Bluegrass Battle: No. 3 Kentucky Tops Louisville In Sloppy, Chippy Game

SB Nation's Kentucky blog, A Sea Of Blue, has a reaction up to the Wildcats' win over Louisville Saturday afternoon. Given the atmosphere and electricity at Rupp Arena this afternoon, it's no surprise that the overwhelming emotion of the day is a major focus of the postmortem.

This was a game of raw emotion, and overcoming raw emotion. To my surprise, either Calipari had this team in a ridiculously high place coming into this game, or the players simply let the hype and the smack talk get the best of them. Either way, this was by far the most intensity and physicality I have seen out of this young Kentucky team on both ends of the floor. I can't say for sure whether it was good or bad, because excess intensity is never good. In the end, though, the Kentucky Wildcats prevailed, and bottom line, that's all that matters.

The entire post is worth a read as A Sea Of Blue addresses the Demarcus Cousins episode earlier in the game and breaks down the Cats' performance in this site's typically comprehensive style.

Read more at our Jayhawks blog, Rock Chalk Talk.

January 2, 2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Xavier Henry led a balanced attack with 15 points, as the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks remained perfect on the season with a 84-52 rout of the 18th-ranked Temple Owls at Liacouras Center.

Sherron Collins added 14 points and four assists for the Jayhawks (13-0), who extended the nation's longest home-court winning streak to 50 games with an 81-51 win against Belmont on December 29. Marcus Morris chipped in 13 points while Cole Aldrich ended with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Kansas, which shot 54.5 percent from the field.

Ryan Brooks had 11 points and five boards for the Owls (11-3), who had a seven-game winning streak snapped. Juan Fernandez tallied 11 points while Lavoy Allen finished with 10 points and five rebounds for Temple, which shot a miserable 25 percent from the floor.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a 15-7 lead just seven minutes into the game. But the Owls answered with a small 10-4 burst to get within two. Craig Williams made a pair of three-pointers during the stretch, which Fernandez capped off with a trey to cut the gap to 19-17 with less than 8 1/2 minutes to go until half.

Kansas pulled away with an ensuing 19-4 run. Morris tallied nine points during the flurry, including a layup to make it 38-21 with 2:18 left. The score was 40-23 at the break.

The Jayhawks scored six consecutive points early in the second half to build a 49-27 lead with about 16 minutes remaining.

Kansas turned the tilt into a full-on rout with 12 straight points moments later. Henry's three-point play made it a 63-35 game with 7:50 to play and the Jayhawks cruised from there.

Kansas leads the all-time series with Temple, 7-3. The Jayhawks beat the Owls, 71-59, last year in Lawrence...This was the first time since its opening in 1997, that the Liacouras Center hosted the number one ranked team in the land...This was the 15th time Temple faced the No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll. The Owls are 2-13 in those 15 encounters.

Read more at our Minnesota blog, The Daily Gopher, and our Iowa blog, Black Heart Gold Pants.

January 2, 2010 - Iowa City, IA (Sports Network) - Blake Hoffarber's 24 points and six rebounds led the way as the Minnesota Golden Gophers bested the Iowa Hawkeyes, 86-74, in a Big Ten matchup at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Damian Johnson scored 13 points and grabbed five boards for Minnesota, (11-3, 2-0 Big Ten) which won its seventh straight. Devoe Joseph added 12 points and five assists. Devron Bostic grabbed eight rebounds to go with seven points.

Matt Gatens scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Iowa (5-9, 0-2) which lost its second straight. Eric May added 13 points and eight boards, while Aaron Fuller posted 10 points and eight rebounds.

Minnesota took command in the first half, running out to a 49-32 lead at the break. The Golden Gophers were 20-of-37 from the floor in the first half. Iowa was 9-of-22 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

Iowa cut into the deficit in the second half, but Minnesota stayed in front by shooting 45.5 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes. The Gophers also made four of their five foul shots. The hosts sank seven of 15 three- point attempts in the second half.

Iowa hurt its cause by turning the ball over 25 times. Minnesota was guilty of 16 turnovers.

January 2, 2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Scottie Reynolds led all scorers with 23 points and made a key jumper in the closing seconds, as eighth-ranked Villanova held on to edge Marquette, 74-72, in a Big East matchup at the Bradley Center.

Maalik Wayns netted 16 points and Reggie Redding donated 11 points and eight rebounds for Villanova (12-1, 1-0 Big East), which has won three straight after suffering its only loss of the season, a 75-65 setback at rival Temple on December 13.

Corey Fisher and Taylor King each ended with six points for the Wildcats, who shot 47.5 percent from the field, but only 3-of-10 from three-point range.

Jimmy Butler ended with a team-best 19 points and Lazar Hayward registered 17 points and 14 rebounds for Marquette (9-5, 0-2), which was coming off a one- point loss at No. 6 West Virginia in its league opener on Tuesday. Dwight Buycks and David Cubillan chipped in with 15 and 10 points, respectively, for the Golden Eagles.

Villanova held a 35-34 lead after a hard-fought opening 20 minutes and neither squad was able to get a handle on the game in the second, as the entire half was back-and-forth.

Butler put the Golden Eagles ahead 71-69 after knocking down a pair from the stripe with 1:49 on the clock, but Redding answered by draining two foul shots to tie it with 56.5 seconds remaining.

Hayward was fouled under the basket by King with 27 seconds to play, but made only 1-of-2 at the line.

On the Wildcats' next trip, Reynolds made a short jumper from just inside the free-throw line and was fouled. The senior missed the free throw, but 'Nova was still ahead 73-72 with 18.1 ticks left.

After the Villanova defense forced Butler to miss a layup from close range, Marquette was forced to foul with 2.6 seconds. Redding made the first free throw, but missed the second, putting the Wildcats up by two. The Golden Eagles called a timeout after the miss and were forced to go the length of the floor, and they were unable to get a final shot off before the clock expired.

The teams took turns exchanging the lead throughout the opening 20 minutes, but Wayns' three-point play in the final minute helped Villanova take a one- point advantage into the break.

The Wildcats improved to 9-6 in the all-time series with the Golden Eagles.

Gloat at our Kentucky blog, A Sea of Blue. Grunt at our Louisville blog, Card Chronicle.

Lexington, KY (Sports Network) - DeMarcus Cousins finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds after avoiding ejection in the first minute, and led third-ranked Kentucky to a 71-62 victory over Louisville in the Battle of the Bluegrass.

Just 45 seconds into the game, Cousins appeared to shove his elbow into Jared Swopshire's head as the two wrestled for possession on the floor. However, Cousins was issued an unsportsmanlike technical foul and stayed in the game, and was critical in helping the Wildcats (15-0) stay undefeated.

Patrick Patterson and John Wall each added 17 points, and Eric Bledsoe had 12 in the victory.

Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith each had 11 points for the Cardinals (10-4), who had their five-game winning streak broken after a horrendous first half in which they made just 5-of-29 from the field.

Louisville did rally in the second half to take a one-point lead just past the midway point, but turnovers, combined with Kentucky getting hot, doomed the Cardinals. Wall scored six consecutive points to put the Wildcats back in front, and Perry Stevenson then deposited a layup to push Kentucky's advantage to 49-42 with 7 1/2 minutes to play.

Louisville scored the next three, but Kentucky pulled away again. Ramon Harris drained a three, and Patterson followed with a three-point play to make it 55-45 with 5 1/2 minutes left.

Kentucky led by 12 with just under four minutes left and had a chance to emphatically put the game away, but Patterson stuffed his fastbreak dunk attempt into the side of the rim.

Louisville turned that miss into a three from Smith, who, after a missed three by Bledsoe, sank a layup to get the Cardinals within 60-53 with 2 1/2 minutes to play.

Cousins ended the Louisville run by sinking a layup, but only after it circled the rim slowly before falling in. Cousins then had a dunk with 37.2 seconds left to make it a 68-57 game, and Kentucky held on for the win.

Before either team scored and before the game was even a minute old tensions seemed to bubble over. As Cousins and Swopshire were trying to come away with the ball, Cousins gave a quick flick of his right elbow. As whistles sounded there was some quick shoving, but nothing more serious happened and the game moved on after fouls were handed out.

However, Louisville didn't make a field goal for the first nine minutes as Kentucky raced out to a 15-3 lead. Samuels' tip-in with just under 11 minutes to go was the Cardinals' first make, but they continued to struggle.

With under six minutes left, Smith had five of seven consecutive Louisville points that got the visitors within 18-12. The Cardinals then ended the first half with five free throws to draw within 27-19 at the break.

Louisville continued to trail in the second half until Swopshire's jumper with under 13 minutes to play started a 9-0 run. Terrence Jennings made 1-of-2 from the line to cap it for a 42-41 edge.

Kentucky leads the all-time series, 27-14, and snapped a two-game losing streak against the Cardinals...Louisville shot 32.2 percent overall...Kentucky made 46.2 percent of its shots...Swopshire had 10 points for the Cardinals, while Samuels and Reginald Delk each scored nine.

- Via Sports Network.