Men's Basketball

Feb. 28, 2015

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  • Kentucky is 29-0, 16-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas is 23-6 overall, 12-4 in league play.
  • Kentucky leads the series 26-11.
  • Kentucky clinched the SEC championship outright today.
    • It is Kentucky’s 46th regular-season SEC championship.
    • It is Coach John Calipari’s 13th regular-season conference title, including his third at UK.
  • With 29 consecutive victories …
    • It extended the longest season-opening win streak for any team in SEC history.
    • It is the second-longest overall win streak in Kentucky history.
    • It extended the longest win streak for a John Calipari-coached team.
  • Kentucky is 206-27 all-time when ranked No. 1 and has won 51 of the last 53 games as The Associated Press top-ranked team.
  • UK is 49-1 all-time as the No. 1-ranked team in Rupp Arena.
  • Calipari has led three schools to a No. 1 ranking (Massachusetts, Memphis, Kentucky) and has a 95-9 record as the top-ranked coach, including 54-4 at UK.
  • Calipari is now 181-37 (.830) as head coach at Kentucky, the best winning percentage of any coach in UK history.
  • UK led the entire game and has trailed for only 149:01 of a possible 1,175 minutes this season.
    • This was the third consecutive game that the Wildcats did not trail.
    • UK has trailed for only 22:11 of the possible 240 minutes this season vs. ranked foes.
  • Kentucky has defeated its six ranked opponents this season by an average of 17.2 points per game.
  • Kentucky returns to action Tuesday at Georgia. Game time is 9 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

Team Notes

  • Kentucky scored 84 points today and has averaged 89.3 over the last three games.
  • UK shot 75 percent from the line, 21 of 28. UK has made at least 70 percent of its foul shots in 13 of the last 17 games.
  • Key stats for the Cats:
    • UK won rebounding 38-32, leading to a 40-24 advantage in points in the paint.
    • UK won points off turnovers, 16-9. UK has won or tied points off turnovers in every game this season.
    • UK won bench points 24-7. UK has won bench points in every game this season.
  • Kentucky’s streak of 927 consecutive games with a 3-pointer was extended when Aaron Harrison tripled at the 18:02 mark of the first half.

First-Half Facts

  • Kentucky’s opening lineup featured Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein for the 10th time this season.
  • Kentucky scored on five of the first six possessions in jumping out to an 11-2 lead.
  • UK steadily built the advantage, leading by as many as 16 points at 32-16 with 5:33 remaining.
  • At that point, Arkansas called timeout and responded with a 7-0 run to cut it to 32-23.
  • The Wildcats closed the period with a 10-3 spurt and went to intermission ahead 42-26.

Second-Half Story

Player Notes

  • In back-to-back games, Trey Lyles has his two highest-scoring games of the season. He had 18 points Wednesday at Mississippi State and 18 today.
  • Karl-Anthony Towns had eight points, making 4-of-5. Over the last five games he has made 87 percent of his shots, 20-of-23.
  • Aaron Harrison had nine points and a career-high five steals.
  • Andrew Harrison tied Lyles for game-high honors with 18 points. It is his second-highest game of the season.
  • Devin Booker scored 10 points, his fourth double-figure game in a row and 17th double-figure game of the season.
  • Tyler Ulis notched 14 points, tying his season high set in December at Louisville.
  • Willie Cauley-Stein had seven points and a solid floor game with nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and four blocked shots.

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