Tied ball game. Sixty-five seconds left.
The finish of a heart-palpitating rivalry game ended in fitting fashion as Dre Davis, fouled by Isiah Jackson, went to the free-throw line to shoot two with 18.9 seconds left. The freshman missed his first shot. He made his second.
As fans in the KFC Yum Center stood for the final possession, Olivier Sarr's jumper went in and out. Carlik Jones, fouled with 5.1 seconds left, made his two free throws and Brandon Boston's miss before the buzzer cemented Louisville's 62-59 victory Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals (6-1, 1-0 ACC) rode their defense plus the shooting strides of Jones (20 points) and David Johnson (17 points) to a meaningful victory.
Coach Chris Mack won his first game against Kentucky as Louisville’s head coach, and the Cardinals snapped a three-game skid to the Wildcats while adding to their rivals’ misery.
Kentucky succumbed to a 1-6 start for the first time since the 1926-28 season when it went 3-13, and the Wildcats lost a sixth straight game for the first time in the John Calipari era.
The last time Kentucky (1-6, 0-0 SEC) descended into a six-game skid was in 1988-89 during Eddie Sutton’s final season.
Damion Mintz scored 19 points, his most in a Wildcats uniform, and Boston added 11 points. Jacob Toppin chipped in 10, but the team was outscored 32-24 in the paint and did not lead for the last 13:41.
Related: Is the Louisville game a must-win for Kentucky basketball? Why John Calipari says no
There were five ties and 10 lead changes in the teams’ first meeting since 2008 as unranked Associated Press top 25 foes. Kentucky stayed in contention despite an eight minute field-goal drought and made big plays, whether it was Isaiah Jackson's dunk with 3:22 to play or the Wildcats' defense, which forced an ensuing shot clock violation.
Jackson knotted the game on a free throw with just 1:05 to go, but the Wildcats came up short.
The game started in different fashion as the Cardinals fell prey to a couple familiar mistakes early — passing the ball into traffic for a turnover, taking a shoot too soon in the shot clock — but they shook off nerves as their defense took control.
Sarr, a player Mack said was a key matchup for U of L’s young frontcourt, went 0-for-3 and a foul by the first media timeout and Calipari turned to Toppin and Lance Ware in the post.
Sarr’s miscue was UK’s only turnover until Terrence Clarke lost the ball to Quinn Slazinski nearly five minutes later. The Wildcats overcame their sluggish start to outscore U of L 8-3 with help from consecutive Toppin jumpers and took a two-point lead with 11:45 remaining before halftime.
The lead was never secure for either team in the early going. Louisville went nearly three minutes without a basket, punctuated by the Devin Askew’s steal off Kentucky’s press, before Jones’ 3-pointer ended the drought. A fifth lead change melted into a sixth after Louisville lured UK into a shot clock violation and Johnson converted a timely 3.
Three-point shooting was a marked difference between the teams. As U of L made four of it first nine, Kentucky made one of its first six — but the Wildcats regained the lead via a Damion Mintz triple with just 76 seconds left before half.
Louisville led 28-27 at halftime by taking care of the ball better than its prior two games and giving Kentucky limited chances to score off turnovers. But Kentucky stayed close thanks to two Mintz 3s in the last two minutes and a 22-16 rebounding edge, including a 6-0 advantage in second-chance points.
Kentucky changed the tone in the first two minutes of the second half with a five-point spurt leveraged by Jackson's tenacity. The 6-foot-10 freshman had a block and a steal that led to a dunk and Boston's 3-point play, and suddenly the team had its biggest lead to that point by virtue of its defense.
One of Louisville's best virtues in the first half — minimizing turnovers and points off them — became problematic when the Cards had three gaffes early in the second half.
Then it was UK's turn. It had four turnovers in less than five minutes, playing into an extended scoreless stretch that doused the torrid start.
In the meantime, UK's Clarke headed to the locker room during the first timeout of the second half and returned to ride the stationary bike. The freshman played just 12 first-half minutes throughout after reportedly missing time this week with a foot or ankle injury.
The Cards mounted a 7-0 run as Kentucky's offense sputtered but it couldn't expand its cushion by much before Kentucky responded. Sarr committed a Flagrant One foul against Jae'Lyn Withers, and the Louisville player made his free throws for a 39-36 Cardinals' edge.
Within minutes, Cardinals were on the 11-2 tear embedded in a 20-9 run. Jae'Lyn Wither's two-handed jam with 4:49 left had fans on their feet and the Cardinals went the distance for the win.
Although Louisville went without a field goal the last 2:54, it hung on. Kentucky finished the game without a field goal for the last 3:22.
Reach Shannon Russell at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @slrussell.
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