No. 7 Cats Fall Just Short Against No. 4 Jayhawks

Kevin Knox scored a career-high 20 points and Hamidou Diallo added 14, but seventh-ranked Kentucky came up just short, falling to No. 4 Kansas 65-61 on Tuesday night in the Champions Classic.

Kentucky (2-1) shot 41.8 percent (23 of 55) from the field, but held Kansas to just 24-of-68 (35.3 percent) from the field. The Jayhawks were able to make eight shots from behind the arc, compared to just three for the Wildcats.

Sacha Killeya-Jones came off the bench to score eight points and grab nine rebounds for the Cats. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had six points, four rebounds and three assists in the game.

Kentucky fell behind early in the first half when Kansas used an 11-0 run to turn a tie game into an 18-7 advantage. The Jayhawks led 20-9 before the Wildcats put together a run of their own. When Knox hit a three-pointer with 8:49 left in the half, Kentucky had cut the lead to 23-20.

The Wildcats tied the game at 28-28 on a long jumper by Wenyen Gabriel. Kentucky would grab its first lead of the game a bit later when Gabriel hit one-of-two from the line, giving the Cats a 33-32 advantage. Kansas scored 14 seconds later, and neither team would score for the rest of the half, as the Jayhawks took a 34-33 lead into the break.

In the second half, the teams traded leads early before Kansas took a 51-45 lead with 9:16 left in the contest. But the young Wildcats would not go away, as Kentucky scored the next six points to tie the game at 51-51 with 6:48 to go.

With 3:38 to go, Kentucky took the lead on a layup by Nick Richards, giving the Cats a 57-55 advantage. But Kansas scored the next six points, and Kentucky could only get within two before falling by four.

The Wildcats return to action on Friday, facing East Tennessee State at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on the SEC Network.