Rondo Carries UK Past No. 4 Louisville

Rajon Rondo scored a career-high 25 points and dished out seven assists as Kentucky dominated rival Louisville from the opening tip in a 73-61 victory on Saturday afternoon in front of 24,432 fans at Rupp Arena.
Wildcat head man Tubby Smith won his 350th game as a head coach. The win was UK's fifth in its last seven against the Cardinals and they now lead the series 25-12. Louisville, ranked fourth, lost for the first time this year to fall to 6-1 while UK improved to 7-3.

The Wildcats set the tone for the game in the first three-and-a-half minutes as they sprinted out to an 8-0 lead. The defense was smothering, holding the Cardinals to 0-for-7 over that span while blocking two shots and forcing a pair of turnovers.

The defense held up for 40 minutes, holding U of L to just 35 percent shooting from the field and keeping them more than 18 points below their season average.

Rondo, a Louisville native, sparked the offense early with four points and an assist on a Lukasz Obrzut dunk during the opening run. After the initial shock, the Cards rebounded to cut the lead to four.

However, Rondo reeled off six points in 20 seconds and fed Shagari Alleyne for a wide-open dunk in an 8-0 spurt that made it 25-13 with 7:16 remaining in the first half.

Louisville scored a pair of layups to cut the deficit to single-digits before Sheray Thomas went to work. The Montreal, Quebec, native scored seven of his nine first half points to spark a 10-2 UK run with that gave Kentucky its largest first half lead at 35-19.

The Wildcats led by 15 at intermission. It was the most U of L has trailed by at halftime this season.

Thomas joined Rondo as Kentucky's only players in double figures. He finished with a career-best 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. He added six rebounds, one shy of a career high.

In the second half, the Cards got on the board first with three free throws, but Joe Crawford threw down a mammoth dunk over two men in red that ignited an eight-point Kentucky outburst. The run, aided by a Rick Pitino technical foul, stretched the UK lead to 22 at 49-27 and forced Louisville into a timeout as the second-largest crowd in Rupp Arena history rocked walls.

Crawford was solid all day for Kentucky, scoring nine points and grabbing seven boards in career-high 31 minutes.

The lead ballooned to 23 on two occasions before the Cards tried to make it interesting. A 9-2 run made it 64-51 with 4:26 remaining. However, Rondo struck again by slicing through the Louisville defense and feeing Obrzut for an easy dunk to quell the run.

Obrzut played his best game in a Kentucky uniform, scoring four points and grabbing a career-high nine rebounds. He also blocked two shots.

Louisville put three players in double figures, led by Juan Palacios' 15. The Cards leading scorer, Taquan Dean, who had scored 20-plus points in his last four outings, was held to 14 points and forced into four turnovers.

Kentucky returns to action on Friday when it faces Iona at Freedom Hall in Louisville. The game, televised by FSN, tips off at 7 p.m.

its about time they have a good game, i think with the reinstatement of R. Morris took alot of pressure off the guys and they just came out and played good kentucky basketball

I know I know this does not sound like a true blue blooded Kentucky fan .....but. I would trade this win over UL for a win over North Carolina. I now have to endure another year of listening to the Tar Heel faithful about how the great UNC showed the world who has the best overall NCAA basketball program. The worst part of that game for me was the fact that it was played in Lexington.

Ahh don't worry about it, the series started in the late mid to late 90's and they have won only 2...I'll take that win percentage any day.

Plus Wojo said on a interview that after the Indiana lose that monday when they dressed out for practice that they went after each other in practice like it was a game and that Tubby pulled out old Uk games and made them sit and watch them! But where's everybody at that dogged UK at now? [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Im here, they still arent very good. They just arent a well rounded team. They could be maybe, but I dunno. No true big men and Crawford is a bust. Sparks is, well sparks, he is either gonna save you or kill you, there is no inbetween for him. Rondo can average 40pts a game, if he doesnt have to shoot it more then 8 ft out.

All I have to say is IMO your Crazy! [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

So true Nola........not even close to being a well rounded team.....no inside game at all........and even with Morris coming back UK will struggle a little this year, not enough scoring..........however I do believe if Rondo would work on his outside jumper he would be a premier point guard in the NCAA.............

We still have a few games to get polished up before we make the run at the SEC title.............

Granted UK won that game but I'd still like to know where all these homer UK fans are that cryed when I posted my preseason rakings?

I'm one of them! but I'll make ya a promise maybe not this year but next year which will probably be UK's last year at Rupp we will be a crew to be reckon with! [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]