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Kentucky Basketball

Boxscore and Game Notes: Kentucky vs Dominican Republic

Kentucky led for the entire second half until the final 30 seconds of play.

Go here for boxscore.

  • finishes the Bahamas tour with a 5-1 record after suffering its first defeat of the trip today.
  • Including a trip to Canada for an exhibition series in 2010, the Wildcats are now 7-1 in exhibition contests in the era.
  • Assistant coach John Robic served as Kentucky's head coach in today's contest.
  • Kentucky shot 50.8 percent from the field in the six contests.
  • Nine of 11 players who appeared in the contest scored in today's game. had at least nine players score in all six games this week.
  • Kentucky had 108 assists on 183 made field goals in the tournament.

First Half Facts

  • Kentucky used the starting lineup of , Aaron Harrison, , Dakari Johnson and Alex Poythress in all six games.
  • Kentucky's first subs off the bench remained the same with the squad of , , Karl-Anthony Towns, and .
  • A 9-3 run by the Dominican's lifts the designated visitors to a 19-17 advantage midway through the half.
  • Kentucky trailed by as many as seven at 24-17, which was also the largest deficit in all six games in the Bahamas.
  • UK's second unit utilized a 13-3 run to cap the stanza which was by a Ulis running floater before the buzzer to give Kentucky a 36-29 lead at the break.
  • Ulis led the scoring for Kentucky in the opening half with 10 points for his second straight double-digit performance. He also had a pair of assists and a steal.
  • Towns and Lee led the rebounding effort with three apiece, while Ulis and Hawkins both had two assists.
  • Poythress, Towns and Willis all had eight first half points to aid the Wildcat cause.

Second Half Facts

  • UK began the second half with its original starting lineup for the first time this tournament.
  • Kentucky led for the entire second half until the final 30 seconds of play.
  • UK held a 59-46 lead with under nine minutes to play.
  • The Dominican Republic utilized a 17-3 run over the final eight minutes of action to earn the victory on a less than five-second made field goal by Jack Michael Martinez.
  • Aaron Harrison had six second-half points to lead the scoring for the Wildcats.
  • Ulis posted three assists in the half.
  • Johnson had eight of his nine rebounds in the final stanza.

Individual Notes

  • Dominique Hawkins scored seven points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor.
    • Connected on his second 3-pointer of the tournament
    • Hit 42.9 percent of his field goals in the six games
  • Dakari Johnson led the team with nine rebounds and had five points.
    • Had a team-high 44 rebounds for the tournament
    • Also posted a squad-best 16 offensive rebounds in the six contests
  • Karl-Anthony Towns logged 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
    • Also added three blocks, a tournament-high for any UK player
    • Averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for the week
  • Tyler Ulis scored in double-figures with a team-high 12 points while also dishing out five assists.
    • Scored in double-digits in two straight contests
    • Notched 24 assists in the six games for an average of four a game
    • Averaged 7.7 points and shot 47.4 percent from behind the arc for the tournament with a squad-equaling high of nine 3-pointers
  • Derek Willis poured in 10 points and snagged three rebounds
    • All four of his made field goals came by way of a dunk, he also had two made free throws
    • Scored 36 points in the six contests

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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