Notes From Kentucky's Loss To The Dominican Republic National Team

Kentucky Basketball Postgame Notes Dominican Republic 63, Kentucky 62 August 17, 2014
Sir Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium

Team Records, Notes

•   Kentucky finishes the Bahamas tour with a 5-1 record after suffering its first defeat of the trip today.
  
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    Including a trip to Canada for an exhibition series in 2010, the Wildcats are now 7-1 in exhibition contests in the John Calipari era.
  
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    Assistant coach John Robic served as Kentucky’s head coach in today’s contest.
  
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    Kentucky shot 50.8 percent from the field in the six contests.
  
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    Nine of 11 players who appeared in the contest scored in today’s game. UK had at least nine players score in all six games this week.
  
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    Kentucky had 108 assists on 183 made field goals in the tournament.
  
  First Half Facts
  

•   Kentucky used the starting lineup of Devin Booker, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson and Alex Poythress in all six games.
  
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    Kentucky’s first subs off the bench remained the same with the squad of Dominique Hawkins, Marcus Lee, Karl-Anthony Towns, Tyler Ulis and Derek Willis.
  
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    A 9-3 run by the Dominican’s lifts the designated visitors to a 19-17 advantage midway through the half.
  
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    Kentucky trailed by as many as seven at 24-17, which was also the largest deficit in all six games in the Bahamas.
  
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    UK’s second unit utilized a 13-3 run to cap the stanza which was highlighted by a Ulis running floater before the buzzer to give Kentucky a 36-29 lead at the break.
  
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    Ulis led the scoring for Kentucky in the opening half with 10 points for his second straight double- digit performance. He also had a pair of assists and a steal.
  
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    Towns and Lee led the rebounding effort with three apiece, while Ulis and Hawkins both had two assists.
  
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    Poythress, Towns and Willis all had eight first half points to aid the Wildcat cause.
  
  Second Half Facts
  
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      UK began the second half with its original starting lineup for the first time this tournament.
    
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      Kentucky led for the entire second half until the final 30 seconds of play.
    
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      UK held a 59-46 lead with under nine minutes to play.
    
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      The Dominican Republic utilized a 17-3 run over the final eight minutes of action to earn the victory on a less than five-second made field goal by Jack Michael Martinez.
    
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      Aaron Harrison had six second-half points to lead the scoring for the Wildcats.
    
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      Ulis posted three assists in the half.
    
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      Johnson had eight of his nine rebounds in the final stanza.
    
    Individual Notes
    

 Dominique Hawkins scored seven points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor. o Connected on his second 3-pointer of the tournament
o Hit 42.9 percent of his field goals in the six games

 Dakari Johnson led the team with nine rebounds and had five points.

o Had a team-high 44 rebounds for the tournament
o Also posted a squad-best 16 offensive rebounds in the six contests

 Karl-Anthony Towns logged 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
o Also added three blocks, a tournament-high for any UK player
o Averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for the week

 Tyler Ulis scored in double-figures with a team-high 12 points while also dishing out five assists.
o Scored in double-digits in two straight contests
o Notched 24 assists in the six games for an average of four a game
o Averaged 7.7 points and shot 47.4 percent from behind the arc for the tournament with a
squad-equaling high of nine 3-pointers

 Derek Willis poured in 10 points and snagged three rebounds
o All four of his made field goals came by way of a dunk, he also had two made free throws o Scored 36 points in the six contests