Kentucky up to 12th in Top 25 (and one) after beating Louisville

So how did the Wildcats (10-2) win? Louisville is now 11-2. The under is 14-4 in the last 18 meetings. Push (UL 7, United Kingdom 1).

In this week’s Top 25, six top-10 teams and 14 teams in the poll have seniors as leading scorers – and in some cases there’s more than one in a leading role. “The 5’9” point guard finished with 21 points and eight assists on 7-of-12 shooting. UofL is 13th nationally in scoring (86.1 ppg).

Louisville (11-2) then ripped off its own 11-3 run to pull within 55-47 with 11:24 to play. It was the visitors’ largest lead of the game. But they made them so you’ve got to give them credit. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have only one loss.

Once again, United Kingdom point guard Tyler Ulis was a thorn in Louisville’s side.

Louisville climbed back into the game with the added presence of Chinanu Onuaku, who only played six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and the play of Lee and fellow graduate-transfer Trey Lewis. The Wildcats then committed a shot-clock violation to give Louisville one more chance.

With 2,187 all-time wins, Kentucky is the nation’s leader in that category.

-Kentucky has won 27 consecutive games at Rupp Arena.

Louisville shot 42.9 percent from the field. Kentucky on average holds their opponents to shooting 39.8 percent, ranking 79th nationally (UL 5, United Kingdom 0). The 1-8 comment (Pitino’s record against John Calipari in the UK-UL rivalry) was fine. Remind everybody that nobody, even Calipari, expected Kentucky to make all those shots from distance. “It’s not a common practice for coaches to flip off fans”.

And Kentucky fans responded to their coach’s wishes.

It’s official: This rivalry has become all John Calipari, all the time.

However, 11 games into his seventh year as Kentucky coach, Calipari has put together a stretch that rivals the epic era Pitino produced in Lexington. Ohio State led throughout and withstood a second-half rally led by Jamal Murray’s 33-point explosion.

One thing the season hasn’t lacked is its share of big shots and high-flying dunks.

“I can get a lot better”, Valentine said earlier this month.

He had eight points in the first half, already surpassing his previous career best of seven.

Meanwhile, Pitino has moved to quickly deny reports that he made an obscene gesture to the Wildcats fans while exiting the arena on Saturday.

No. 16 Louisville (10-1) last won the series in 2012, 77-70 in Louisville.

Junior Marcus Lee had eight points and led the Wildcats with seven rebounds.

He also tied a career high by making four 3-point shots, accomplished twice previously.

Louisville had just 8 assists compared to 15 turnovers. “As a team I feel like we really played hard and that’s what got us the win”. He is the first back-to-back victor since the award was instituted in December 2010.

According to oddsmakers from oddsmakers at MyBookie.ag, Kentucky is favored at home in this game, as the Wildcats are getting odds of -3 points against the Cardinals. He earned playing time when freshman Isaiah Briscoe turned an ankle during pregame warmups and was unable to go.