Louisville vs Kentucky score today: UofL vs UK basketball game highlights from Rupp Arena

Posted by Admin December 14, 2024 Basketball

LEXINGTON — Let’s rivalry.

Today, Louisville and Kentucky basketball will battle for the 57th time dating back to 1913. But this meeting at Rupp Arena will be unlike any in the series that came before it.

For the first time since 1930, the Cardinals (6-4) and Wildcats (9-1) underwent coaching changes during the same offseason; and the new guys in charge, Pat Kelsey and Mark Pope, did not bring back a single scholarship player from their predecessors’ final teams.

U of L is looking to snap a two-game losing streak in the rivalry, during which it’s had a 21-point average margin of defeat. If Kelsey can orchestrate its first win in Lexington since Jan. 5, 2008, with only eight healthy scholarship players at his disposal, it would be quite the statement. The Cards are 5-21 all time against UK on the road.

The Cats have a 39-17 advantage in the rivalry and dominated it under former coach John Calipari, who went 13-3 against Louisville before leaving for Arkansas and taking the man Kelsey succeeded, Kenny Payne, with him.

“I really believe in this: Unless you start winning one every once in a while, it kind of stops being a big rivalry,” Kelsey said Friday. “I’m well, well, well aware of that. I know how much it means to our fan base and this city to win this game.

“I put everything I got, and our players do, into our next opponent; and we’re doing the same stinkin’ thing for this game,” he added. “Just to make everybody feel a bit better at home — maybe a little bit more. Why not? Hopefully, that’ll settle people down. I understand; it’s big. It’s big to me.”

Kelsey and Pope have been complimentary of each other since they’ve stepped into the spotlight. On Friday, the former said the latter was, in his mind, the Naismith College Coach of the Year “if the season ended today.”

“In my opinion, this is the best (Kentucky team) in the last 10 years,” Kelsey said. “Not only is this team probably as dangerous and as talented and as potent (as the others), but they’re older, as well.”

Pope is, indeed, on a heater out of the gate. UK has top-10 wins over Duke and Gonzaga under its belt and entered the weekend with the No. 1 offense (91.1 points per game) and the 12th-best scoring margin (20.8) in the country. But the Cats are dealing with some injuries of their own; and their coach knows firsthand that anything can happen when these in-state rivals collide.

“It’s like going in the backyard with your brother and playing 1-on-1,” said Pope, who went 2-1 vs. Louisville as a player for Rick Pitino at Kentucky from 1994-96.

“We might as well take all of our analytics and just throw them out the window; because what we know is the game’s not going to look anything like all the other games looked like. It’s just a brawl.”

Follow along below with live updates from Rupp Arena:

We know the Cards will be without junior guard Koren Johnson, fifth-year forward Kasean Pryor, and senior forward Aboubacar Traore against Kentucky. Johnson and Pryor suffered season-ending shoulder and knee injuries, respectively; and Traore is still on the mend from a broken left arm.

The Cats will for certain be down one player: fifth-year guard Kerr Kriisa, who is out with a foot injury that required surgery this week. Starting point guard Lamont Butler, a graduate transfer from San Diego State, might miss his third game in a row due to an ankle injury he sustained during a Dec. 3 loss at Clemson.

“Lamont was on the court a little bit yesterday,” Pope said Friday. “He didn’t do anything with us, but he was on the court a little bit. We’ll kind of see how it goes today — try and roll him out there. I would love to have him; he would really help us. I just don’t know if he’s going to be quite ready.”

The game between the Cards and the Cats will air on ESPN, which is channel 602 on AT&T U-Verse; channel 206 on DirecTV; channel 140 on Dish; and channel 506 on Spectrum.

Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analyst) will be on the call.

If you have cable, you can livestream the game via the ESPN app or ESPN.com/watch.

Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst) will have the call on the Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9-FM and WGTK 970-AM in Louisville). You can also listen online via GoCards.com.

Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the call on the UK Sports Network (WHAS 840-AM in Louisville and WLAP 630-AM and WBUL 98.1-FM in Lexington). You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.

Betting odds: Kentucky is a 11.5-point favorite (-110) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 156.5 points (-110). The money line odds are: UK -575, U of L +425.

Score predictions: KenPom.com gives Kentucky an 85% chance of winning and projects an 83-72 final score in its favor. BartTorvik.com is also forecasting a Cats victory (84%), with a projected final score of 84-73.

Monday, Oct. 21: vs. Young Harris College (exhibition) | SCORE: Louisville 106, Young Harris College 59
Monday, Oct. 28: vs. Spalding (exhibition) | SCORE: Louisville 99, Spalding 54
Monday, Nov. 4: vs. Morehead State | SCORE: Louisville 93, Morehead State 45
Saturday. Nov. 9: vs. Tennessee | SCORE: Tennessee 77, Louisville 55
Tuesday, Nov. 19: vs. Bellarmine | SCORE: Louisville 100, Bellarmine 68
Friday, Nov. 22: vs. Winthrop | SCORE: Louisville 76, Winthrop 61
Wednesday, Nov. 27: vs. Indiana (Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise, Bahamas) | SCORE: Louisville 89, Indiana 61
Thursday, Nov. 28: vs. West Virginia (Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise, Bahamas) | SCORE: Louisville 79, West Virginia 70
Friday, Nov. 29: vs. Oklahoma (Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise, Bahamas) | SCORE: Oklahoma 69, Louisville 64
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Ole Miss (SEC/ACC Challenge) | SCORE: Ole Miss 86, Louisville 63
Sunday, Dec. 8: vs. Duke | SCORE: Duke 76, Louisville 65
Wednesday, Dec. 11: vs. UTEP | SCORE: Louisville 77, UTEP 74
Saturday, Dec. 14: at Kentucky, 5:15 p.m., ESPN
Saturday, Dec. 21: at Florida State, 2 p.m., The CW
Saturday, Dec. 28: vs. Eastern Kentucky, noon, The CW
Wednesday, Jan. 1: vs. North Carolina, ACC Network
Saturday, Jan. 4: at Virginia, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Tuesday, Jan. 7: vs. Clemson, 7 p.m., either ESPN2 or ESPNU
Saturday, Jan. 11: at Pittsburgh, either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
Tuesday, Jan. 14: at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday, Jan. 18: vs. Virginia, either ESPN or ESPN2
Tuesday, Jan. 21: at SMU, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Tuesday, Jan. 28: vs. Wake Forest, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday, Feb. 1: at Georgia Tech, 3:45 p.m., The CW
Wednesday, Feb. 5: at Boston College, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday, Feb. 8: vs. Miami
Wednesday, Feb. 12: at N.C. State, 7 p.m., either ESPN2 or ESPNU
Sunday, Feb. 16: at Notre Dame, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday, Feb. 22: vs. Florida State, noon, The CW
Tuesday, Feb. 25: at Virginia Tech, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday, March 1: vs. Pittsburgh, either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
Wednesday, March 5: vs. California, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday, March 8: vs. Stanford, ESPNU
Tuesday, March 11, through Saturday, March 15: ACC Tournament (Spectrum Center; Charlotte, North Carolina)

Frank Anselem-Ibe (center, fifth year)
Patrick Antonelli (guard, fifth year)
Terrence Edwards Jr. (guard/forward, fifth year)
J’Vonne Hadley (guard, fifth year)
Chucky Hepburn (guard, senior)
Koren Johnson (guard, junior)
Aly Khalifa (center, senior, redshirt)
Spencer Legg (guard, junior)
Aidan McCool (guard, graduate student)
Kasean Pryor (forward, fifth year)
Kobe Rodgers (guard, senior, redshirt)
Khani Rooths (forward, freshman)
James Scott (forward, sophomore)
Cole Sherman (guard, junior)
Reyne Smith (guard, senior)
Aboubacar Traore (forward, senior)
Noah Waterman (forward, sixth year)

Oct. 23: exhibition vs. Kentucky Wesleyan ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 123, Kentucky Wesleyan 52
Oct. 29: exhibition vs. Minnesota State Mankato ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 98, Minnesota State Mankato 67
Nov. 4: vs. Wright State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 103, Wright State 62
Nov. 9: vs. Bucknell (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 100, Bucknell 72
Nov. 12: vs. Duke (Champions Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Duke 72
Nov. 19: vs. Lipscomb, (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 97, Lipscomb 68
Nov. 22: vs. Jackson State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 108, Jackson State 59
Nov. 26: vs. Western Kentucky (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 87, Western Kentucky 68
Nov. 29: vs. Georgia State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 105, Georgia State 76
Dec. 3: at Clemson (ACC/SEC Challenge) ∣ SCORE: Clemson 70, Kentucky 66
Dec. 7: vs. Gonzaga (Climate Pledge Arena; Seattle) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 90, Gonzaga 89 (OT)
Dec. 11: vs. Colgate (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 78, Colgate 67
Dec. 14: vs. Louisville (Rupp Arena), 5:15 p.m., ESPN
Dec. 21: vs. Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York), 5:30 p.m., CBS
Dec. 31: vs. Brown (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m., ESPNU
Jan. 4: vs. Florida (Rupp Arena), 11 a.m., ESPN
Jan. 7: at Georgia, 7 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 11: at Mississippi State, 8:30 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 14: vs. Texas A&M (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN2/ESPNU
Jan. 18: vs. Alabama (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN
Jan. 25: at Vanderbilt, 2:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
Jan. 28: at Tennessee, 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 1: vs. Arkansas (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 4: at Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 8: vs. South Carolina (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN/ESPN2
Feb. 11: vs. Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 15: at Texas, 8 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 19: vs. Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 22: at Alabama, 6 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 26: at Oklahoma, 9 p.m., SEC Network
March 1: vs. Auburn (Rupp Arena), 1/4 p.m., ABC/ESPN
March 4: vs. LSU (Rupp Arena), 7/9 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
March 8: at Missouri, noon, ESPN/SEC Network

Ansley Almonor (forward, senior)
Koby Brea (guard, graduate)
Lamont Butler (guard, graduate)
Andrew Carr (forward, graduate)
Collin Chandler (guard, freshman)
Grant Darbyshire (guard, junior)
Brandon Garrison (forward, sophomore)
Walker Horn (guard, junior)
Kerr Kriisa (guard, senior)
Trent Noah (forward, freshman)
Otega Oweh (guard, junior)
Travis Perry (guard, freshman)
Jaxson Robinson (guard, graduate)
Zach Tow (forward, junior)
Amari Williams (center, graduate)

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.