Reeves, Cats Roll Past Louisville on Thursday
Antonio Reeves scored 30 points, including 22 in the first half, as No. 9 Kentucky breezed past archrival Louisville 95-76 on Thursday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.
Reeves became just the fourth UK player to ever score at least 30 points against Louisville, joining Derrick Miller (34 in 1988), Kenny Walker (32 in 1984) and Tony Delk (30 in 1995).
The super senior had plenty of support from his teammates. Tre Mitchell had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Cats, while Reed Sheppard had 11 points and a career-high 11 assists. That set the mark for most assists by any player in a Kentucky-Louisville game.
Justin Edwards had a nice second half and finished with 13 points, while Rob Dillingham had 12.
Kentucky (9-2) made 35 of 68 (51.5 percent) from the floor for the game, including 12 of 25 (48.0 percent) from behind the arc. Louisville made 25 of 59 (42.4 percent) from the field, including just 4 of 17 (23.5 percent) from three-point range.
The Cats won the rebounding battle 37-35 and held advantages in second-chance points (15-10), bench points (30-15), points in the paint (40-26) and fast break points (11-2).
Louisville took the lead early, scoring the game’s first five points. UK went 3:30 before scoring on a pair of Rob Dillingham free throws. Kentucky’s first basket came when Reeves hit a three on the next possession to tie the game at 5-5.
The game would be tied three more times before Kentucky went on a 15-1 run to take a 31-18 lead with 8:20 left in the half, forcing a Louisville timeout.
The Cats would lead by 14 points, 36-22, on a Tre Mitchell three but the Cards would not go away. Louisville assembled an 8-3 run to get within single digits, 39-30, with 4:11 left in the half.
Louisville got one point closer, 39-31, before Kentucky closed the half with a flourish. The Cats went on a 14-2 run, sparked by eight points from Reeves. The Cats took a 53-33 lead into the break, sparked by 22 points from Reeves, who made 9 of 10 from the floor, including all four of his three-point shots, in the first 20 minutes.
The onslaught continued early in the second half. Kentucky scored the first five points and went on a 9-3 run to lead 62-36. But Louisville scored the next seven to cut the UK lead to 62-43 with 14:57 to play.
Kentucky returns to action on Dec. 29, hosting Illinois State at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on the SEC Network.
REEVES NAMED MVP OF UK/UofL GAME BY BLUEGRASS SPORTS COMMISSION
LEXINGTON – The Bluegrass Sports Commission (BSC) have named Kentucky Senior Antonio Reeves the Most Valuable Player of today’s men’s basketball game between the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky at the KFC Yum! Center.
Reeves scored a season high and led the team in scoring with 30 points, including 22 points in the first half. The Chicago, IL native also added 2 assists and two steals in the 95-76 Wildcats win.
Kentucky improves to 9-2 on the year, while Louisville falls to 5-7.
Reeves’ recognition adds him to the list of previous award winners that includes Josh Harrellson (UK-2010), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (UK-2011), Russ Smith (UofL-2012), James Young (UK-2013), Tyler Ulis (UK-2014/2015), Quentin Snider (UofL-2016), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (UK-2017), Tyler Herro (2018), Tyrese Maxey (2019), Carlik Jones and David Johnson (UofL-2020), and Jacob Toppin (UK-2022).
This award, which is presented annually, was selected by a committee of the BSC Board of Directors.
