Kentucky Surprises Louisville

One game after its worst performance of the season, Kentucky put together its best.

Rajon Rondo scored 25 points, setting a career high for the fourth time this season, and the 23rd-ranked Wildcats rebounded from their most lopsided loss in 16 seasons to beat No. 4 Louisville, 73-61, on Saturday at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky, which was in danger of dropping out of the Top 25 after a run of 87 consecutive poll appearances, beat its archrival in consecutive seasons for the first time since winning three in a row over the Cardinals from 2000 to 2002.

“I know everyone in the United States, and especially in this state, talks about this game,” Kentucky center Lukasz Obrzut said. “It’s the most important game of the year.”

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino -- who restored Kentucky basketball to glory in the 1990s as the Wildcat coach -- has a 34-3 record in December games during his five seasons with Louisville. All three losses have come to Kentucky. Pitino is 1-2 at Rupp Arena as Cardinal coach.

The win -- in front of 24,432 fans, the second-largest crowd in the 30-year history of Rupp Arena -- was the 350th of Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith’s career. He is one of seven coaches to have reached 350 wins in 15 seasons or less. His career record is 350-123 in 15 seasons at Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky.

Kentucky (7-3) had lost two of its previous three games, including a 26-point defeat against Indiana on Dec. 10. Smith juggled his starting lineup, inserting guard Joe Crawford, forward Sheray Thomas and Obrzut, and the move paid dividends.

Kentucky wasted little time asserting its dominance against the Cardinals (6-1), never trailing and jumping to a double-digit lead in the first seven minutes.

“We got off to a great start and played very energized,” Smith said.

Louisville’s starting center, David Padgett, picked up two fouls in the first 88 seconds and sat on the bench the rest of the half, taking away a potential inside advantage for the Cardinals. Padgett didn’t take his first shot until almost six minutes into the second half.

“We did what young teams do,” said Pitino, who has seven newcomers on his roster. “We panicked and we shot quickly and we took bad shots, and then it mushrooms and goes the other way. We did as bad a job as we did all year in running our offense.”

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No. 5 Memphis 72, Mississippi 49 -- Rodney Carney, scored 19 points off the bench to lead the Tigers at Oxford, Miss.

Memphis (8-1) never trailed, led by as many as 24 points and shot nearly 44% in winning its fifth consecutive game.

Clarence Sanders led the Rebels (6-3) with 13 points.

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Tennessee 95, No. 6 Texas 78 -- Chris Lofton scored 21 points at Austin, Texas, and the Volunteers (6-0) handed the Longhorns (8-2) a second consecutive blowout loss.

Tennessee’s victory ended the Texas’ 33-game home nonconference winning streak.

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No. 8 Oklahoma 68, Southern 54 -- Taj Gray, the Big 12 preseason player of the year, had 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Sooners (6-1) to victory at Norman, Okla. Chris Alexander, who played with Gray at Redlands (Okla.) Community College, scored 20 points to lead Southern (1-7).

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No. 10 Gonzaga 80, Virginia 69 -- Adam Morrison scored 27 points and the Bulldogs (7-2) overcame sloppy play to defeat the Cavaliers (3-4), the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to ever play in Spokane, Wash.

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No. 15 George Washington 98, Maryland Eastern Shore 72 -- Danilo Pinnock scored 18 points to lead five Colonial (8-0) players in double figures at Washington. Tim Parham led Maryland Eastern Shore (2-8) with 21 points.

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No. 16 Wake Forest 61, Princeton 42 -- Eric Williams had 15 points and Justin Gray added 14 at Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Demon Deacons (8-2) defeated the Tigers (2-6).

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No. 19 North Carolina 76, Santa Clara 58 -- Tyler Hansbrough scored 14 points at Chapel Hill, N.C., as the Tar Heels (6-1) avenged last season’s stunning loss to the Broncos (4-4).

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No. 22 Iowa 62, Arizona State 43 -- Adam Haluska scored 17 points at Iowa City, and the Hawkeyes (8-3) held the Sun Devils (4-3) to season-lows in points and field goal percentage.

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No. 24 Arizona 73, Utah 43 -- Hassan Adams scored 27 points at Salt Lake City and helped the Wildcats (5-3) to their second victory in a row over the Utes (5-3).

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South Alabama 66, No. 25 Houston 62 -- Richard Law and Chey Christie each scored 12 points at Mobile, Ala., to help the Jaguars (7-1) win their sixth game in a row. The Cougars are 4-2.

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PACIFIC 10

David Chiotti scored 18 points and New Mexico (6-3) defeated Oregon, 68-61, at Albuquerque. Malik Hairston had 16 points for the Ducks (5-4).... Chris Stephens had 25 points and to lead Oregon State (4-3) to a 64-60 victory over Georgia (7-2) at Portland, Ore.... Reserve guard Josh Akognon scored all 10 of his points in the first nine minutes of the second half to spark Washington State (6-2) to a 61-46 victory over Portland (4-6) at Pullman, Wash.

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ELSEWHERE

Christian Maraker had 24 points and Pacific (7-3) surged in the second half and defeated Fresno State, 99-63, at Stockton. The Bulldogs fell to 4-3.... Louis Amundson had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Nevada Las Vegas (3-5) ended a five-game losing streak and defeated Texas Tech, 84-73, at Las Vegas. The Red Raiders fell to 6-5.