Champions Classic final: No. 1 Kansas 89, No. 17 Kentucky 84
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Game day: No. 1 Kansas 89, No. 17 Kentucky 84
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Kansas at the United Center in Chicago.
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The Kentucky men’s basketball team faces the No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in the Champions Classic at the United Center in Chicago on Tuesday night.
For updates, follow Ben Roberts at @BenRobertsHL, Mark Story at @markcstory and myself at @johnclayiv on Twitter/X.
You can follow a UK basketball X.com list here.
Final: Kansas 89, Kentucky 84
▪ Reed Sheppard’s forced 3-pointer with approximately six seconds left missed.
▪ Kansas K.J. Adams Jr. just fouled out. Picked up a phantom foul for his fourth, but tagged with a real one at the 3:46 mark. UK leads 79-75.
▪ Kentucky on a 7-0 run. Back in front of Kansas 78-72 with 5:35 left. Sheppard nice drive to the bucket for two.
▪ Kentucky and Kansas tied at 70 with 7:18 left. UK’s D.J. Wagner is 1-of-11 from the floor. Antonio Reeves is 5 of 18. UK is 21 of 63 for the game for 33.3%.
▪ Since being down by 14 points, Kansas has outscored Kentucky 20-4 to take a 64-62 lead with 10:53 left. UK’s Justin Edwards (0-for-6) and D.J. Wagner (1-for-10) are combined 1-for-16 from the floor, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range.
▪ UK’s Robert Dillingham picked up his fourth foul with 10:03 left.
▪ Kansas on a 7-0 run, has cut Kentucky’s lead to 60-56 with 13:51 left. Cats are 3 of 9 from the floor this half. Hunter Dickinson now with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Jayhawks.
▪ Kentucky up 58-47 at the 15:40 2H TV time. The Cats have a 27-25 rebound advantage on the taller Jayhawks. Wouldn’t have predicted that coming in.
▪ UK’s Adou Thiero already with a double-double. He has 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Halftime: Kentucky 48, Kansas 41
Rob Dillingham made four consecutive 3-pointers on the way to 16 points and Adou Thiero added 13 points and nine rebounds — count ‘em nine — as Kentucky led Kansas 48-41 at the half.
The Jayhawks jumped to an early 9-0 lead, but that was before the Wildcats started throwing in 3-pointers from every angle. UK was 9 of 23 from beyond the arc in the first half. Dillingham was 4 of 5. Reed Sheppard was 2 of 2 before going to the bench with his second foul.
Booed by UK fans every time he touched the ball, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson scored 13 points in the first half.
UK was 15 of 42 from the floor for 35.7%. Kansas was 13 of 31 for 41.9%. The Jayhawks were 3 of 11 from 3. Smaller UK had a 23-21 advantage on the boards.
Kansas leads Kentucky 18-17 midway through first half
Down 9-0 right out of the gate, Kentucky fought back to take a 17-16 lead at the 9:52 mark of the first half. Kansas’ Kevin McCullar scored, while being fouled at the 9:38 mark, to give the Jayhawks an 18-17 lead.
Reed Sheppard has provided the Cats with a definite lift. After coming off the bench, the freshman fed fellow freshman Rob Dillingham for a fast-break bucket. Sheppard then drained a pair of 3-pointers. The first cut Kansas lead to 16-14. The second gave UK its one-point advantage.
Kentucky is just 6 of 20 from the floor, but the Cats have made 4 of 9 3-pointers. Kansas is 7 of 17 and 1 of 5 from 3.
Oh yeah, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson is being booed by Kentucky fans every time he touches the ball. He has four points.
Kentucky-Kansas starting lineups
Kentucky starters
- 1-Justin Edwards
- 3-Adou Thiero
- 12-Antonio Reeves
- 21-D.J. Wagner
- 4-Tre Mitchell
Kansas starters
- 3-Dajuan Harris
- 13-Elmarko Jackson
- 15-Kevin McCullar
- 24-K.J. Adams Jr.
- 1-Hunter Dickinson
Duke wins the opening game over Michigan State
Duke walked off with the opening-game win of the Champions Classic, outlasting Michigan State 74-65.
Freshman guard Caleb Foster scored 18 points on dead-eye shooting — 7 of 8 from the floor, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Kyle Filipowski added 15 points while collecting eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor, the Australian, dished six assists.
Michigan State was led by guard Tyson Walker with 22 points. Malik Hall added 18. After making 2 of 13 3-pointers in the first half — bringing the wildly off-target Spartans to 4 of 44 from beyond the arc through their first 100 minutes of the season — Tom Izzo’s club was 4 of 6 from downtown in the second half. Alas, it wasn’t enough.
Coming off a home loss to Arizona last week, Duke is now 2-1 on the season. Upset by James Madison in its opener, Michigan State is now 1-2.
Kentucky to play Duke in Atlanta next season
It was announced Tuesday that Kentucky will play Duke in the 2024 Champions Classic at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Kansas will play Michigan State.
UK last played Duke in the 2021 Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York. Duke won 79-71.
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 at 8:00 PM.
