Kentucky looking to reverse series trend vs. UCLA tomorrow

MrsTylerKSR

Tomorrow will be the 16th meeting between Kentucky and UCLA, two of the most storied programs in college basketball. The Cats hold an 8-7 edge over the Bruins overall, but in the John Calipari Era, UCLA has a 3-2 advantage, winning three of the last four. Kentucky will be looking to reverse that trend tomorrow in the CBS Sports Classic.

While we wait for tipoff, let’s look back at some of the highlights and lowlights of the Cats vs. the Bruins in the past decade.

Kentucky vs. UCLA in the Calipari Era

Date	Game	Result
12/20/2014	#1 Kentucky vs. UCLA (CBS Sports Classic, Chicago)	W 83 – 44
12/3/2015	#1 Kentucky at UCLA	L 77 – 87
12/3/2016	#11 UCLA at #1 Kentucky	L 92 – 97
3/24/2017	#5 Kentucky vs. #8 UCLA (NCAA South Regional, Memphis)	W 86 – 75
12/23/2017	#7 Kentucky vs. UCLA (CBS Sports Classic, New Orleans)	L 75 – 83

Dec. 20, 2014: Statement blowout

Kentucky finished the inaugural CBS Sports Classic with a bang, blowing out the Bruins 83-44 en route to victory No. 12 of 38. Which early-season rout was more impressive, this or the 72-40 win over Kansas in the Champions Classic, is a fun debate (I lean former). Kentucky scored the first 24 points of the game and led 41-7 at halftime. Devin Booker finished with a team-high 19 points, including 5-6 threes. After the game, UCLA coach Steve Alford was so impressed that he made a prediction that was one missed shot clock violation shy of becoming true.

“If they continue to play at that level defensively, I’m a firm believer they got a chance to run this thing out.”

The highlights of this one may be the entire reason I wrote the post.

Dec. 3, 2015: 10-point loss at Pauley

A year later, Kentucky made its first-ever trip to Pauley Pavilion (the Cats played UCLA in Los Angeles twice before Pauley opened in 1965). Coming off the 38-1 season, the Cats were No. 1 and undefeated, but in the 87-77 loss to the Bruins, cracks began to show. Skal Labissiere finished with only six points, two blocks, and one rebound in 16 minutes, while Thomas Welsh put up a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. Kentucky shot 37.9% from the floor and committed 27 fouls to UCLA’s 18.

The Bruins led for all but 30 seconds of the game, clearly hungry to avenge the embarrassing loss to the Cats a year earlier. It was UCLA’s first win over a No. 1 team since 2003, and after the buzzer sounded, some fans even stormed the court.

Dec. 3, 2016: UCLA beats the Cats in Rupp

The 2016-17 season included two games vs. UCLA, the first far less meaningful than the second. On Dec. 3, the Bruins closed out the home-and-home series vs. Kentucky with their first-ever trip to Rupp. The No. 1 Cats were coming off a 115-69 thumping of Arizona State in the Bahamas in which De’Aaron Fox notched only the second triple-double in program history. Unfortunately, Kentucky couldn’t match No. 11 UCLA’s energy back home.

Led by Isaac Hamilton and TJ Leaf, the Bruins shot 53% from the field, held the Cats to 41% shooting, and won the battle of the boards 41-38. Lonzo Ball had 14 points, 7 assists, 6 turnovers, and 6 rebounds. Derek Willis hit a three with 8.3 seconds left to cut the lead to three but Bryce Alford sealed the win at the free throw line.

Thankfully, this wouldn’t be the last time these two teams would meet…

March 24, 2017: De’Aaron Fox owns Lonzo Ball in rematch

Fox struggled in the first game vs. UCLA, needing 20 shots to get 20 points. Three months later, he came out with a purpose, outplaying Lonzo Ball to propel the Cats to the Elite Eight. Fox scored Kentucky’s first eight points and finished with 39, the best NCAA Tournament scoring performance by a freshman in program history. He completely owned Lonzo Ball, who finished with 10 points (4-10 FG), 8 assists, and 4 turnovers, and announced he was headed to the pros shortly after the game was over.

“I scored like the first 8 points of the game, and after that, I was like you know it’s going to be a good night for me,” Fox said.

Kentucky held UCLA to 75 points, just one off its season low. Malik Monk and Dominique Hawkins were the only other Cats to finish in double figures, with 21 and 11 points, respectively. It was an oddly quiet night for Bam Adebayo, who finished with only one bucket to go along with 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Thankfully, Fox filled the void to push Kentucky through to the region final.

Dec. 23, 2017: UCLA takes down No. 7 Kentucky in New Orleans

Later that year, a very different Kentucky team faced UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans. With De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, and Bam Adebayo off to the NBA, it was Hamidou Diallo, Kevin Knox, and Wenyen Gabriel that led the No. 7 Cats in scoring in the 83-75 loss to the Bruins.

Kentucky made only 6-21 threes and committed 14 turnovers, 9 in the second half. From the poor shooting to the careless passing and sparse crowd, it was a forgettable affair, right down to me twisting my ankle on the way to the postgame press conference. Quade Green even took off his sunglasses halfway through the game, bringing an end to a very fun stretch of memes.