Kentucky Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Alabama at No. 16/14 Kentucky
Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
Feb. 23, 2016
Attendance: 24,262
Final Score: Kentucky 78, Alabama 53
Team Records and Series Notes
• Kentucky is now 21-7 on the season. The Wildcats are 11-4 in Southeastern Conference action and retain sole possession of first place in the league race.
• Alabama is 16-11 overall, 7-8 in SEC play.
• Kentucky leads the all-time series 107-37 and has won five in a row.
• Next for the Wildcats: UK begins a two-game road swing Saturday at Vanderbilt. Game time is 4 p.m. EST, 3 p.m. CST in Nashville and will be shown nationally on CBS.
In the First Half
• Kentucky started with the lineup of Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe, Jamal Murray, Marcus Lee and Isaac Humphries for the first time. Humphries made his first collegiate start.
• Tied at seven, UK went on an 8-1 run for a 15-8 early advantage.
• Murray canned a 3-pointer with 8:14 on the clock, extending UK’s streak of 966 games with at least one triple.
• Other than Retin Obasohan, no one from Alabama scored a basket until Riley Norris drained a 3-pointer with 9:17 remaining, pulling the Tide within 17-15.
• At that point, Alabama went on a six-minute drought and UK went on an 8-0 run to pad the lead to 25-15.
• UK led 33-17 until Alabama scored two baskets in the last 30 seconds to narrow it to 33-21 at halftime.
• Kentucky is now 20-4 when owning a halftime advantage.
In the Second Half
• Ahead 43-32, UK tacked on a 12-1 run, giving the Wildcats a 55-33 lead.
• Alabama bounced back with a 9-1 spurt, pulling within 56-42 but the visitors got no closer.
• Kentucky’s largest lead was 25 points, which came at the final score of 78-53.
Team Notes
• Kentucky extended its 36-game home winning streak, second-longest active streak in the nation.
• Coach John Calipari has the two longest win streaks in Rupp Arena, 55 games and the current stretch of 36.
• UK is 118-4 (.967) at home under Calipari.
• Kentucky has scored at least 76 points in 11 straight regular-season SEC games for the first time since the 1995-96 season (12 straight).
• Kentucky made two 3-pointers, ending its school-record streak of five straight games with at least 10 3s made.
• UK limited Alabama to 53 points. UK is 63-0 under Calipari when keeping the opponent to 55 points or fewer.
• UK held Alabama to 35.4 percent shooting. UK is 12-0 this season when keeping the opponent under 38 percent from the field.
• Kentucky had 15 assists and a season-low four turnovers. UK has had more assists than turnovers in 11 consecutive SEC games for the first time since 1995-96 (14 consecutive SEC games).
• UK won the rebounding, 41-29, leading to a 10-5 edge in second-chance points.
• UK also won points in the paint, 40-22.
• This is the 18th-straight game that a Wildcat has scored at least 20 points, the longest such streak since 1989-90, 21 straight games.
• Calipari has a 656-185 (.780) all-time record, including a 211-45 (.824) mark at Kentucky.
Player Notes
• Freshman Jamal Murray led the Wildcats in scoring with 23 points.
• It is his 13th game this season with at least 20 points, his seventh game in a row. It’s the longest streak since Jodie Meeks had nine consecutive 20-point games in 2008-09.
• It is his 26th consecutive double-figure scoring game, the most since Brandon Knight had a 28-game double-figure stretch in 2010-11.
• He has made at least one 3-point shot in every game this season, the first player in program history to make a triple in each of his first 28 collegiate games.
• It’s also a school record for most consecutive games with a 3 to begin a season, regardless of year in school.
• It is the second-longest streak in school history, trailing only Tony Delk, who had 32 straight games with a triple.
• Sophomore Tyler Ulis had 19 points and 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the season and fifth of the points-assists variety.
• He extended his school-record streak of 21 consecutive games with at least four assists.
• This is the fifth time this season he has had at least 10 assists in a game, breaking the school record of four shared by Kyle Macy in 1977-78, Roger Harden in 1985-86 and John Wall in 2009-10.
• He also had a game-high three steals.
• Senior Alex Poythress returned from a five-game injury absence. He came off the bench to score 14 points, making 5-of-6 shots, in just 17 minutes of action.
• Freshman Isaiah Briscoe tallied 10 points, his 15th double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Junior Marcus Lee had 12 rebounds, one shy of his career high and his fifth double-figure rebounding game of the season. He also had six points, two assists and a blocked shot.
• Freshman Isaac Humphries made his first collegiate start, totaling four points and four rebounds.
