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).

Louisville Squeaks Past Kentucky, 74-71

It was a rivalry game that lived up to expectations.  Louisville came out strong and Kentucky fought back from a seven point deficit with only a minute to go to tie it at 71 with 22 seconds left in the game, but Edgar Sosa (Cardinals) hit the game-winning 3-pointer with just 2.8 seconds left in the game.  Michael Porter’s (Wildcats) 3-point hurl from half-court with time running out didn’t draw iron as Louisville goes on to win with a final score of 74-71.

UK just made too many bad mistakes and had way too many turnovers, which incidentally, is why they lost due to several bad turnovers in the final minutes of the game and that is what made the difference to help UL come out on top, even though Kentucky gave such a valiant effort in the final minute of the game.

Patrick Patterson (Wildcats) was the top man for Kentucky with 22 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Jodie Meeks (Wildcats) was leading scorer with 28 points on 3 for 9 3-point shooting and scored 4 points in the final 40 seconds of the game that helped the Wildcats get back in the game.

Louisville’s top scorer was Terrence Williams with 19 points and 8 rebounds.  Edgar Sosa, the hero for the Cardinals, finished with 18 points and 2 of 4 from 3-point land with none bigger than the final shot.

Final Note:  This was a great game between 2 rival schools and it was a pleasure to watch.  Kentucky really needs to figure out how to cut back on turnovers as they turned the ball over 20+ times in this game.

Rivalry Game, Kentucky at Louisville on Sunday

It is now time to see where Kentucky really stands when they take on the Louisville Cardinals on Sunday, 04 January 2009 at 04:30 p.m.

Rolling into Louisville on a 6 game win streak, the Wildcats are going to have to play hard and not make many mistakes.  If Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks play as they have been playing, then UK should be fine, but look for the Cardinals to try to defend the perimeter and shut down Patterson on the inside.  It is going to be a great game and this will really show us where Kentucky stands on the season.

Louisville will come out strong since they lost their last game to UNLV in a close game, so they should be somewhat mad, but Kentucky needs to capitalize on that and make them even more frustrated.

This game should live up to rivalry expectations as both teams seem to be somewhat closely matched to one another, but I predict the Kentucky Wildcats will win in a close game at the end.