Nov. 23, 2012

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery 1  | Photo Gallery 2 

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 3-1 on the season and LIU Brooklyn is 0-4.
• Kentucky now leads the all-time series against LIU Brooklyn 3-1, including winning three consecutive meetings against the Blackbirds.
  • The win increases UK’s all-time record against teams from the Northeast Conference to 5-1, while head coach John Calipari is now 3-0 against teams from the NEC.
• The game concluded a three-game home stand for the Wildcats. Kentucky will hit the road Thursday facing Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., as part of the SEC/Big East Challenge. The game is at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.
• Kentucky is in its 110th season of basketball and is the NCAA leader in wins with 2,094.

First-Half Facts

• Kentucky started with the lineup of Archie Goodwin, Julius Mays, Alex Poythress, Kyle Wiltjer and Nerlens Noel for the fourth-consecutive game. UK is 3-1 when it starts that lineup.
• Mays got the game’s first basket at 19:36 on an open jumper at the free throw line.
• The two teams exchanged baskets for the first five minutes of the game, sitting at a 15-15 tie at the first media timeout.
• LIU Brooklyn took a six-point lead – their largest of the half – with just under 10 minutes to go in the game before Kentucky fought back to take a 40-38 lead at the under 8 minute timeout. It was Kentucky’s first lead since they led 11-9 with 16:47 to go in the first half.
• LIU Brooklyn went on a 5-0 run between the under 8 minute timeout and the under 4 minute timeout to take back the lead 43-40.
• Kentucky answered with a 15-0 run to end the first half with a 55-43 lead.
  • The Wildcats’ 55 points in the first half was the most points in a half – first or second – for UK this season.
  • The 15-0 run was the sixth 10-0 or more run for UK this season.
• In all, the first half had nine ties and 10 lead changes.
• Kentucky’s 69.7 field goal percentage in the first half was the highest field goal percentage in a half for UK all season.

Second-Half Story

• Kentucky held LIU Brooklyn without a field goal for the final four minutes of the first half and the first 2:36 of the second half, totaling 6:36 second without a field goal.
• Kentucky trailed 43-40 with four minutes to play in the first half. Over the next 10 minutes of game time (end of first half and beginning of second half) UK went on a 37-9 run to take a commanding 77-52 lead with 13:32 to go in the game.
• The Wildcats shot 65.5 percent from the field in the second half, including 5-of-10 from 3-point land with 13 assists.

Team Notes

• Kentucky posted 104 points in the game, which was the highest point output for UK this season. The 104 points were the highest since UK posted 108 against Marist in the 2011-12 season opener.
• Kentucky shot a season-best 67.7 percent from the field in the game. That was the highest field goal percentage for UK in the Coach Cal Era and the highest since UK posted a 68.7% mark in 2008-09 against Kansas State (Nov. 28, 2008).
• The Wildcats had a season-high 28 assists in the game, which was the most assists for a Kentucky team since UK had 28 assists in the 2009-10 season against UNC Asheville (Nov. 30, 2009).
• Archie Goodwin hit a 3-point shot early in the first half, extending UK’s streak of games with a 3-point shot made to 832. That is the third-longest streak in the nation.
• The Wildcats extended their home winning streak to 55 games, the longest active streak in the nation. The run includes the 2009 NIT game at Memorial Coliseum and the last 54 games at Rupp Arena.
• UK is a perfect 54-0 under Calipari at Rupp Arena, the longest win streak in venue history.
• Kentucky has won 34 consecutive home games against non-conference teams. The last UK home loss to a non-conference foe was vs. No. 21 Miami (Fla.) Dec. 6, 2008.

Individual Notes

• Archie Goodwin ended the game with 22 points. He has scored in double figures in each of the first five games this season becoming the third freshman in the Coach Cal Era to do so in their first give games wearing the UK uniform. Terrence Jones and John Wall were the other two players to do so.
  • Goodwin also had a season-high in assists (nine), steals (two) and rebounds (nine).
• Alex Poythress scored 22 points in the game to tie a season-high. The game marked the fourth-consecutive 20-plus point night for the freshman star, who becomes the first UK player to score 20-plus points in four-consecutive games since Jodie Meeks did it in nine-consecutive games in the 2008-09 season. Poythress also hit his first two free throws in the game, extending his streak of consecutive free-throws made to 11.
  • Poythress is the first UK freshman to record 20-plus points in four consecutive games since Dwight Anderson in 1978-79.
• In addition to his season-high 18 points, Nerlens Noel had five assists and five blocks in the game. Noel has earned four-plus assists in each of the last three games and three-plus blocks in four of five games this season.
  • Noel’s five assists in the game was a season high.
• Julius Mays hit his first two attempted shots in the game, including a 3-pointer. Mays, who has now hit at least one 3-point shot in every game this season, ended the game 3-for-6 from 3, marking the first time this season he has hit two or more 3s in a game.
  • Mays’ 15 points is the highest for the graduate student in his time at Kentucky.
• Kyle Wiltjer went 1-for-4 from 3-point land. The sophomore has hit a 3 in every game this season. Wiltjer also had five assists, which was a career-high.
• Willie Cauley-Stein recorded 12 points in the game on 5-of-7 shooting. Cauley-Stein had a season-high eight rebounds in the game on top of a season-high tying four blocks.
• Jon Hood hit his first 3-pointer of the season in the game, finishing with three points, one rebound and two steals in seven minutes of play. Hood’s 3-pointer was his first since Dec. 28, 2010.