LIVE BLOG: Kentucky vs. Indiana

FINAL: Kentucky 72, Indiana 60

PHEW. The Cats finally won a big game. Indiana may not be very good, but Kentucky had to take care of business tonight, and they did, showing some fight and pride in the second half. In his first game back from an ankle injury, Mo Dioubate led the way with 14 points, followed by Jaland Lowe with 13 points and Otega Oweh with 10. Dioubate also had 12 rebounds, his second double-double of the season, on his birthday, nonetheless.

More coming on this one all night long.

Hey, it’s Tobias Funke!

Jaland Lowe takeover!

Kentucky MUST win this game. Jaland Lowe is doing what he can to make it happen. The junior point guard just scored Kentucky’s last five points to push Kentucky’s lead to 12 with 1:47 to go, 70-58.

3:27 2H: Kentucky 65, Indiana 58

This game’s not over yet. Indiana’s trying to crawl back in, Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries hitting back-to-back buckets to pull within seven with three and a half minutes to go, which prompted Mark Pope to call a timeout.

BRANDON GARRISON!

No player has taken more heat this season than Brandon Garrison. After getting benched on Tuesday, Garrison has responded, playing his best game of the season. He’s got six points, five rebounds, and the play of the game so far, a dunk that capped off a 23-5 run. Have a night, BG!

5:12 2H: Kentucky 65, Indiana 54

Mo Dioubate puts Kentucky up by 8

Kentucky’s starting to pull away from Indiana, now up eight with eight minutes to go. The Cats are on a 17-2 run over the last six minutes, 7-0 over the last 1:47. Mo Dioubate’s scored the last three, and his hustle is invaluable to this squad, but Jaland Lowe also deserves credit. The offense is just better with Lowe running it.

7:43 2H: Kentucky 59, Indiana 51

9:30 2H: Kentucky 52, Indiana 51

The good news? Kentucky’s ahead by one, and Indiana keeps turning the ball over. The bad news? The Cats had an opportunity to grow the lead, but Kam Williams airballed a three and then missed a layup at the rim. Still, you can’t question Kentucky’s effort tonight.

In other news, Lamar Wilkerson is about to check back in with four fouls.

KENTUCKY TAKES THE LEAD!

Rupp Arena is rocking, guys. Kentucky just took the lead, 50-49, with a Mo Dioubate bucket. Dioubate rebounded a missed Jaland Lowe three and missed his first shot, got his own rebound, and laid it back in to give the Cats the lead. Kentucky is fighting. Having Mo Dioubate back helps, but Brandon Garrison is playing some inspired basketball, too.

Keep it up, Cats…

11:39 2H: Kentucky 50, Indiana 49

Aaron Harrison is the Y!

One of the most clutch shooters in Kentucky Basketball history is in the house tonight. Aaron Harrison was the honorary Y. Can someone get him a jersey? We could use some big threes…

15:00 2H: Indiana 45, Kentucky 42

Denzel Aberdeen is trying to take over the game. Aberdeen has hit back-to-back buckets, a three and a two, to pull Kentucky within three with 15 minutes to go. Thankfully, Indiana hasn’t hit a field goal in over three minutes; however, they are headed to the line after this timeout after a foul on Otega Oweh.

Keep pushing, Cats…

Lamar Wilkerson picks up his fourth foul

Here’s some good news: Lamar Wilkerson just picked up his fourth foul. Indiana’s leading scorer heads back to the bench. He had 12 points in the first half. Hopefully, Kentucky can capitalize on him being out.

Mark Pope’s halftime thoughts

Mark Pope likes Kentucky’s physicality, but wants the Cats to “guard legal” (cut down on the fouls) and push the pace. Some better shooting would be nice, too.

So, uh, we might just not be good

Kentucky is down 39-32 at the half while shooting just 32.1 percent from the field, 11.1 percent from three and 61.9 percent at the line. And it’s not like Indiana is shooting lights-out — the Hoosiers are knocking down just 40.9 percent of their attempts and 21.4 percent from three, but 94.7 percent at the line to make the difference.

Mo Dioubate and Kam Williams lead the way with five points apiece, followed by Denzel Aberdeen, Jaland Lowe and Trent Noah with four, Malachi Moreno with three and Brandon Garrison with two.

Woof.

Fouls are saving Kentucky

Are you having fun yet?

8:04 1H: Kentucky 19, Indiana 18

AND THE HALF-COURT SHOT FOR 10K

THAT is what BBN is looking for

Welcome back, Mo Dioubate!

15:21 1H: Indiana 11, Kentucky 5

Tough IU injury almost immediately

THE BALL IS TIPPED

Kentucky vs. Indiana won’t start on time

Kansas vs. NC State is going to overtime on ESPN, so our game will certainly not start on time. The countdown clock at Rupp suggests a start closer to 7:45 p.m. ET. We’ll keep you updated.

Starting Lineups

Kentucky’s rolling with the same starting lineup as Tuesday, with Trent Noah at the four and Jaland Lowe coming off the bench. We’ve yet to hear if Mo Dioubate (ankle) will play, but he did go through warmups. Would be great to see him return to action on his birthday…

VOLLEYBALL TO THE FINAL FOUR

Highlights from Mitch Barnhart’s interview

Mitch Barnhart’s interview with Tom Leach just wrapped up. The biggest takeaway to me is that Barnhart confirmed that UK/JMI encourages student-athletes to sign NIL deals with their official partners first, and if student-athletes don’t want to do that, they are able to pursue their own deals.

“There are certain things we have, Kentucky partners and people that have invested in our program, in the money that we get to help fund our program, our travel, all the expenses that we have, the things that we do for our student athletes, that has to come from somewhere. And we’ve got some incredibly strong Kentucky partners in our network, and we do ask that we look at that and say, Hey, is there a space for them to be able to work with our partners first? That’s most important, that we try and do that and stay connected to the people that are supporting us.

“I don’t think there’s a person out there that would disagree with, hey, if I’m working with someone really closely, I want to make sure that we do a good job of protecting them if we can, and if it doesn’t work, and they want to go create some we have got opportunities for them to go on and do their own thing.”

Barnhart reiterated that JMI and UK work together on NIL deals, and that when possible, they encourage student-athletes to work with UK’s official partners.

“There are things that when they come to the University of Kentucky, and they take opportunity revenues from the revenue share or from NIL, yes, there are some responsibilities they have to us, and that’s part of this deal. That’s no different here than it is anywhere else in the country. But at the end of the day, yeah, we are going to try and have people work with our folks first, if we can, and if that’s something that doesn’t work and they want to go do some other things, they absolutely have the opportunity to do that.”

At the very end of the interview, Barnhart acknowledged that a “couple” of sports teams are struggling to win and “we’ve got to get them going.” One of them is about to take the floor to face an old rival.

“The noise? There is a lot of it. Part of it is the responsibility to go win some things. We’ve got to go do that. We’ve got some teams doing that incredibly well. We got a couple that are — they’re struggling, and we’ve got to get them going.”

Mitch Barnhart’s interview is coming up

Before watching the Cats vs. the Hoosiers, we’ll hear from Mitch Barnhart. Kentucky’s athletic director will speak on Tom Leach on “Countdown to Tipoff” on the UK Sports Network starting at 6 p.m. ET. You can hear it live on 630 WLAP and UK Sports Network affiliates. I’ll also bring you the highlights here.

KSR is walking and talking to Rupp

It’s almost that time. Join Jack Pilgrim and Zack Geoghegan as they walk to Rupp Arena for tonight’s game.

How to Watch, Listen

Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley will be on the call tonight for ESPN alongside Dave O’Brien, marking the first time the two broadcasting legends have teamed up to call a game. They’ll also call a First Four game in the NCAA Tournament in March. Hopefully, the Cats give them something good to talk about.