No. 4 Cats Fall to Second-Ranked Jayhawks 79-73
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 4 Kentucky placed five players in double figures, but it was not enough as No. 2/1 Kansas rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat the Wildcats 79-73 on Saturday night at Rupp Arena in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Kentucky (17-4) was led in scoring by freshman Malik Monk and senior Derek Willis, who each poured in 18 points. Isaiah Briscoe scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Bam Adebayo had 10 points and eight boards, while De’Aaron Fox had 10 points.
Turnovers played a huge part in the game. Kentucky turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 21 Kansas points. Meanwhile, Kansas had 12 turnovers, but Kentucky was only able to convert those into seven points.
Kansas (19-2) hit 32-of-64 (50 percent) from the floor in the game, while Kentucky hit 47.3 percent (26-55) of its shots. Kansas had 44 points in the paint, compared to 34 for Kentucky. The Wildcats won the rebounding battle 35-34, but Kansas outscored Kentucky on second-chance points 17-7.
Kansas (19-2) had an 8-7 lead early in the first half before Kentucky went on a 13-2 run to take a 20-10 lead with 10:40 left in the half. Monk was the catalyst in the run, scoring eight of Kentucky’s 13 points, including six in a row at one point.
The Wildcats would lead by as many as 12, on three separate occasions. But after Kentucky grabbed a 29-17 lead, Kansas rallied, ending the first half on a 10-3 run, making it 32-27 at the half.
Kansas opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers by Josh Jackson to take a 33-32 lead. But the Wildcats came right back, getting consecutive threes from Willis and Isaiah Briscoe to lead 38-33.
With the Wildcats leading 47-42, Kansas started a rally that would put the game away. When the run was over, Kansas had flipped the script by outscoring Kentucky 27-12 to take a 69-59 lead. That would be the Jayhawks’ largest lead of the game.
Frank Mason III led Kansas with 21 points, and Jackson added 20.
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday night when the Wildcats return to SEC play, hosting Georgia at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN.
