Kentucky Edges In State Rival Louisville 75-73

The #12 ranked Kentucky Wildcats and # 16 Louisville Cardinals closed out the 2015 part of their 2015-16 schedules in their annual game against each other in Rupp Arena in Lexington on December 26th. In an entertaining contest, the Wildcats nearly blew a 16 point second half lead, but managed to hold on and win 75-73.

Louisville’s Damion Lee led all scorers with 27 point; the Cardinals’ Trey Louis added 15. Tyler Ulis had 21 points and 8 assists for Kentucky, while Alex Poythress scored 14 and had 6 rebounds. Jamal Murray also chipped in 6 rebounds along with scoring 12. The Wildcats were without Isaiah Briscoe (averaging 11.5 points per game) after he injured his ankle during warmups.

The win was number 200 at Kentucky for coach John Calipari, who is 8-1 against the Cardinals as the Wildcats’ coach. Louisville coach Rick Pitino, of course, also coached the Wildcats from 1989-97, winning the national championship in 1996. Pitino left to coach the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001, before deciding to return to the college game, which he did by going to the Wildcat’s in state rival Louisville. That has never sat too well with ‘Cats fans, and has intensified the rivalry. After the game, a video posted to Twitter of Pitino walking to the locker room was purported to be of the Louisville coach giving the finger to the Wildcats’ fans. Pitino later texted a statement to ESPN that he didn’t flip them off; rather, it was a “We R #1” thing. We interpret that as meaning one finger was involved; the question is, which one? And so it goes in this great college basketball rivalry.

The Wildcats (10-2) will next play on January 2nd, opening their SEC conference schedule at home against Mississippi. They do have one more non conference game left on the schedule, and it should be a good one; Kentucky will travel to Lawrence, Kansas to take on the 2nd ranked Kansas Jayhawks on January 30th. Louisville (11-2) opens its ACC conference schedule at home against Wake Forest on January 3rd.