Kentucky gets by Louisville, 2 January 2010

The Louisville Cardinals came into Rupp Arena riding a five game win streak while the Kentucky Wildcats were 14 and 0 on the season, but this basketball game would prove to be anything but a normal game.  The game started off chippy with Eric Bledsoe (UK) getting a foul in the first eight seconds of the game and tensions were high.  Then, on a hustle play, DeMarcus Cousins got into a tussle on the floor on a lose ball where he did deliberately elbow the Louisville Cardinal player.  Two Cardinals players were hit with technicals and DeMarcus Cousins was hit with an unsportsman-like technical.  This was all in the first 45 seconds of the game.  What else would you expect in an in-state rivalry game against two competitive teams playing for respect and for the rights to the Bluegrass.  Eventually, everything settled down and basketball was played.  Neither team was great in the first half, while the Kentucky Wildcats were a little better, but not by much.  The half was low-scoring, ending with Kentucky having 27 points and the Cardinals only having 19 points.

The second half of basketball started to become more competitive.  Kentucky continued to have a double-digit lead in the beginning, but Louisville eventually came back and took the lead.  Louisville went up by one point, but Kentucky responded and put the game away behind John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.  The final score of the basketball game was 71-62 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
DeMarcus Cousins - 18 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
John Wall - 17 points, 4 assists, 2 steals (5 turnovers)
Patrick Patterson - 17 points, 4 rebounds
Eric Bledsoe - 12 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals (4 turnovers)

The Kentucky Wildcats were horrible from behind the 3-point line, hitting only 2 of 14 shots attempted for 14%, but did manage to shoot 46% overall from the field.  The Wildcats held the Louisville Cardinals to only 32% from the field.  The Wildcats forced 18 turnovers, but also turned the ball over 18 times.  Rebounding was even between the teams, both teams had 36.  With emotions running so high in this rivalry, it was nice to see Kentucky grind out the win.  The Cats next game is the start of their SEC play, playing the Georgia Bulldogs in Rupp Arena on 9 January 2010 at 4:00 p.m. (EST).

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