Louisville coughs up another one to Kentucky

Wayne Mason | Pine Mountain Photography Bell County native Maci Morris drives the lane during Kentucky’s victory over Duke.

After the game, Calipari was analytical, amusing and gracious.

Tyler Ullis led United Kingdom with 21 points.

Kentucky hosts Ole Miss on Saturday.

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino: “Damion Lee wanted it. I was going to have him come off and if he was open he could shoot it and if not, we were throwing it in to Chinanu (Onuaku)”. Sparked by Akhator, the Wildcats outscored the Blue Devils 38-34 in the paint.

“We’ve got things that we’ve got to do”, Calipari said. It was on the board all week.

The talented and young Wildcats (9-2), replacing seven players who turned pro after last season, are still finding their way after opening No. 2 in the Top 25. Dominique Hawkins put forth the best effort of his career on Saturday, tallying 13 points off of just four shots.

“In the heat of the moment, I’m sure he was upset at the end of the game”, Harris said. “I had to do well in the paint”.

Hawkins was three-for-four from 3-point range, and all three of those shots were huge.

Louisville’s starting point guard Quentin Snider played 28 minutes, but failed to score a point or shoot a free throw.

“This was a great win for this group”, he added.

Thompson said the presence of Akhator helped the Wildcats keep and the lead throughout. “Always, the message goes out when it goes from player to player as opposed to coach to player, it’s more effective”.

“And no other vulgarity was mentioned from our area”, Bostick said. Evelyn was key to the way we started.

“The first half, we gave up a lot of baskets, a lot of offensive rebounds, a lot of 3s”, Lee said.

Akhator made 8 of 14 shots from the field and the Wildcats shot 48 percent from the floor.

Calipari’s one flameout came in 2013, when his Cats missed the NCAAs entirely – and lost to Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT. Some have doubted, dismissed or derided his ability to strategize, even though he has coached almost three decades and only in the past seven seasons – since arriving at Kentucky – has enjoyed the luxury of rosters deep in high-end National Basketball Association prospects.

With 2,187 all-time wins, Kentucky is the nation’s leader in that category. With a win, the Eagles (6-7) could enter Ohio Valley Conference play against Murray State on January 2 with a. 500 record.

He was quick to point out after the game that it was the play as a team that got the win, not his individual play – an additional quality that great tournament teams have. “We may have them again”. “They play very physical basketball. That kind of energy, that kind of aggressiveness, that kind of attack, that kind of loose offense, how we played”, Calipari said.

Give Calipari credit. He benched Skal Labissiere. Louisville will force the Wildcats into some contested jumpers and force some turnovers to piece together some scoring runs, but Kentucky will win the rebounding battle and hit timely shots to win the game – a close, close game.