Cats, Cards Set for Rivalry Contest on Saturday
Motivation is never a concern when Kentucky and Louisville get together.
This year, Nate Sestina – about to play in one of college basketball’s signature rivalries for the first time – expects this year’s edition of Cats vs. Cards to be another animal entirely.
“It’s two big dogs going after it and whoever is hungrier at the end of the game is going to get the bones,” Sestina said last Saturday.
On one side, you’ll have a Louisville team eager to make a dent in the dominance Kentucky has enjoyed in the rivalry since John Calipari’s arrival (10-2 in UK’s favor, as a reminder). On the other side, the Cats are seeking to end a rare two-game losing streak and reestablish themselves as the national contenders everyone expected them to be. One dog will get its bones at 3:45 p.m. ET on Saturday when No. 19/19 UK (8-3) hosts No. 3/4 Louisville (11-1) at Rupp Arena.
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| Kentucky vs. Louisville | ||
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Sat., Dec. 28 – 3:45 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: CBS |
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| UK | Stats | UL |
| 8-3 | Record | 11-1 |
| 0-0 | Conference Record | 0-0 |
| 74.5 | PPG | 76.7 |
| 61.2 | Opp PPG | 58.4 |
| .464 | FG% | .485 |
| .385 | Opp FG% | .350 |
| 37.5 | RPG | 40.5 |
| .278 | 3PT FG% | .376 |
| .306 | Opp 3PT FG% | .267 |
| .785 | FT% | .747 |
| 15.5 | APG | 15.3 |
| 5.5 | SPG | 4.9 |
| 4.3 | BPG | 2.8 |
After returning from a brief break for the holidays on the heels of Saturday’s loss to Ohio State, the Cats have been spending nearly every waking second together as part of Camp Cal. That included a dinner outing Wednesday night where all players heard from fellow diners was “win Saturday.” That’s the general mood around the Bluegrass State, for those wearing both blue and red.
The Cats are not letting all those expectations turn into anything but an outside buzz.
“We’re all competitors, so it’s more of a competitive thing than it is a pressure thing,” Sestina said. “Guys just want to win. That’s why we came here. This school speaks for itself and the guys who come here speak for themselves as well. They’re all winners and that’s really what they want to do.”
Louisville would surely say the same about itself. Ranked No. 1 just a couple weeks ago, the Cardinals have taken a step forward in Chris Mack’s second season as head coach. A year ago, UK was in control throughout a 71-58 road victory, but duplicating that feat will be a challenge.
“I mean, this is a really good basketball team,” Calipari said. “Chris has done a great job with his team, a veteran team. They run their stuff. I’ll tell you what they really do is defend. They really guard and give you tough looks, and you’ve had teams scoring 40 against them. So, it’ll be a hard game for us. I don’t care where it’s played.”
Louisville is second nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency according to kenpom.com, holding opponents to 26.7% shooting from 3-point range and 40.7% inside the arc. The Cardinals are not an overly big group, but they are outrebounding opponents by a margin of more than eight per game.
On offense, Jordan Nwora leads UofL from the four spot. The All-America candidate is averaging 21.2 points and 7.5 rebounds and has been a model of consistency, scoring between 14 and 28 points in every game this season.
“Their four-man is incredible,” Sestina said. “He’s a good player, but so are our bigs. That’s one thing that everybody always talks about the other team and one thing I’m always going to do it talk about my teammates. They have their players; we have ours. And we just have to be tough. We have to rebound, we have to box out.”
That sounds a lot like UK’s mandate last time out, when the Cats battled to the final buzzer but were unable to down the Buckeyes. Sestina played well in his second game back from injury and Ashton Hagans and Tyrese Maxey produced out of the backcourt, but EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards combined for just six points and five rebounds.
“You’ve got to compete,” Calipari said. “You’ve got to fight. They’re both learning. They’re trying. Practices the last couple of days have been better. Now, you guys don’t really ever listen to me, but what I’ve talked about in the past is if you’re going to build your confidence, it is through demonstrated performance. You’re going to go on the court and do it, and you’ll build your confidence in playing that way. All of these games are challenges for these guys.”
Challenges, yes, but also opportunities.
“We’re just working on it every day,” Montgomery said. “It’s still the beginning of the season, we’re still working to know each other and things like that. But we have to get better coming up fast and just get ready for the next game.”
Montgomery must be listening to his coach, because that’s exactly what Coach Cal has been telling them.
“The good news for us, and I keep saying it: It’s December,” Calipari said. “It’s not a make or break. I know people want to say, ‘This is it.’ It isn’t. It’s December, but it’s just the next game for us – and I say this ever year – unless you win then it’s a huge game. But for us, we’re just–like I said, we’re still trying to figure it out, trying to get guys to figure it out.”
For better or worse, there’s only one true way that can happen: by producing when the lights are on. And when it comes to regular-season college basketball, the lights get no brighter than UK-UofL in Rupp.
“We’re trying to work some of it through practice, but I’ll be honest with you, demonstrated performance is the only way to do that,” Calipari said. “It’s the only way. They’ve got to get on the court and do it.”
Sestina Catches Fire, but Ohio State Outlasts Wildcats in Vegas
LAS VEGAS – D.J. Carton had 13 points, Kaleb Wesson added 12 before fouling out and No. 5 Ohio State outlasted No. 6/6 Kentucky 71-65 in the CBS Sports Classic last week.
The Buckeyes (11-1) played with Duane Washington Jr., their second-leading scorer, limited to eight minutes due to a rib injury and had a hard time shaking the Wildcats in a physical game.
Kentucky (8-3) kept Ohio State within reach despite a poor-shooting second half before the Buckeyes stretched the lead to seven with 1:17 left. The Buckeyes made four straight free throws in the final 18 seconds to prevent Kentucky from mounting a comeback.
Nate Sestina scored 17 and hit a career-high-tying five 3-pointers, and Tyrese Maxey added 15 points for the Wildcats.
“We fought,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “We tried. Thank God we had Nate. I think we put ourselves in a position where we had a chance to win. We just wouldn’t pass the ball. We’re still, we’re opening up the courts to drive people because everybody will collapse and they did collapse and we tried to shoot it anyway. … We came down three straight times with guys wide open and shot it into a guy 6-10. We’re still learning. But if this is who we are, we’ll be fine.”
Kentucky has struggled at times with its shooting and had a hard time finding the perimeter mark in the first half — except for Sestina. The graduate transfer from Bucknell matched his season total in the first half by going 3 for 6 from 3 while his teammates went a combined 0 for 7.
“I’m not spending much time on it,” Calipari said. “We’re just taking a lot of shots and we chart every shot. And at some point you say, ‘Fall back on your training. You made 60 in five minutes. You made 67 in five minutes. You can’t make them when you’re wide open?’ But I think I got a good shooting team. Thank goodness for Nate today.”
Young had 10 points to give Ohio State a 37-36 halftime lead.
Sestina, who just returned from a left wrist fracture, hit a couple of early 3s in the second half, but the rest of the Wildcats continued to clank, going four minutes without a field goal.
“Just coming back for my first game after an injury I was a little hesitant, didn’t want to put my hand out there, put it in passing lanes, go up with two hands to rebound,” Sestina said. “And I talked to the coaching staff and they were just like, ‘Listen, you need to just forget about it. Forget about the injury.’ Talking with our trainer Geoff (Staton), he kind of said the same thing, just go out and play and don’t think about it. And I tried to do that today, diving on the floor, not thinking about it.”
But, just as it did against Utah, Kentucky found a way to keep it close, rallying from seven down to pull within 55-54 with 6 1/2 minutes left. Ohio State made a late push to go up seven and hit enough shots and free throws down the stretch to keep Kentucky at bay.
“These dudes are fighting and this is the process we go through every year,” Calipari said. “When they figure it out–if I don’t fight, I’m not making it. If I’m not a dog, if I’m not — you don’t make it. And it’s not about exchanging basket, let me get more shots. No.”
Said Sestina: “It kind of shows where we are right now. I think from the beginning of the year until now we have really improved our toughness. You saw guys getting chippy. Guys were bumping guys around, diving on the floor, guys stepping up, blocking shots. Like I said before, like this is a big toughness game for us, and I mean I don’t really remember the score but I think we were starting to click and we’re like two or three possessions away from really getting this thing going.”
Of note …
• The Wildcats fell to 4-2 all-time in games in Las Vegas
• Ohio State won the rebounding 33-25. UK is 7-0 this season when winning the rebounding, 1-3 when losing or tying the boardwork
• UK had 17 assists. The Wildcats have given out at least 14 assists in each of the last seven games
• Sestina’s 17 points was a season high and his five 3-pointers matched a career high
• Hagans had 14 points and nine assists. He has had at least six assists in eight straight games, the best such streak since Tyler Ulis posted at least six in nine straight games from Feb. 9, 2016, to March 5, 2016
• Tyrese Maxey added 15 points and led the Wildcats with six rebounds
The Best Rivalry in College Basketball
With all due respect to all other rivalries, fans of Kentucky and Louisville will tell you the UK-Louisville game is the best rivalry in all of sports. Given the tradition, there is a strong argument.
Separated my a mere 80 miles, the two schools are the bluebloods of the Bluegrass State. They have combined for more than 4,000 wins, 11 on-court national championships and 27 Final Fours, including a combined six since 2011. Countless All-Americans have put on uniforms for the two schools.
UK owns an all-time record of 36-16 against the Cards, including a 10-2 mark since John Calipari took over the reins. Kentucky has not lost to the Cardinals at home since Calipari became the head coach.
Two of UK’s victories were when the stakes were at their highest in the NCAA Tournament. The first was in the 2012 Final Four in which Kentucky went on to win the national title. The second was in 2014 in the Sweet 16, as the Wildcats went on to the Final Four again.
Only three times — all UK victories — in those 12 games since Calipari took over has the game been decided by more than 10 points.
The two schools had a 24-year gap without a game following the 1959 meeting before the “Dream Game” revived the series in 1983. The two schools have played each other every year since.
The highest-scoring game came in 1991 when UK won 103-89. Prior to Louisville’s win in 2016, Kentucky’s four-game winning streak in the series was the longest since UK won five straight from 1916-51.
As is often the case in most games, the team that has won the battle of the shooting percentages has won 10 of the 12 games in the series under Calipari.
In last season’s game vs. Louisville — a 71-58 victory for the Wildcats — Ashton Hagans recorded 11 points to go along with three steals and three assists. Immanuel Quickley played 18 minutes and contributed two points, two assists and two steals, and EJ Montgomery posted two points and two rebounds in 10 minutes.
Blue-and-Red Connections
In a rivalry that divides houses in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it should come of little surprise that the rivalry features connections on both sides.
Louisville Athletic Director Vince Tyra and Kentucky associate head coach Kenny Payne know the history of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry better than most people. They’re two of the teams most important figures and they’ve been on both sides of this historic rivalry.
Payne is in his 10th season as a coach with Kentucky but was a letterman for the Cardinals from 1985-89. He scored 1,083 career points and was a freshman on the 1986 NCAA championship team. Payne averaged 14.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and shot 50.8% from the field as a senior.
Tyra was a four-year letterwinner and two-time captain for the Wildcats baseball team from 1985-88. He started 37 games for UK during his career and started 37 career games on the mound.
Best in the Bluegrass
Kentucky defeated the first of two in-state foes it will welcome to Rupp Arena in 2019-20 vs. Eastern Kentucky.
UK has dominated teams in the state under John Calipari. Kentucky is 18-2 against in-state foes with Calipari at the helm.
The overall mark also includes a 10-2 record vs. Louisville. Two of the victories over the Cardinals were in postseason play. UK’s four-game winning streak was snapped in 2016-17 but the Wildcats have won all five meetings played in Rupp Arena, including a 29-point blowout in 2017-18, the third-biggest margin of victory in the history of the series. Louisville’s two wins are by a combined six points.
Here’s a list of the meetings between the state’s two premier programs since Calipari took over at UK:
• Jan. 2, 2010 – UK won 71-62 at Rupp Arena
• Dec. 31, 2010 – UK won 78-63 at the KFC Yum! Center
• Dec. 31, 2011 – UK won 69-62 at Rupp Arena
• March 31, 2012 – UK won 69-61 at the Superdome (NCAA Final Four in New Orleans)
• Dec. 29, 2012 – Louisville won 80-77 at the KFC Yum! Center
• Dec. 28, 2013 – UK won 73-66 at Rupp Arena
• March 28, 2014 – UK won 74-69 at Lucas Oil Stadium (NCAA Sweet 16 in Indianapolis)
• Dec. 27, 2014 – UK won 58-50 at the KFC Yum! Center
• Dec. 26, 2015 – UK won 75-73 at Rupp Arena
• Dec. 21, 2016 – Louisville won 73-70 at the KFC Yum! Center
• Dec. 29, 2017 – UK won 90-61 at Rupp Arena
• Dec. 29, 2018 – UK won 71-58 at the KFC Yum! Center
