Louisville Cardinals vs Kentucky Wildcats Match Player Stats On Dec 29, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 29, 2017

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Freshman Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 24 points to power No. 16 Kentucky to a 90-61 victory over Louisville on Friday, the widest margin of victory in the rivalry since 1999.

Alexander, who did not start the game, made 9-of-15 shots to lead the Wildcats, who led by as many as 32 points with eight minutes left in the game.

Freshmen P.J. Washington, Hamidou Diallo and Quade Green backed up Gilgeous-Alexander with 16, 14 and 13 points, respectively. Kentucky shot 55 percent in the second half, and 47.5 for the game.

Louisville got 13 points from junior forward Deng Adel and 12 each from junior forward Ray Spalding and sophomore guard V.J. King.

The Cardinals shot 40.6 percent, but made only 3-of-25 3-point attempts.

Kentucky blew open the game by hitting its last five shots in the first half while Louisville missed 11 of 12. The Cardinals were also 1-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half.

With the score tied 21-21, Kentucky went on a 12-0 run to grab a 33-21 advantage with 2:44 left in the half. Diallo scored seven of the 12 including the last five to give the Wildcats their biggest lead at that point.

For the half, Diallo scored 11 and Washington had 10. Louisville did not have a player in double figures scoring.

NOTES: Kentucky now leads the series between the in-state rivals 35-16, including a 19-5 record in Rupp Arena. The Wildcats are 9-2 against Louisville with John Calipari as coach ... Kentucky scores 61 percent of its baskets on two-point field goals, the second-highest mark in the country. By contrast, 21 percent come from 3-point range, which ranks 348 out of 351 Division I teams ... Louisville ranks No. 2 in the nation in blocked shots .. Louisville is one of only four schools to win 20 or more games over the last 15 seasons. The others are Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga