College basketball final: Kentucky Wildcats 95, Louisville Cardinals 76
READ MORE
Game day: No. 9 Kentucky 95, Louisville 76
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Thursday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Louisville at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville.
Expand All
In the annual in-state college basketball battle, Kentucky travels to Louisville to face the Cardinals at the KFC Yum Center. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ESPN has the television coverage.
Coached by John Calipari, Kentucky is 8-2 and fresh off an 87-83 victory over North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic last Saturday. UK is ranked No. 9 in the latest AP Top 25. Coached by Kenny Payne, Louisville is 5-6. The Cardinals defeated Pepperdine 85-63 on Sunday.
For live updates follow us on Twitter/X at @BenRobertsHL for Ben Roberts; @markcstory for Mark Story; @cdrummond97 and @johnclayiv for yours truly.
You can follow a UK basketball X.com list here.
Final: Kentucky 95, Louisville 76
Antonio Reeves scored 30 points to lead Kentucky to a 95-76 win over Louisville on Thursday night at the KFC Yum Center.
Reeves scored 22 points in the first half as the Cats improved to 9-2 on the season. Reed Sheppard produced a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Tre Mitchell grabbed 12 rebounds.
The Cats shot 51.5%. Louisville shot 42.4%. UK was 12-for-25 from 3-point range for 48%.
Louisville was led by Skyy Clark with 18 points. The Cardinals are now 5-7 on the season.
Halftime: Kentucky 53, Louisville 33
▪ Antonio Reeves led UK with 22 points.
▪ Louisville scores on six straight possessions to cut UK’s lead to 39-30 and Calipari calls time with 4:09 left in half. Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has 12 points and 5 rebounds. UK’s Antonio Reeves has 14 points.
Kentucky scores on seven straight possessions for a 31-18 lead, forcing a Louisville timeout with 8:20 left.
▪ Reed Sheppard leaves the game at 8:35 mark after apparently being hit in the face. He returned at the 6:38 mark.
▪ Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield scored eight of Louisville’s first 14 points.
▪ UK’s D.J. Wagner picked up his second foul at the 13:00 mark.
▪ Kentucky missed its first five shots as Louisville jumped to a 5-0 lead.
Officials for Kentucky-Louisville
Officials for Kentucky-Louisville are Ron Groover, Lee Cassell and Pat Adams. Groover worked UK’s 89-84 loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic on Nov. 14 in Chicago. Cassell has not worked a UK game since the Cats’ 79-71 loss to Duke in the Champions Classic on Nov. 9, 2021 in New York. Adams has already worked two Kentucky games this year -- UK’s 86-46 win over New Mexico State in the season opener and the 95-73 win over Miami in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Adams worked six UK games last season, including the Cats’ 86-63 victory over Louisville at Rupp Arena.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 5:00 PM.
