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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kentucky 77, Tennessee St. 62
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, November 23, 2018
Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Officials: # Don Daily, # Rob Rorke, # Pat Evans
Attendance: 20224

No. 10 Kentucky moved its win streak to five Friday night in Lexington with a 77-62 victory over Tennessee State at Rupp Arena.

Kentucky (5-1) was led by freshman Keldon Johnson, who scored a career-high 27 points, 13 coming from the free throw line. He also had seven rebounds. Graduate transfer Reid Travis added 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Leading 42-32 with 17:11 remaining, Kentucky went on a 24-14 run to grab its largest lead of the night at 20 points, 66-46, with 7:45 to play. Johnson had 13 of the Wildcats' 24 points.

Tennessee State (2-4) placed three players in double figures. Junior guard Donte Dorsey-Fitzpatrick was tops with 18 points, followed by Emmanuel Egbuta with 13 and Kamar McKnight with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Kentucky won the rebounding battle 38-30, but had eight assists to 14 turnovers.

The Wildcats used an 8-0 spurt late in the first half to finally put some distance between themselves and the Tigers.

Johnson had four points and EJ Montgomery had three to push a 25-22 lead to 33-22. The 11-point margin was the Wildcats' largest of the first half.

One area of concern for Kentucky has been 3-point defense. The Wildcats entered the game allowing opponents 44.1 percent from long range, which ranks 346th out of 351 Division I teams nationally.

In coach John Calipari's previous nine UK seasons, the 3-point defense has averaged a stellar 31.1 percent. It's never been worse than 32.6, and the best mark was 27.1 percent.

On Friday night, Kentucky held Tennessee State to 37.5 percent on 6-of-16. Kentucky did little to take advantage of that as the Wildcats made only 4-of-15 for 26.7 percent.

Kentucky held a 35-27 lead at halftime despite poor shooting. The Wildcats were 9-of-27 overall and only 1-of-10 from 3-point range. There was also just one assist to five turnovers.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Tennessee St.   Kentucky
Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey 18 Scoring Keldon Johnson 27
Armani Chaney 4 Assists Quade Green 4
Kamar McKnight 9 Rebounds Reid Travis 9
Emmanuel Egbuta 5 Free Throws Made Keldon Johnson 13
Emmanuel Egbuta 2 Steals PJ Washington 2
Dave Morris 1 Blocks EJ Montgomery 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Tennessee St. 62 40.7 6-16 12-19 11 26 1 5 19
Kentucky 77 44.2 4-15 27-41 8 37 5 4 14