his eighth double-figure scoring game of the season and third in a row.
Antonio Reeves had 14 points, including 8 of 8 at the charity stripe.
- Reeves went 0 for 5 on 3-pointers, ending his streak of 24 consecutive games with a 3-pointer, longest since Jamal Murray’s school-record 36-game streak in the 2015-16 season.
Aaron Bradshaw, the current SEC Freshman of the Week, had 10 points and six rebounds. It’s his fourth double-figure game of the season and the Wildcats are 5-0 since he entered the starting lineup.

Coach John Calipari

Calipari has an 844-255 (76.8%) all-time on-court record, including 399-115 (77.6%) at Kentucky.
Calipari is 328-65 (83.5%) at UK against unranked competition.
Calipari is 12-5 vs. Missouri.
Calipari is now 395-126 (75.8%) all-time in conference games, including 187-60 (75.7%) in the SEC.

In the First Half

Kentucky started J. Wagner, Antonio Reeves, Justin Edwards, Tre Mitchell and Aaron Bradshaw for the fifth game in a row and has won all five games.
Ugonna Onyenso, Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard were UK’s first substitutions with 14:10 remaining.
Kentucky won the opening tip and Mitchell hit 3-pointers on UK’s first two possessions.
Both teams started hot until tied at 12, when Kentucky went on a 7-0 run and never trailed again.
Kentucky eventually led 35-21 midway through the half, but Missouri countered with a 13-2 spurt to close the gap to 37-34.
With 11 points from Dillingham and Wagner, plus 10 from Mitchell, UK took a 47-42 lead into halftime.
UK is now 11-1 this season when leading at halftime.

In the Second Half

Kentucky began the second half with the starting lineup.
UK began with an 8-4 spurt (55-46), prompting an MU timeout at 17:08.
From there, the margin stayed between seven and 11 points until less than two minutes remaining.
After a MU dunk at the 10:20 mark, the Tigers missed 13 straight field goal attempts, going more than nine minutes without a basket.

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