Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Kentucky vs. UCLA – NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
March 24, 2017, FedExForum, Memphis, Tenn.
Attendance: 17,532
Final Score: No. 2-seed Kentucky 86, No. 3-seed UCLA 75
Team Records and Series Notes
• Kentucky has won 14 in a row – its longest winning streak of the season — and improved to 32-5 overall.
o UK’s winning streak is the longest active streak in the country.
o Kentucky reached 32 wins for the fourth time in the John Calipari era.
• UCLA finished the season 31-5.
• Kentucky leads the all-time series 8-6.
o UCLA had won the last two meetings.
o The teams met in the NCAA Tournament for the third time. UK leads 2-1.
o UK has won two in a row against the Bruins in the Tournament, dating to the 1998 Sweet 16. UCLA’s lone NCAA Tournament win against UK was the 1975 National Title Game.
• Next for the Wildcats: UK will play North Carolina in the South Regional Final on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET on CBS.
NCAA Tournament Notes
• Kentucky made its national-record 56th NCAA Tournament appearance.
• Kentucky reached the Elite Eight for the 33rd time since 1951 the most of any school in the country. (Elite 8 Records begin in 1951, the first year that all teams in the tournament would be required to win at least one game to advance to the Elite 8)
• UK owns a 124-49 record all-time in NCAA action.
• Kentucky is 26-5 (.839) in NCAA Tournament games under Calipari.
• In Calipari’s seven NCAA Tournament appearances with Kentucky, the Wildcats have reached the Elite Eight six times.
o UK is 6-0 in the Sweet 16 under Calipari.
• Kentucky is a No. 2 seed for the seventh time in program history.
o UK is 22-6 as the No. 2 seed.
o Kentucky improved to 4-0 in No. 2-seed vs. No. 3-seed games.
In the First Half
• Kentucky’s starting lineup featured De’Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo, Malik Monk, Isaiah Briscoe and Derek Willis for the seventh game in a row.
o Kentucky improved to 11-0 with that lineup.
o Adebayo is the only Wildcat to have started all 37 games on the season.
• Dominique Hawkins swished a 3-pointer with 15:26 on the clock, continuing UK’s streak of 1,012 games with at least one triple. That’s the longest streak in the country.
• Fox started 4 of 4 from the field to start, scoring UK’s first eight points.
o His 15 first-half points were the most he’s scored in the opening 20 minutes all season.
In the Second Half
• Fox scored Kentucky’s first four points of the second half.
o He finished with a season-high 24 points in the second half.
• Monk scored Kentucky’s next 10 as the Wildcats had a 50-46 lead at the under-16 media timeout.
• Kentucky opened up its biggest lead: 11 points, 69-57 with 5:58 to play. UK used a 9-2 run to open up its first double-digit margin starting at the 8:29 mark.
Team Notes
• Kentucky tied its season-low with just six turnovers. UK is 3-0 in the games it’s only coughed it up six times.
o It tied for the fewest turnovers in an NCAA Tournament game under Calipari, equaling the six turnovers UK committed against Wisconsin in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
• Kentucky made 10 3-pointers. UK hit 10 3s for the sixth time this season.
o UK hadn’t made double-digits 3s since the Feb. 14 win against Tennessee.
• Fox and Monk combined for 60 of Kentucky’s 86 points.
• Five Wildcats scored.
• Kentucky’s 17 free-throw attempts were the second fewest of the season (12 vs. Tennessee on Feb. 14).
• Kentucky shot 49.2 percent from the field.
o Kentucky improved to 29-1 this season when shooting at least the 42-percent threshold.
• Calipari has a 694-192 (.783) on-court record, including a 249-52 (.827) mark at UK.
Player Notes
• Freshman De’Aaron Fox scored a career-high 39 points.
• Per ESPN Stats and Info that was the record for any freshman in the NCAA Tournament.
• It was the fourth most by a Wildcat regardless of class in the NCAA Tournament and the most ever by a freshman.
• It was the second most by a UK player in any game under Calipari. Only Malik Monk has scored more in a game.
• Fox led Kentucky in scoring for the fifth straight game.
• He was 13 of 15 from the free-throw line, both figures were career highs.
• The 13 free throws is tied for the third most in an NCAA Tournament game for an individual player in program history.
• Freshman Malik Monk scored 21 points.
• He reached 20 points for the 19th time this season.
• He reached double-figures for the fifth game in a row, and has scored in double digits in 35 of 37 games this year.
• He became just the third player in school history to hit 100 or more 3-pointers with four in tonight’s game.
• Freshman Bam Adebayo had a career-high five assists.
• Senior Derek Willis was solid all around once again.
• He dished out a career-high tying four assists.
• He scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
• He has 18 blocks over the last eight games.
• Senior Dominique Hawkins scored 11 points.
• He had a season-high and tied his career-high with three made 3-pointers.
