Louisville drops Kentucky to 1-6 with 62-59 rivalry win

For the first time since 2016-17, Louisville is the college basketball king of the Commonwealth.

The Cardinals survived some shaky play down the stretch and a potential game-tying three from BJ Boston at the buzzer to knock off arch-rival Kentucky, 62-59 Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum Center.

Louisville was led by the backcourt duo of Carlik Jones and David Johnson, which combined for 37 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Jones was particularly clutch down the stretch, knocking down a jumper with three minutes left that would wind up being U of L’s final made field goal, and then knocking down a pair of free-throws with 5.1 seconds to play that set the game’s final score. After the game, he was named the rivalry tilt’s MVP by the Bluegrass Sports Commission.

Kentucky was once again plagued by its poor outside shooting, mainly beyond the arc where it was just 5-of-17. Four of those makes came from Creighton grad transfer Davion Mintz, who scored a team-high 19 points. The Wildcats also attempted seven more free-throws than the Cardinals, but outscored their hosts by just two at the charity stripe.

There are a lot of things to digest from this game, some good, some not so good. There’s no need to dive too deeply into any of that today.

The only two games that matter in a rivalry series are the last one and the next one. For the next year, we get to claim ownership of the last one. That’s wonderful.

Everyone enjoy the hell out of this Saturday. Go Cards.