Dec. 29, 2001
Recap?|?Box Score?|?Quotes?|?Photo Gallery
Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky is now 8-2 overall. UK plays Tulane on Wed., Jan. 2, at 8 p.m. in the Wildcats’ annual excursion to Freedom Hall in Louisville. Coach Tubby Smith will take on another former coaching associate as the Green Wave is coached by former Smith and UK assistant Shawn Finney.
Louisville is now 9-2 overall, ending an eight-game winning streak. The Cardinals open Conference USA play on Sat. Jan. 5 at Alabama-Birmingham.
Kentucky now leads the series 23-10 and has won three in a row vs. the Cardinals. UK leads the series 14-7 since the renewal in 1983.
Coach Tubby Smith is now 3-2 vs. Louisville.
Coach Rick Pitino sustained his first loss in the collegiate ranks against a former assistant coach.
UK took the lead for good, 8-6, on a Marquis Estill dunk with 13:48 remaining in the first half.
Key runs: ahead 38-37 early in the second half, the Wildcats go on a 12-0 run for a 50-37 lead, ahead 63-50 later in the second half, UK puts the game away with a 15-0 run for a 78-50 advantage.
UK limited Louisville to a season-low of 62 points. The Cardinals’ leading scorer, Reece Gaines, scored a season-low 10 points, five of which came in the last two minutes.
UK outrebounded the opponent for the ninth consecutive game.
Senior forward Tayshaun Prince scored a game-high 18 points. He now has 1,398 points in his career, moving past Rick Robey (1,395) for 19th place on the UK career scoring list.
With senior guard J. P. Blevins out with a broken wrist, freshman guard Adam Chiles had a career-high four assists while matching his career best for minutes played with eight.
Sophomore guard Cliff Hawkins had a career high with six free throws made and tied his career best with five rebounds.
Today’s attendance of 24,330 is the fourth-largest crowd in Rupp Arena history, the largest since March 7, 1996.
The Rupp Arena playing surface was named “Cawood’s Court,” honoring the late UK radio announcer Cawood Ledford, in a pre-game ceremony.
