Jamal Murray missed his first eight shots. Skal Labissiere remained the invisible man. Isaiah Briscoe didn't play after injuring an ankle during pregame warmups.
Sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis scored 21 points, senior forward Alex Poythress added 14 and reserve guard Dominique Hawkins had a trio of huge 3-pointers as 12th-ranked Kentucky edged 16th-ranked Louisville 75-73 on Saturday afternoon. All three players had a hand in staving off a massive Louisville rally and delivering the Wildcats' their eighth win in nine matchups with the Cardinals during John Calipari's tenure.
After Louisville trimmed a 16-point second-half deficit to one in the game's final five minutes, both Ulis and Hawkins sank critical 3-pointers to keep Kentucky in front. Ulis' right-wing 28 footer at the shot clock buzzer extended the Wildcats' lead to four with 4:58 to go. Hawkins' unlikely 3-pointer two minutes later pushed Kentucky's advantage to five.
Louisville still had a chance to tie or win the game on its final possession, but Poythress made sure the Cardinals didn't get a good look. The senior forward switched onto Louisville star Damion Lee and forced him into taking a step-back corner 3-pointer that fell well short as the buzzer sounded.
Kentucky's victory was an encouraging way to end an up-and-down non-conference season. The Wildcats will enter SEC play with a 10-2 record that includes marquee victories over Duke and Louisville and losses to Ohio State and UCLA.
While Ulis' leadership and the contributions from other veteran role players is encouraging, Kentucky needs more production from its freshmen to reach its potential.
In five games this season against power-conference opponents, Labissiere is averaging 3.4 points and 2.6 rebounds. Calipari brought the highly touted 6-foot-11 forward off the bench on Saturday out of fear that the freshman couldn't handle the physical Louisville frontline, but it didn't inspire much of a bounce-back effort from Labissiere, who finished with two points and three rebounds.
Murray and Briscoe have been more productive so far this season but they too have lacked consistency. One week after his brilliant 33-point onslaught against Ohio State, Murray regressed against Louisville, shooting 3-for-14 from the floor, committing seven turnovers and consistently making poor decisions by either hoisting up contested jump shots or dribbling too deep into traffic.
That Kentucky could get so little production from its freshmen and still defeat Louisville is an encouraging sign for the Wildcats. The Cardinals (11-2) don't have any notable wins yet thanks to a tissue-soft schedule, but in their only games against KenPom top 100 opponents, they've pushed Michigan State and Kentucky to the final buzzer on the road.
Behind 27 points from Lee and 15 from Trey Lewis, Louisville nearly came into Rupp Arena and picked up its first big win of the season. Instead Ulis, Poythress, Hawkins and the rest of Kentucky's veterans did just enough to hold the Cardinals off.
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