Antonio Reeves scores 30 as No. 9 Kentucky blows out rival Louisville, 95-76

Antonio Reeves scored 22 of his season-high 30 points in the first half, helping No. 9 Kentucky overcome a slow shooting start and cruise past rival Louisville 95-76 on Thursday night in the annual battle for Bluegrass bragging rights.

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Kentucky (9-2) missed seven of its first 12 attempts, but stayed within a couple of possessions behind perimeter shooting keyed by Reeves, who made his first four shots from beyond the arc and nine of 10 in the first half.

The Wildcats took charge for good at 19-17 on Adou Theiro’s 3-pointer and mounted several small runs behind 14-of-22 shooting to close the half and lead 53-33. Kentucky made 8 of 15 from long range and 19 of 35 (54%).

Reeves finished 10 of 15 from the field to top his previous best of 24 points against top-ranked Kansas on Nov. 14. Tre Mitchell added 18 points — including a 3 for an 86-61 lead with 5:29 left that sparked cheers from a mostly blue-clad crowd — and 12 rebounds as the Wildcats shot 51% to earn their third consecutive series win over the Cardinals.

Skyy Clark had 20 points and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Louisville (5-7), which looked to follow up Sunday’s rout of Pepperdine by upsetting their archrival. Louisville shot 42%.

BIG PICTURE

Kentucky played the pace it wanted and created good looks, and it was just a matter of how soon the shots start falling. Reeves had no such issues, and that set the tone for the Wildcats to follow suit and keep firing as they reached double digits from long range for the fifth time this season.

Louisville: The Cardinals started strong and competed for about 10 minutes, but couldn’t sustain that intensity against a deeper, patient Kentucky squad. They certainly couldn’t match their perimeter shooting, hitting just 4 of 17.

UP NEXT

Kentucky hosts Illinois State on Dec. 29 in its final nonconference prep before opening Southeastern Conference play at Florida on Jan. 6.

Louisville resumes Atlantic Coast Conference play at Virginia on Jan. 3.

Reporting by The Associated Press.