No. 4 Kentucky gets help from other freshman, Patterson to rout Indiana 90-73

Bledsoe leads No. 4 Kentucky past Indiana 90-73

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Eric Bledsoe scored 23 points and Patrick Patterson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, leading No. 4 Kentucky to a 90-73 victory at Indiana.

John Calipari matched Adolph Rupp’s record start for a first-year Kentucky coach by improving to 10-0, and the Wildcats moved within two wins of becoming the first Division I men’s basketball program with 2,000 victories.

Indiana students had a special greeting for Calipari. They chanted “S-A-T, S-A-T,” a reminder of Calipari’s latest round with the NCAA, in which there were questions about who took Derrick Rose’s standardized tests when Calipari was coaching Memphis. Another student held a sign reading: “Calipari borrowed my SAT.”

The Hoosiers took the cue, feeding off the frenzied energy.

Those distractions didn’t work, and eventually Kentucky used its advantages in speed, size and depth during the decisive second-half run to pull away for its first win in Bloomington since 1981. Until four years ago, the annual rivalry was played on neutral courts in Louisville and Indianapolis.

Freshman Maurice Creek had a season-high 31 points for the Hoosiers (4-5), who have lost seven of eight in this series.

Kentucky had a 49-24 rebound advantage overall, 21-8 on the offensive end.

That fed the Wildcats’ big 18-0 second-half run. After Indiana regained the lead 48-47 on Jeremiah Rivers’ nifty driving layup early in the second half, Kentucky freshman guard John Wall scored on a spectacular alley-oop dunk to jump start the spurt. When it ended, Kentucky led 65-48 with 12:41 to go.

Indiana, though, did demonstrate how much improvement has been made in a year.

Last December, Indiana fell into a 14-0 deficit and trailed 32-6 midway through the first half in Lexington, Ky.

Not the case Saturday.

They built a 12-4 lead in the first 4 minutes and led for most of the first 11 minutes.

Kentucky didn’t take its first lead until Patterson missed the second of two free throws, Darius Miller grabbed the rebound and Bledsoe hit a 10-foot fallaway on the baseline to make it 21-19 with 9:33 to go.

The Wildcats extended the lead to 38-30 when Patterson hit a 7-footer with 3:51 left, but the Hoosiers rallied behind three freshmen. Bobby Capobianco put in a layup, Jordan Hulls hit a 3 from the left corner and Derek Elston hit a 15-footer from the right wing to make it 38-37 and they trailed 42-41 at halftime.

Wall finished with 11 points and eight assists.