No. 2 Kentucky tunes up for top ranking by rolling past Razorbacks, 101-70

No. 2 Kentucky dominates Arkansas 101-70

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Darius Miller had a career-high 18 points and DeMarcus Cousins got his 10th double-double as No. 2 Kentucky coasted by Arkansas 101-70 Saturday.

The Wildcats kept alive the nation’s only unblemished record and a near certain return to the top of the college basketball rankings.

Kentucky (19-0, 4-0 SEC) hasn’t topped The Associated Press poll since 2003, but that streak is almost certain to end Monday courtesy of its dominating victory over UK alumnus John Pelphrey’s Razorbacks, and top-ranked Texas’ consecutive losses against Kansas State and Connecticut.

This one was practically over by tipoff. Kentucky scored the game’s first 10 points, stretched the lead to 30 by halftime, then added the first 14 points of the second half.

With that much margin for error, the Wildcats easily avoided the kind of second half letdown that made recent wins over Georgia and Auburn much closer than anticipated. Arkansas (8-11, 1-3) did make an 18-3 run midway through the second half, but by that time, Kentucky had plenty of cushion to withstand it.

The Wildcats’ largest lead was 46 after John Wall hit a jumper with 14 minutes left. The Razorbacks got it no closer than 92-62 with under 4 minutes to go.

Arkansas was led by Courtney Fortson’s 21 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the Wildcats’ scoring barrage.

They ended the first half and began the second on a 21-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Ramon Harris at the halftime buzzer and later consecutive 3s by Miller.

Miller connected on four of six attempts from long range.

Cousins, who finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, secured his double-double just seconds into the second half. He probably would have gotten it even sooner but was sidelined for all but nine minutes of the first half with a minor injury.

Every bounce seemed to go Kentucky’s way in this one — even on the broken plays. Late in the first half, Patrick Patterson missed badly on a reverse dunk attempt, but Wall was right there to dish in the follow. Wall had 16 points and a game-high seven assists.

For the most part, the Wildcats relied on athleticism — not luck — to overpower the Razorbacks.

Just 18 seconds in, Patterson hit a baseline jumper in what turned out to be the game-winning basket. Cousins added a layup in traffic, followed by a Wall’s three-point play and the first 3-pointer of the game by Miller.

By the time Mike Washington ended the Kentucky run with a three-point play, Arkansas’ lone basket in 11 shots, the Wildcats’ lead was 10.

The win gave Kentucky coach John Calipari a 65th consecutive victory against conference foes — including conference tournament games, breaking the previous NCAA record set by former UK coach Adolph Rupp from 1945-50.

Most of those victories were when Calipari coached Memphis, which last week saw its streak of 64 such wins fall against UTEP.

Calipari tried to keep expectations low going into the Arkansas game, joking, “What’s going to happen the next day, we go to the electric chair?”

One thing that did concern him was the Wildcats have been vulnerable against 3-point shooters this year, and Arkansas has one of the nation’s best of those in Rotnei Clarke. However, Clarke was just 2-of-9 from beyond the arc and the Razorbacks managed just one other 3.

It was Kentucky’s third 100-point effort of the season and first in SEC play.

Pelphrey has now lost all three meetings against his alma mater as an opposing coach.