< PreviousWEEKNIGHTS 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY 9:00 a.m.KENTUCKY BASKETBALL 14 @KentuckyMBB From Press Row Last Time Out: Alabama Recap John Calipari had been saying it for weeks – it was just a matter of time before freshman Justin Edwards had a breakout game. Saturday was that game, and it came at a crucial time. With the Cats hosting No. 13 Alabama, Edwards had the game of his UK career. He scored a career-high 28 points, making his first 10 shots from the floor, including four from behind the arc, as No. 17 Kentucky beat Alabama 117-95 inside a noisy Rupp Arena. Edwards became the fourth player in UK history to attempt at least eight shots in a game without a miss. He joins Rod- ney Dent (12 of 12 against Morehead State in 1993), Kenny Walker (11 of 11 against Western Kentucky in 1986) and Michael Bradley (8 of 8 against Pittsburgh in 1998). Edwards was not alone, as the Cats placed five players in double figures. An- tonio Reeves scored 24 points and had five assists. Zvonimir Ivisic had a career-high 18 points to go with five rebounds and four blocked shots. Rob Dillingham had 16 points and Adou Thiero added 12. Kentucky (19-8, 9-5 Southeastern Con- ference) scored first on an Ugonna On- yenso basket in the lane, but Alabama an- swered with a 7-1 run to grab an early 7-3 lead. The Cats then ran off six in a row, five of which were by Reeves, to lead 9-7. The game would be tied at nine, 12 and 14 before Alabama scored five in a row to lead 19-14. Kentucky would get threes from Rob Dillingham, Reeves and Reed Sheppard to take a 23-22 lead. Alabama briefly took the lead back, 25-24, before the Cats got an Onyenso layup to lead 25- 24 with 11:37 still to play in the first half. After Alabama took a 26-25 lead on a Grant Nelson dunk, Kentucky got an ac- robatic layup from Dillingham, one that briefly sat on top of the backboard, to lead 27-26. An Onyenso free throw made it 28- 26 Cats. A Rylen Griffen three gave the Tide a 29-28 lead but the Cats got a D.J. Wagner layup and a steal, basket and free throw from Adou Thiero to lead 33-28 with 8:42 left in the half. The run continued with a Thiero layup and a Justin Edwards jumper, making it nine UK points in a row and a 37-29 lead. After Mark Sears scored for Alabama, Kentucky ran off 11 more points in a row, including a three-point play from Zvonimir Ivisic, to take a 48-31 lead with 3:39 to play in the half. The Tide would make four free throws in a row before Edwards hit a three and added a fast break layup, giving the Cats a 53-35 lead. Kentucky would lead 58-42 at the half. It was Kentucky’s second-high- est scoring half of the season, trailing only the 69 first-half points UK scored against Marshall. Early in the second half, the teams traded baskets and Alabama eventually got within 13 points, 64-51. However, the Cats then got baskets from Reeves and Thie- ro to extend the lead to 68-51. After Sears hit a three for Bama, UK got an Edwards free throw, a Sheppard dunk and an Edwards four-point play to build the lead to 75-54 with 15:15 left. The run continued as Edwards converted a fast break, reverse layup, giving UK a 77-54 ad- vantage. A Reeves layup and free throw conclud- ed the 12-0 and left the Cats with an 80-54 lead. UK made nine of its first 10 shots in the second half. The onslaught continued. After Alabama scored to make it 80-56, Ivisic scored four in a row to make it 84-56. The Cats then went on an 8-3 run, with all eight points by Dillingham, to lead 92-59 with 11:04 still to play. The Cats would extend the lead to as many as 37 points, 104-67, before setting for the 22-point victory. Other Alabama Game Tidbits • The game totaled 212 points, match- ing two of the three highest scoring offenses in the nation – Alabama first at 91.0 points per game and Kentucky third at 87.6 ppg. • 117 points is most ever for Kentucky • Kentucky led by as many as 37 points. UK is 346-17 (95.3%) under Coach John Calipari when leading by at least 10 points during the game. • Kentucky shot 63.1% from the field (41 of 65), second-highest of the season and ninth-highest in the Calipari era. UK is 11-0 this season making at least 50% from the field. • UK shot 54.2% from 3-point range (13 of 24). • UK entered the game leading the na- tion in 3-point shooting at 40.5%. • UK is 7-0 this season when making at least 45% from distance. • UK had 24 assists and 10 turnovers, a +2.4 ratio. UK entered the game 11th in the nation with a ratio of +1.67. • UK had seven blocked shots. UK en- tered the game fourth nationally in blocks with 6.2 rejections per game. The Winner is ... Justin Edwards! The Wildcats garnered their eighth Southeastern Conference weekly award on Feb. 26 when Justin Edwards earned his first SEC Freshman of the Week honor. He aver- aged 18.5 points, and shot 92.9% from the field against LSU and No. 13 Alabama. Ed- wards exploded for a career-high 28 points and was a pefect 10 of 10 from the field in the upset of the Tide. He hit a career-high four 3-pointers and became just the third player in program his- tory to make all 10 or more of his attempts from the field. He also contributed five boards, two steals and two assists in the win. Kentucky has dominated the weekly SEC awards with John Calipari at the helm. UK has won more weekly SEC honors (133) than any other school during the Calipa- ri era, including 102 SEC Freshman of the Week awards and 31 SEC Player of the Week honors.Thank You to Our CORNERSTONE PARTNERSNEKENTUCKY BASKETBALL 18 @KentuckyMBB Around the SEC Around the Country 2023-24 SEC Standings and Statistics Team SEC Overall Home Road Tennessee 11-3 21-6 13-1 6-3 Alabama 11-3 19-8 13-1 4-4 South Carolina 10-4 22-5 13-2 6-3 Auburn 10-4 21-6 13-1 4-4 Florida 9-5 19-8 12-1 3-5 Kentucky 9-5 19-8 12-4 5-3 Mississippi State 8-6 19-8 11-2 2-6 Ole Miss 6-8 19-8 14-2 3-6 Texas A&M 6-8 15-12 9-4 4-6 LSU 6-8 14-13 10-5 2-6 Georgia 5-9 15-12 11-5 4-4 Arkansas 5-9 14-13 10-5 2-5 Vanderbilt 2-12 7-20 7-9 0-8 Missouri 0-14 8-19 6-9 2-8 Scoring Player-Team ...................................................................PPG Mark Sears, ALA ............................................................20.4 Dalton Knecht, UT ........................................................20.0 Antonio Reeves, UK ......................................................19.7 Wade Taylor IV, TAMU ...................................................19.1 Matthew Murrell, MISS ..................................................17.3 Rebounding Player-Team ...................................................................RPG Mark Sears, ALA ............................................................20.4 Dalton Knecht, UT ........................................................20.1 Antonio Reeves, UK ......................................................19.9 Wade Taylor IV, TAMU ...................................................18.8 Matthew Murrell, MISS ..................................................17.1 Assists Player-Team ...................................................................APG Zakai Zeigler, UT .............................................................5.8 Zyon Pullin, UF ...............................................................5.0 Aaron Estrada, ALA ..........................................................4.3 Ta'Lon Cooper, SC ...........................................................4.2 Sean East II, MIZZOU ......................................................4.2 Steals Player-Team ...................................................................SPG Reed Sheppard, UK .........................................................2.7 Cameron Matthews, MISS ST ...........................................2.1 Wade Taylor IV, TAMU .....................................................2.0 Zakai Zeigler, UT .............................................................2.0 Jordan Wright, LSU ..........................................................1.8 Blocks Player-Team ...................................................................BPG Jamarion Sharp, MISS ......................................................2.4 Johni Broome, AUB .........................................................2.4 Jonas Aidoo, UT ..............................................................1.9 Grant Nelson, ALA ..........................................................1.6 Moussa Cisse, MISS .........................................................1.5 2023-24 Associated Press Rankings As of February 26, 2024 (week 17) Team Record Points 1 Houston (53) 24-3 1540 2 Purdue (4) 25-3 1460 3 UConn (5) 25-3 1459 4 Tennessee 21-6 1338 5 Marquette 21-6 1243 6 Arizona 21-6 1188 7 Kansas 21-6 1156 8 Iowa State 21-6 1155 9 North Carolina 21-6 1130 10 Duke 21-6 976 11 Auburn 21-6 862 12 Creighton 20-8 738 13 Illinois 20-7 726 14 Alabama 19-8 695 15 Baylor 19-8 689 16 Kentucky 19-8 649 17 Saint Mary's 23-6 646 18 South Carolina 22-5 471 19 Washington State 21-7 361 20 San Diego State 21-7 305 21 Dayton 21-5 261 22 Utah State 22-5 207 23 Gonzaga 22-6 184 24 Florida 19-8 140 25 South Florida 21-5 127We’re your Shield. 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KENTUCKY WILDCATS! ® ANDERSON, IN Jordan Harper BARDSTOWN Tyler Bruington BEAVER DAM Robbie Parham BOWLING GREEN Nancy Hickey Drew Hayes BUTLER Jason Laytart CAMPBELLSVILLE Taylor Burress CARLISLE Bill Clark CYNTHIANA Lee Adkins DANVILLE Troy Wheeler ELIZABETHTOWN Jamie Martin Alice Slaubaugh EMINENCE Fred Downey EVANSVILLE, IN Rick Koberstein FAIRDALE Jamie Norsworthy FLEMINGSBURG Cole Clark FLORENCE Rocky Bryan Brandi Monday FRANKLIN Lauren Roberts FRANKFORT BJ Hurst Audrey Marshall GEORGETOWN Steve Black Spencer Kilpatrick HARDINSBURG Sandra Bruington HARRODSBURG Jamie Dunn HENDERSON Megan Brown HODGENVILLE Teddy Sandford HOPKINSVILLE Alexander Capps Scott Leuckel LAGRANGE Paula Kaeser LANCASTER Cindy Lanham LAWRENCEBURG Ashley Bailey LEITCHFIELD Donna Vanmeter LEXINGTON Tony Arnold Ed Carr Linda Fugate Dawan Hart Heather Lewis Josh Miniard Willie Morrison Gene Young LIBERTY Kevin Atwood LIVERMORE Katie Gunterman LONDON Jeffery Anderson LOUISVILLE Amy Brown Corinne Ramsier Larissa Spears MADISONVILLE Brandi Hughes MAYFIELD Steve Jones MOREHEAD Caleb Staggs MOUNT STERLING Elizabeth Shelley MURRAY Doug Henry NICHOLASVILLE Marc Miller Russ Owens OWENSBORO Karen Keller PADUCAH Toby Boone RICHMOND Ashley Kovaleski Evan Worrell SHELBYVILLE Scott Martin SLAUGHTERS Sam Westfall SOMERSET Jason Weatherford SPRINGFIELD Sue Blair STANFORD Sean Slusher UNION Joey Bailey VERSAILLES Janice Frasier WINCHESTER Kay Brandenburg Olin WoolumKENTUCKY BASKETBALL 20 @KentuckyMBB Arkansas Fayetteville, Ark. W, 63-57 Saturday January Tennessee Lexington, Ky. L, 92-103 Saturday February Gonzaga Lexington, Ky. L, 85-89 Saturday February Ole Miss Lexington, Ky. W, 75-63 Tuesday February Auburn Auburn, Ala. W, 70-59 Saturday February Vanderbilt Lexington, Ky. 9 p.m. Wednesday March Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. 4 p.m. Saturday March SEC Tournament Nashville, Tenn. TBA Wed.-Sun. March 13-17 NCAA Tournament Final Four® Phoenix | TBA March- April TBA LSU Baton Rouge, La. L, 74-75 February Alabama Lexington, Ky. W, 117-95 Saturday February Mississippi State Starkville, Miss. 7 p.m. Tuesday February Arkansas Lexington, Ky. 1:30 p.m. Saturday March Florida Lexington, Ky. L, 91-94 (OT) January Mississippi State Lexington, Ky. W, 90-77 January Georgia Lexington, Ky. W, 105-96 Saturday January South Carolina Columbia, S.C. L, 62-79 Tuesday January Kansas Chicago L, 84-89 Tuesday November New Mexico State Lexington, Ky. W, 86-46 Monday November Texas A&M- Lexington, Ky. W, 81-61 Friday November Miami Lexington, Ky. W, 95-73 Tuesday November UNC-Wilmington Lexington, Ky. L, 73-80 Saturday December Penn Philadelphia W, 81-66 Saturday December Stonehill Lexington, Ky. W, 101-67 Friday November Saint Joseph's Lexington, Ky. W, 96-88 (OT) Monday November Marshall Lexington, Ky. W, 118-82 Friday November Louisville Louisville, Ky. W, 95-76 Thursday December Illinois State Lexington, Ky. W, 96-70 Friday December Missouri Lexington, Ky. W, 90-77 Tuesday January Florida Gainesville, Fla. W, 87-85 Saturday January Texas A&M L, 92-97 OT Saturday January North Carolina Atlanta Saturday December Home Neutral Away 2023-24 Basketball Schedule Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. W, 109-77 Tuesday February Wildcat Challenge presented by Kentucky Tourism Wildcat Challenge presented by Kentucky Tourism Wildcat Challenge presented by Kentucky Tourism ACC/SEC Challenge CBS Sports Classic State Farm Champions ClassicSUBSCRIBE TO PODCASTS TODAY! 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