UK MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
KENTUCKY vs. TENNESSEE STATE
RUPP ARENA | LEXINGTON, KY.
NOV. 23, 2018
ATTENDANCE: 20,224
 
Final Score: No. 10/10 Kentucky 77, Tennessee State 62
                                                             
Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 5-1 on the season, winning its fifth in a row, while Tennessee State is now 2-4.   
• This was the first meeting between the two schools in program history.
• Next for Kentucky: the Wildcats will host Monmouth on Wednesday. That game is slated for an 8:30 p.m. tip on the SEC Network.

 
In the First Half

• Kentucky started Immanuel Quickley, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, PJ Washington and Nick Richards for the second consecutive game.
• The Wildcats got off to a slow start, trailing 9-5 at the first media timeout with 15:09 on the clock.
• Within the first nine minutes of the game, UK forced a season-high two shot-clock violations.
• An 11-0 run over 1:43 allowed the Wildcats to take a 21-14 edge with 7:55 to play.
• Another spurt this time over 3:38 and an 8-0 margin pushed UK’s lead to 11 at 33-22 with just under a minute to go.
• The Wildcats owned a 35-27 lead at the break. It marked the fifth straight halftime lead for UK who improved to 5-0 when having the lead at halftime.

 
In the Second Half

• Johnson, Quickley, Herro, Washington and Reid Travis opened the second half for the Cats.
• Travis scored the first five points of the second half and the Wildcats took a 40-27 lead with 18:12 remaining.
• Kentucky led by as many as 20 with 7:38 to go.
• TSU went on an 8-0 run over 1:46 to pull to within 11 at 70-59 with 4:48 to play.
• The Wildcats then held the Tigers to zero points for the next 3:08 of clock. TSU scored its final bucket with 56 seconds to play.

 
Team Notes

• Kentucky shot its second-worst field-goal percentage (.442), ahead of only its .441 percentage against Duke to open the season.
• UK got to the line a season-high 41 times. It’s the most trips to the line since taking 41 trips against LSU in the SEC Tournament on March 14, 2014.
  • UK shot a season-low 65.9 percent from the charity stripe.
  • That snapped a stretch of four straight games shooting 70 percent or better.
  • Kentucky is averaging 32.5 trips to the line for the season.
• Kentucky won the rebounding battle 37-28 narrowly missing out on its fifth straight game of having a double-figure edge.   
  • UK has a plus-17.2 rebound margin through the first six games of the season.
• The win marked the 48th consecutive home win over an unranked Associated Press poll nonconference opponent.
  • UK is now 228-38 under John Calipari against unranked competition.
• UK is now 8-5 as the AP No. 10-ranked team under Calipari.
• UK improved to 238-5 (.979) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points at any point in the game.
• Kentucky limited the Tigers to 62 points. UK is 155-7 (.957) when limiting opponents to 63 points or fewer during Calipari’s tutelage.
• UK forced a season-high three shot-clock violations.

Player Notes  

• Keldon Johnson led all scorers with a career-high 27 points to go along with seven boards.

  • He sunk a career-high 13 free throws, which is tied for the second-most in a game under Calipari and the most since De’Aaron Fox equaled the number against UCLA on March 24, 2017.
  • His 18 free-throw attempts are the most since PJ Washington took 20 shots from the line against Kansas State on March 22, 2018.
  • He’s scored in double-figures in all but one game and leads the Wildcats in scoring for the season at 16.5 points per game.
• Reid Travis narrowly missed on his first double-double as a Wildcat with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
  • He blocked a season-high two shots.
  • He scored in double-figures for the 73rd time in his career.
• EJ Montgomery scored five points and added six boards and two blocks.
  • He’s snared six or more rebounds in four of six games this season.
  • He’s blocked two or more shots in each of the last five games.
• Quade Green tallied five points and dished out four assists. It’s the fourth game with multiple assists for Green this season.
• Immanuel Quickley chipped in with nine points and two assists.

 
Calipari

• Calipari is now 280-65 at UK.
• Calipari has a 725-205 all-time on-court record.
• He is now 17 wins away from tying Joe B. Hall for the second-most victories by a UK head coach in program history.