UK MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
Kentucky at West Virginia
WVU Coliseum | Morgantown, W.Va.
JAN. 27, 2018
ATTENDANCE: 15,835
 
Final Score: rv/rv Kentucky 83, No. 7/7 West Virginia 76
                                                             
Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 16-5 overall. West Virginia is 16-5.
• Kentucky leads the series 16-5, and has won three in a row.
  • UK leads the series 2-1 in Morgantown.
• Kentucky finished the non-conference schedule 11-2.
• Kentucky is 2-3 all-time in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
  • UK is 1-2 in the event on the road.
• Kentucky is 1-2 vs. top-25 teams this season.
• Kentucky returns to Southeastern Conference play Tuesday inside Rupp Arena vs. Vanderbilt at 9 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN.

 
In the First Half

• Kentucky’s starting lineup featured Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo, PJ Washington, Kevin Knox and Nick Richards for the eighth time this season and sixth straight. UK is 6-2 with this lineup.
• Kentucky extended its streak of 1,034 consecutive games with a 3-pointer when Knox connected with 19:32 on the clock.
• Knox scored Kentucky’s first seven points of the game.
• After Kentucky got within a point of West Virginia’s lead at 20-19 with 8:06 to play, WVU used a 15-1 run over 3:11 to take a 35-20 lead.
• Kentucky committed 11 turnovers in the first half.
  • That was the fifth time this year UK committed 11 turnovers in the first half.  UK’s most turnovers in any half was 13 in the second half vs. ETSU on Nov. 17
• West Virginia made seven first-half 3-pointers.
  • The Mountaineers entered the game averaging 8.9 made 3s per game.
• Jevon Carter’s 18 points are the most an opponent has scored vs. Kentucky in the first half since Sindarius Thornwell posted 20 vs. the Wildcats on Jan. 21, 2017.
• Kentucky trailed by as many as 17 at the 3:50 mark of the opening stanza.
  • UK’s previous largest deficit of the season was 12 against both Utah Valley and UCLA.

 
In the Second Half

• Trailing 54-37 with 17:00 to play, UK used a 10-0 run over 1:45 to cut the WVU lead to seven points.
  • After West Virginia answered with a deuce, UK went on another run this time by a 7-0 margin.
  • Stretched over 4:32, UK closed the WVU lead to 52-54 at the 12:01 mark with a 17-2 run.
• All told, UK used a 22-4 stretch over 6:28 to take its largest lead at 62-58.
  • West Virginia answered with an 8-0 run of its own over 1:07 to take a 66-62 lead.
• Kentucky outscored West Virginia 50-28 in the second half.

 
Team Notes

• Kentucky came all the way back to win from a 17-point deficit for the first time since a 73-67 win over Vanderbilt on Feb. 28, 2017. That game also saw the Cats down 17 points in the first half.
• Kentucky’s comeback from a 15-point halftime deficit was the third-largest halftime comeback in school history.
  • UK rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit at LSU on Feb. 15, 1994 for a 99-95 victory in what’s known as the Mardi Gras Miracle.
  • The Wildcats also rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit at No. 13 Louisville on Dec. 18, 2004.
  • The five biggest halftime comebacks in school history have all been on the road.
• West Virginia shot 39.7 percent from the field, the fifth straight game that UK has held the opponent under 40 percent.
• UK outrebounded West Virginia 49-34.  The Wildcats are 15-1 this season when winning the battle of the boards.

 
Player Notes  

• Kevin Knox scored a career and game-high 34 points.

  • That was the most by a Wildcat this year, and most by a UK player since De’Aaron Fox scored 39 vs. UCLA in the NCAA Tournament last March.
  • He’s the first Wildcat to score more than 30 this year.
  • It’s the most points for a UK player on the road since Malik Monk had 34 points at Ole Miss to begin the SEC season last year.
  • He scored more than 20 points for a team-best sixth time this season and a second straight outing.
  • Knox’s 15 first-half points tied his most in a half this season. He also had 15 in the first half vs. UIC on Nov. 26.
  • Knox made a career-high five 3-pointers.
    • The previous most 3s in a game by any Wildcat this season was four (by Knox twice, including in the last game vs. Mississippi State, and Hamidou Diallo vs. Virginia Tech)
• Hamidou Diallo was UK’s second leading scorer with 13 points.
• Quade Green scored eight points, including two made 3s, had four assists and a steal.
• Wenyen Gabriel tied his career-high for the sixth time, blocking three shots.
  • He added nine rebounds, six points and three assists.
• Jarred Vanderbilt snagged a game and career-high 11 rebounds in 11 minutes of action. 
  • Vanderbilt has 29 rebounds in 49 minutes this season.
  • He snagged all 11 rebounds in the first nine minutes he played.

 
Coach John Calipari

• Calipari has a 710-198 all-time on-court record.
• Calipari is now 265-58 at Kentucky.
• Calipari is 13-7 vs. West Virginia in his career.