By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
LEXINGTON, Ky. — For the last 30 minutes of another rip-roaring Louisville-Kentucky basketball game, Damion Lee was the best offensive player on the Rupp Arena court.
After being limited to two points in the first 11 1/2 minutes, UofL’s fifth-year senior forward finished with a game-high 27. But it was the three points he DIDN’T get that he will probably remember most.
With the No. 16/15 Cardinals (11-2) trailing by two points and time running out, Lee launched a 3-pointer from the left corner that was contested by UK’s 6-8 Alex Poythress. It failed to draw iron, a gritty comeback by the visitors fell short and the No. 12/11 Wildcats (10-2) escaped with a 75-73 victory in front of 24,412 Big Blue fans in an exciting game that was as entertaining as you expect when these two bitter rivals get together.
Kentucky has now beaten UofL eight out of the last 10 times and UofL coach Rick Pitino — who skipped the post-game press conference — is 1-8 against Cats coach John Calipari.
After overcoming most of a 16-point deficit (52-36) two minutes into the second half when the game looked like it was going to turn into a Kentucky blowout, UofL pulled to within the final score on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Trey Lewis on a pass from Chinanu Onuaku with 1:39 remaining.
From there, UK missed a 3-pointer and committed a turnover, and UofL also had a turnover. The Cats’ miscue gave the ball to the Cards at midcourt with 12 seconds left. Pitino called a timeout, and Lee inbounded the ball, got it back and took his ill-fated shot just as Poythress battled through a screen to get his hand in Lee’s face.
Lee, who said he had hit several game-winners during his four-year career at Drexel, said he wanted the pressure on him at the end.
“We called the play, I came out, caught the ball, looked at the clock and it was about five (seconds) and counting,” Lee said. “I knew we were down two, and going into the huddle with Coach I said, ‘Give me the ball. I want this last shot.’
“Poythress stepped out on me, so I stepped back, got a little bit of room and tried to shoot the three for the game-winner.”
UK’s Jamal Murray grabbed the air ball as time ran out. Did Lee think about driving, which had been productive for the Cards at other times during the game?
“In my mind I didn’t want to leave the game in the hands of the refs, to maybe call a foul or not call a foul,” he said. “Confident in myself and my game, I wanted to go for the kill.”
Calipari said he expected UofL to run a pick-and-roll, but when the Cards went another direction, Poythress replaced Marcus Lee on Damion Lee on a defensive switch.
“Goofy coaches, we were thinking about trapping a pick and roll,” Calipari said. “So thank God they didn’t pick and roll because someone would have made a three and we would have lost by one. But I didn’t want to sit there and just let them dictate what was going to happen.”
Lee wound up 2-for-7 from behind the arc and 8-of-20 overall, scoring most of his points on slashing drives to the basket and drawing fouls — he hit 9-of-10 free throws.
Understandably, Lee was downcast after his last miss, but the first player to reach him, freshman guard Donovan Mitchell, hugged him and settled him down with words of encouragement.
“I told him, ‘You’re one of our leaders, so don’t let this shot define you and what you’ve done this year and this game to get us to this point,'” Mitchell said. “‘You’re a great basketball player. Don’t let this feel like the whole game is on your shoulders. You have one more year of college basketball. Just forget about this and do your thing the rest of the year and have the best year of your life.’ I’ve been there in high school, missed game-winners, and it’s always good to have somebody in your ear.”
Lee, the only player on either team to log all 40 minutes of action, said he also got encouragement from Anas Mahmoud, Mangok Mathiang and other teammates.
“I’m not really someone who is all ‘woe is me’,” Lee said. “I’m not that kind of person. I was more mad at myself than down that I missed a shot, and then I let my emotions get the best of me and my teammates had to come over and console me.”
Other than Lee, Trey Lewis was the only double-figure scorer for UofL with 15 points. Onuaku grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and scored nine points.
Sophomore point guard Quentin Snider was a no-show, failing to score while missing all five of his shots, getting two rebounds and one assist in 28 minutes. Freshman Ray Spalding also struggled, with three points, five boards and three turnovers in 23 minutes.
Once again, UK point guard Tyler Ulis was a thorn in Louisville’s side. In UK’s 58-50 win last year, Ulis scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. This time he was much better, getting 21 points and eight assists and drilling 4-of-7 treys, including a couple at NBA distance with the shot clock about to expire.
He was named the game’s MVP.
Junior Domininque Hawkins also burned UofL from long distance, hitting 3-of-4 trifectas. He earned playing time when freshman Isaiah Briscoe turned an ankle during pregame warmups and was unable to go.
“Ulis is outstanding,” said UofL assistant coach Ralph Willard, filling in for Pitino. “If you look at everything, he was the difference. He controlled it, gave a lot of other people shots, and he made a lot of tough shots.
“Kentucky made some really, really tough shots, shots you normally wouldn’t want to take in that kind of situation. But they made them so you’ve got to give them credit. Our guys did a great job of battling in the second half. They had the fortitude to bang them. So very difficult for our guys.”
It was UofL’s second narrow loss to a ranked team on its homecourt, following a 71-67 defeat at then-No. 3 Michigan State on Dec. 2.
“Tough game,” Lee said. “Our two losses were in two hostile environments against two great teams and the game was in the balance most of the way both times. Today we fought back, close game at the end against a great team. We just didn’t execute down the stretch, much like at Michigan State.”
Pitino is giving his players several days off before they return to practice next week to being preparing for their ACC opener against Wake Forest on Jan. 3 in the KFC Yum Center.