Kentucky-Alabama Postgame Notes

Jan. 17, 2015

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Kentucky is 17-0, 4-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Alabama is 12-5, 2-2 in league play, and ended its 14-game home winning streak.
Kentucky leads the series 104-37, including 29-23 in Tuscaloosa. The teams have a rematch two weeks from today, Jan. 31 in Lexington.
Along with Virginia, Kentucky is one of two undefeated teams in NCAA Division I.
With 17 consecutive victories to begin the season, UK is off to the fourth-best start in program history.
Kentucky is 195-27 all-time when ranked No. 1 and has won 35 of the last 37 games as The Associated Press top-ranked team.
Calipari has led three teams to a No. 1 ranking (Massachusetts, Memphis, Kentucky) and has a 79-9 record as the top-ranked coach, including 38-4 at UK.
Kentucky returns to action Tuesday at home against Vanderbilt. Game time is 9 p.m. EST and it will be televised on the SEC Network.

Kentucky made 50 percent from the field, 23 of 46, the sixth time this season the Wildcats made at least half their shots.
UK made 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) on 3-point shots today. Over the last seven games, Kentucky has shot 44.2 percent on 3-pointers, 61 of 138.
For the second consecutive game, Kentucky shot a season-best at the free throw line. After making 80 percent of their foul shots vs. Missouri, the Cats canned 88.9 percent today (16 of 18).
UK has made at least 70 percent of its foul shots in five straight games.
In a mostly halfcourt game, UK averaged 1.25 points per possession.
Kentucky dominated bench points, 37-16.
Second year in a row that UK held Alabama to 48 points. UK won 55-48 last season in Lexington.
UK is 101-5 in the John Calipari Era when holding opponents to 63 or fewer points, including 13-0 this season.
UK is 51-0 in the John Calipari Era when holding opponents to 55 or fewer points, including 13 times this season.
No drama today in extending Kentucky’s streak of 917 consecutive games with a 3-pointer as Aaron Harrison connected a triple at the 16:24 mark of the first half.

Kentucky’s opening lineup featured Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Kentucky big men passed the ball well early, getting all five of the team’s assists in the first 10 minutes.
Kentucky had three big runs on the first half:
- Trailing 4-2, UK jumped ahead with a 10-0 run
- With the score 13-9, the Wildcats put together an 8-0 run for a 21-9 advantage
- At 21-14, a 10-0 spurt gave the Cats a 31-14 lead.
UK’s largest lead of the half was 18 on two occasions — at 33-15 and the halftime score of 35-17.
It is the 14th time this season that Kentucky held an opponent under 20 points in a half.

Kentucky started the second half with the same lineup that opened the game.
Switching to a man-to-man defense, Alabama scored the first seven points of the second half.
Alabama eventually got as close as 39-30 before the Wildcats put the game away with a 16-2 run to make it 55-32.
Kentucky’s largest lead was 28 points at 68-40 with 4:09 to play.

Devin Booker led the Wildcats with 13 poinst, including three of six on 3-point shots. He has made 20 of 28 3-pointers (71.4 percent) over the last seven games.
Tyler Ulis tallied 11 points, including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. It’s his third double-figure game of the season.
Dakari Johnson also had 11 points, his first double-figure game since notching 11 vs. Texas on Dec. 5.
Willie Cauley-Stein, Karl-Anthony Towns and Dakari Johnson shared game-high rebounding honors with five caroms each as the Wildcats won the rebounding, 30-21.
Dominique Hawkins sat out the game because of a medical procedure earlier this week.

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