< Previous10 @KentuckyMBBIt's Easy to SAVE with the Kroger App Score big with weekly sales and digital coupons Official Grocery Partner of UK AthleticsWEEKNIGHTS 7:30 p.m. SATURDAY 9:00 a.m.KENTUCKY BASKETBALL 14 @KentuckyMBB From Press Row Last Time Out: Gonzaga Recap Reed Sheppard scored 21 points, all in the second half, but No. 17/15 Kentucky fell to Gonzaga 89-85 at Rupp Arena on Saturday. Antonio Reeves scored 17 points and Adou Thiero had 15 for the Cats, who rallied from a double-digit deficit to take a second-half lead, only to see Gonzaga take the game away late. Kentucky (16-7) scored first on an Edwards drive to the basket, but Gonzaga scored the next seven points to grab an early five point lead. After a Thiero dunk cut the UK deficit to three, the Zags scored four consecutive points to lead 11-4, forcing an early Kentucky tim- eout. The Zags would maintain a lead of be- tween five and seven points over the next four minutes until a Reeves layup got the Cats within three, 18-15. However, Gonzaga’s No- lan Hickman drilled a three on the next pos- session and the Zags led 21-15 with 12:25 left in the half. Kentucky would get within four, 21-17, on a Reeves basket but the Zags again answered, scoring four in a row to lead 25-17. A Zvoni- mir Ivisic three-pointer cut the deficit to five, 25-20. After a Gonzaga basket, Rob Dilling- ham hit a three from the left wing to make it 27-23 with 6:05 remaining in the half. A pair of Jordan Burks free throws got UK within two, 27-25, then the teams traded baskets to make it 29-27. However, the Zags would then go on a 13-2 run to lead 42-29 with under a minute to play in the first half. A Dillingham three concluded the first half scor- ing, a half that saw Gonzaga leading 42-32. Gonzaga scored the first two points of the second half before UK got a three from Ed- wards and a layup and free throw from Sheppard to cut the deficit to 44-38. The teams would trade baskets before Kentucky got baskets from Sheppard and Edwards to make it 46-42, forcing a Gonzaga timeout. UK’s 10-2 run got the Cats back in the game with more than 17 minutes to play. The run continued after the timeout when Aaron Bradshaw made a free throw to get UK within three, 46-43. But Gonzaga got a Braden Huff basket to extend its lead to five, 48-43. Kentucky trailed 51-45 before getting back-to-back dunks from Bradshaw and Thie- ro to get within two, 51-49. On the next pos- session, Reeves hit a three to give UK the lead, 52-51. It was the Cats’ first lead since 2-0, and it forced another Gonzaga timeout. The run kept going with five consecutive points from Sheppard, giving UK a 57-51 lead with 12:30 to play. However, Gonzaga an- swered with five in a row to cut the UK lead to one, 57-56. Thiero hit a three to make it 60-56, but the Zags would go on an 8-3 run to take a 64-63 lead with 8:48 to play. Reeves made a layup and free throw to give UK the lead back, 66- 64, but Gonzaga got a three from Anton Wat- son on the next posses- sion to re-take the lead, 67-66. The Zags ex- tended the lead to 69- 66 before a Sheppard layup cut the deficit to one, 69-68. Another Huff basket extended the Gonzaga lead to 71-68 before Sheppard scored again to cut the deficit to 71- 70. Gonzaga would lead 75-72 when Shep- pard blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound, raced to the other end and converted an ac- robatic layup while being fouled. His sub- sequent free throw tied the game at 75-75 with 4:07 to play. The Bulldogs would get a basket and layup from Watson to lead 78-75. From there, Kentucky would be able to get within one on two occasions but could never catch Gonzaga. Similar Stories ... In 15 years as head coach of the Wildcats, John Calipari has won a national title, claimed six Southeastern Conference regular-season crowns, six league tournament titles and won more NCAA tournament games than any oth- er coach during this span. He's also led teams plagued by slow starts to memorable late-sea- son runs: • The 2020 squad suffered a home loss to Evansville in November, lost back-to-back games in Las Vegas prior to Christmas and fell to 16-5 on Feb. 1 with a loss at Auburn. The Wildcats would then rattle off eight straight wins and nine of their last 10 to win the SEC regular-season by a comfortable margin of three games. COVID-19's rise in the United States canceled the SEC and NCAA Tourna- ments • In 2018, the Wildcats lost four in a row from Feb. 3-14, marking the first four-game losing streak during Calipari's UK tenure. That team went on to win nine of its next 10 games and captured the SEC Tournament title • The 2017 squad lost three of four games from Jan. 24-Feb. 4 before rattling off 14 straight victories. Within that run, the Wildcats won the SEC Tournament title and marched all the way to the Elite Eight before a buzzer-beat- er by eventual champion North Carolina end- ed their tournament run • In 2014, the freshman class was herald- ed as the best ever and preseason expectations had fans dreaming of a 40-0 season. However, that team dropped nine regular-season games before putting together one of the most magi- cal NCAA Tournament runs in program histo- ry. The Cats overcame double-digit deficits in all but one game and were led by late-game heroics from Aaron Harrison all the way to the NCAA Championship game • In 2011, the Wildcats lost six times on the road in SEC play before charting a 10- game winning streak that included an SEC Tournament title and a run to Calipari's first Final Four with UK. Behind late-game heroics from Brandon Knight, that team knocked off the tournament's No. 1 overall seed in Ohio State and upset North Carolina to reach the Final FourThank 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 South Carolina 9-2 21-3 13-1 5-2 Alabama 9-2 17-7 11-1 4-3 Auburn 8-3 19-5 12-0 3-4 Tennessee 7-3 17-6 11-1 4-3 Florida 6-4 16-7 10-1 2-4 Kentucky 6-4 16-7 10-4 4-2 Texas A&M 6-4 15-8 9-3 4-3 Ole Miss 5-5 18-5 13-1 3-4 Mississippi State 5-6 16-8 9-2 1-6 LSU 4-6 12-11 9-4 1-5 Georgia 4-7 14-10 11-3 3-4 Arkansas 3-7 12-11 9-4 1-4 Vanderbilt 1-9 6-17 6-8 0-6 Missouri 0-11 8-16 6-8 2-6 Scoring Player-Team ...................................................................PPG Mark Sears, ALA ............................................................20.5 Dalton Knecht, UT ........................................................20.3 Wade Taylor IV, TAMU ...................................................19.9 Antonio Reeves, UK ......................................................19.6 Tramon Mark, ARK ........................................................17.6 Rebounding Player-Team ...................................................................RPG Andersson Garcia, TAMU ................................................9.2 Johni Broome, AUB .........................................................8.6 Tyrese Samuel, UF ...........................................................8.1 Micah Handlogten, UF ....................................................7.7 Tre Mitchell, UK ..............................................................7.6 Assists Player-Team ...................................................................APG Zakai Zeigler, UT .............................................................5.6 Zyon Pullin, UF ...............................................................5.0 Ta'Lon Cooper, SC ...........................................................4.4 Reed Sheppard, UK .........................................................4.1 Sean East II, MIZZOU ......................................................4.1 Steals Player-Team ...................................................................SPG Reed Sheppard, UK .........................................................2.4 Wade Taylor IV, TAMU .....................................................2.2 Cameron Matthews, MISS ST ...........................................2.2 Zakai Zeigler, UT .............................................................2.0 Jordan Wright, LSU ..........................................................1.9 Blocks Player-Team ...................................................................BPG Jamarion Sharp, MISS ......................................................2.6 Johni Broome, AUB .........................................................2.4 Jonas Aidoo, UT ..............................................................1.8 Dylan Cardwell, AUB ......................................................1.5 Grant Nelson, ALA ..........................................................1.4 2023-24 Associated Press Rankings As of February 12, 2024 (week 15) Team Record Points 1 UConn (45) 22-2 1509 2 Purdue (16) 22-2 1480 3 Houston 21-3 1386 4 Marquette 18-5 1273 5 Arizona 19-5 1241 6 Kansas 19-5 1227 7 North Carolina 19-5 1216 8 Tennessee 17-6 1033 9 Duke 18-5 1025 10 Iowa State 18-5 969 11 South Carolina 21-3 921 12 Baylor 17-6 811 13 Auburn 19-5 799 14 Illinois 17-6 728 15 Alabama 17-7 618 16 Dayton 19-4 425 17 Creighton 17-7 410 18 Saint Mary's 20-6 296 19 BYU 17-6 294 20 Wisconsin 16-8 249 21 Virginia 19-5 218 22 Kentucky 16-7 217 23 Indiana State 22-3 209 24 Florida Atlantic 19-5 206 25 Oklahoma 18-6 178We’re your Shield. 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