LEXINGTON, Ky. Sporting Alert – Tyler Ulis matched a career high with 21 points and No. 12 Kentucky held on for a 75-73 victory over No. 16 Louisville at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday.
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Ulis, who made four 3-pointers and 7 of 12 from the field, also dished out eight assists and played a team-high 39 minutes.
Alex Poythress added 14 points on 5 of 7 shooting, and had six rebounds and three blocks, with Dominique Hawkins hitting three of his four 3-point attempts for 13 points off the bench.
Jamal Murray finished with 12 points and six boards, but also had seven turnovers for the Wildcats who handed head coach John Calipari his 200th win as coach of the team.
“It’s a great win for this group,” Calipari said. “They do know this is who we have to be and how we have to play — that kind of energy, that kind of aggressiveness, that kind of attack.
“And against a really good team. Louisville’s going to do damage. They will be one of those teams left standing. We may have them again.”
Damion Lee scored a game-high 27 points to lead Louisville (11-2) which had its six-game winning streak snapped.
Trey Lewis went 6 of 10 from the floor for 15 points for the Cardinals, who shot 42.9-percent from the field, while outrebounding Kentucky 39-29.
With the victory on Saturday, Calipari continued his dominance over Rick Pitino in the Louisville rivalry after improving 8-1 in this series.
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 I didn’t flip off fans,” ESPN’s Dana O’Neil reported. “My recollection was a ‘We r # 1.’
Pitino was also missing from the postgame press conference, but Louisville spokesman Kenny Klein told reporters that associate head coach Ralph Willard was already picked to handle the postgame responsibilities from the start.
NO. 3 OKLAHOMA WINS HAWAII TOURNEY
On Friday night, Buddy Hield and Jordan Woodward both scored career highs to lead No. 3 Oklahoma to an 83-71 win over Harvard in the Diamond Head Classic title game.
Hield finished with 34 points and seven rebounds and Woodward added 28 points and three steals for the Sooners (11-0), who shot 50.0 percent from the floor.
Harvard was led by Zena Edosomwan, who grabbed a double-double of a career-high 25 points and 16 rebounds, with Evan Cummins finishing with 10 points in the defeat for the Crimson (5-7) who had won the last three games.
