Big Blue Corner: Some Notes From Tonights Kentucky vs. Tennessee Game

Kentucky Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Tennessee at No. 14 Kentucky

Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.

Feb. 18, 2016
Attendance: 24,274

Final Score: Kentucky 80, Tennessee 70

Team Records and Series Notes

Kentucky is now 20-6 on the season. The Wildcats are 10-3 in Southeastern Conference action and are in sole possession of first place in the league standings for the first time this season.
UK’s four-game win streak is the longest since opening the season with seven consecutive wins.
Tennessee is 12-14 overall, 5-8 in SEC play.
Kentucky leads the all-time series 152-68.
Next for the Wildcats: UK plays at Texas A&M on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EST, televised by ESPN.

In the First Half

Kentucky started with the lineup of Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe, Jamal Murray, Derek Willis and Marcus Lee for the fourth straight game.
Kentucky got its first lead, 11-9, when Jamal Murray hit a 3-pointer with 10:20 left on the clock, extending UK’s streak of 965 games with at least one triple.
Murray’s 3-pointer was part of a 15-1 Kentucky run which turned a 9-6 deficit into a 21-10 lead. UK held Tennessee more than nine minutes without a field goal as the Volunteers missed 11 shots during that stretch.
The teams battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the opening frame and UK took a 36-30 edge into intermission.
Kentucky is now 18-3 when owning a halftime advantage.

In the Second Half

Ahead 41-35, Kentucky went on a 13-1 run for a 54-36 lead.
UK eventually built the lead to 22 points at 67-45.
Tennessee kept battling and got within 12 points at 69-57 but the Wildcats responded with a 7-0 spurt that put the game away.

Team Notes

Kentucky extended its 35-game home winning streak, second-longest active streak in the nation.

Coach John Calipari has the two longest win streaks in Rupp Arena, 55 games and the current stretch of 35.
UK is 117-4 (.967) at home under Calipari.

Kentucky has scored at least 76 points in nine straight regular-season SEC games for the first time since the 1995-96 season (12 straight).

Kentucky made 11 3-pointers. The Wildcats have made at least 10 3s in each of the last four games, the first time since 1993 and the fifth time in school history.

UK held Tennessee to 37.9 percent shooting. UK is 11-0 this season when keeping the opponent under 38 percent from the field.
This is the 16th-straight game that a Wildcat has scored at least 20 points.
UK has had five different players score at least 25 in a game this season – Skal Labissiere, Jamal Murray, Alex Poythress, Tyler Ulis and now Derek Willis.
Calipari has a 655-184 (.781) all-time record, including a 210-44 (.827) mark at Kentucky.

20-Win Seasons

This is Kentucky’s 60^th season with 20 or more victories, including the eighth year in a row and 25^th time in the last 26 seasons.
This is Calipari’s 22^nd consecutive 20-win season as a college coach, including seven at Kentucky, nine at Memphis and six at Massachusetts.

Player Notes

Freshman Jamal Murray had 28 points and tied his career high for rebounds with nine boards.

It is his 11^th game this season with at least 20 points, his fifth game in a row.
It is his 24^th consecutive double-figure scoring game, the most since Brandon Knight had a 28-game double-figure stretch in 2010-11.
He has made at least one 3-point shot in every game this season, the first player in program history to make a triple in each of his first 26 collegiate games.

Junior Derek Willis notched a career-high 25 points, 17 of which came in the second half.

He swished a career-best seven 3-pointers.
It is his 11^th consecutive game with at least one triple and fifth-straight game with at least two 3-pointers.

He is the first Wildcat in school history with at least four assists in 19 consecutive games (single game assists available since the 1972-73 season).
Only in his second season at UK, Ulis has become the 16^th player in school history with at least 300 assists. He now has 304.

Freshman Isaiah Briscoe had five points and 10 rebounds, the second time this season he has claimed double-figure boards.

Thursday, February 18, 2016