UK Basketball: A game-by-game review of Kentucky's championship season

Kentucky held off Alabama by hitting its free throws, hitting all eight of its attempts in the final minute.
Jones scored 15 points and made the Wildcats’ final field goal with 6:57 remaining, but they hit 23 of 29 second-half free throw attempts and scored their final 15 points from the free throw line.
Davis was largely neutralized on offense — he missed his first seven shots and was 2 for 10 from the field — but he was one of six Kentucky players in double figures, and he had six blocks, including one in the closing seconds that sealed the win.
The Wildcats never trailed in a foul-filled second half, though the Crimson Tide were within 49-48 with 12:37 left and stayed close the rest of the way.

Kentucky 57, Georgia 44
Jan. 24 at Athens, Ga.

Miller, who had started eight of the previous nine games, returned to his sixth-man role and scored 19 points to lead the Wildcats to a win over Georgia in their lowest-scoring game of the season.
He and Kidd-Gilchrist, who scored 14 points, were the only players in double figures for Kentucky, which went more than 5 minutes without scoring and made just seven of 23 shots in the second half.
The Wildcats, who returned to the No. 1 ranking the day before following a loss by Syracuse, used spurts of 10-0 and 10-1 to build a 38-26 halftime lead, and they were never threatened in the second half by Georgia, which shot just 35 percent and was outrebounded 41-26.
Miller made seven of his eight shots, including all four from 3-point range. Davis managed only four points but did have 11 rebounds.

Kentucky 74, LSU 50
Jan. 28 at Baton Rouge, La.

Jones highlighted a season-high 27-point performance with a 13-0 run of his own that helped Kentucky pull away from LSU.
Jones, who entered the game averaging 11.6 points, scored the last four points of the first half and the first nine of the second to give Kentucky a 44-26 lead. He went 10 for 16 from the field and hit seven of eight free throws and had nine rebounds.
Davis had 16 points and 10 rebounds despite briefly leaving the game when he hurt his right shoulder in a scramble for a loose ball in the first half. He stayed in the game after being pulled down in the second half by LSU’s Malcolm White, who was ejected for a flagrant foul.
Miller added 13 points for the Wildcats, including three 3-pointers.

Kentucky 69, Tennessee 44
Jan. 31 at Lexington

Davis had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots for Kentucky, which torched Tennessee by hitting its first 11 shots over the first 11 minutes.
Wearing platinum gray uniforms as part of a Nike promotion, the Wildcats raced to a 26-8 lead during their shooting streak. The Volunteers rallied to pull within 32-22 but never cut the margin to single digits as they shot just 28.1 percent from the field.
Davis made six straight free throws, then drained a 17-footer that gave Kentucky a 57-36 lead with 6:52 left.
Kidd-Gilchrist had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats.

Kentucky 86, South Carolina 52
Feb. 4 at Columbia, S.C.

South Carolina had toppled a top-ranked Kentucky team in 2010, but there was no danger of an upset this time as the Wildcats shot 51.6 percent in what Calipari called their best performance of the season.
Davis scored 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting and had eight rebounds and eight blocks in Kentucky’s 15th consecutive win. Lamb added 18 points, and Jones had 16.
Davis and Jones combined for eight dunks in the first half, including four straight during one stretch that helped the Wildcats build a 23-10 lead. The Gamecocks cut the margin to seven points before the two combined for 14 points in a 17-2 run en route to a 52-25 halftime lead.
Kentucky led by as many as 41 points in the second half.

Kentucky 78, Florida 58
Feb. 7 at Lexington

A battle between the SEC’s two top-10 teams proved to be no contest, as No. 8 Florida failed to hang around even for a half.
When the Gators scored the first six points of the game, the Wildcats answered with nine. When they opened the second half with four straight points to cut the lead to 38-30, Kentucky used an 11-0 run to all but end it.
Lamb scored 18 points, Davis scored 16, Kidd-Gilchrist had 13 points and 13 rebounds and Teague had 12 points and a career-high 10 assists.
Florida, the team with the most 3-pointers in the nation entering the game, went 6 for 27 from behind the arc and shot 34.9 percent overall. Kentucky shot 52.7 percent and hit nine of 15 3-point tries.

Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 63
Feb. 11 at Nashville, Tenn.

The Wildcats got exactly the sort of test that Calipari had said they needed, and they passed after shutting Vanderbilt out for the 4 minutes to secure a tough road win.
Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats held off a furious charge in electric Memorial Gym by scoring the final eight points of the game.
The Commodores took a 63-61 lead with 4:08 to go, but they missed their last nine shots.
Lamb finished with 16 points, Davis added 15 points and seven blocked shots, Jones scored 14 and Teague scored 13 for Kentucky.
After Lamb gave the Wildcats their late lead, Kidd-Gilchrist hit two free throws and Miller scored. A 3-point attempt by Vanderbilt's Jeffery Taylor in the final minute was blocked by Davis.
The Wildcats led by as many as 14 points in the first half and were up 36-23 at halftime, but Vanderbilt opened the second half by hitting six of its first seven shots from long range and 10 of its first 14 overall.

Kentucky 77, Mississippi 62
Feb. 18 at Lexington

Kentucky won its 50th consecutive home game behind the first double-double of the season by Jones, who had 13 the previous year as a freshman.
Jones had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Wildcats, and he was only one of five players in double figures. Lamb had 16 points, followed by Miller with 14, Wiltjer with 13 and Davis with 10.
Ole Miss wiped out Kentucky's 16-5 lead and took a 31-29 lead of its own, but the Wildcats hit three straight 3-pointers to take a 43-35 halftime lead and never trailed in the second half.
Miller and Wiltjer each came off the bench to score 10 points in the first half, and the Wildcats' hot shooting continued into the second half, as they finished 10 for 18 from 3-point distance.

Kentucky 73, Mississippi State 64
Feb. 21 at Starkville, Miss.

Miller scored all 12 of his points in the final 8 minutes to help Kentucky climb out of a halftime hole to beat Mississippi State.
Miller's dominant stretch was punctuated by a 3-pointer with 1:27 remaining that gave the Wildcats an insurmountable 71-64 lead.
Kidd-Gilchrist scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half and added 10 rebounds and Davis had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats, who trailed 60-53 before starting their game-winning rally.
Mississippi State led 25-13 in the early going, and the Bulldogs led 41-28 at halftime. It was the biggest deficit of the season for the Wildcats, but they opened the second half with an 11-2 run and took their first lead at 63-62 with 4:11 to play.

Kentucky 83, Vanderbilt 74
Jan. 25 at Lexington

Davis scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-11 shooting and sparked a late surge that helped the Wildcats put away Vanderbilt to win its 20th consecutive game and clinch its 45th consecutive SEC regular-season title.
Davis, who also had 11 rebounds and five blocks, hit an 18-foot jumper as the shot clock expired with 1:06 left. Jones added a dunk, and Davis then blocked Lance Goulbourne's shot with 31 seconds to go.
Vanderbilt led 37-36 at halftime — it was only the second time Kentucky trailed at halftime at home all season — but the Wildcats pulled out to a 66-56 lead with 7:47 left.
Vanderbilt made one more run to pull within one at 66-65 with 4:22 left before Davis beat the shot clock for the first time with a turnaround jumper that sparked a 6-0 run. The Commodores missed free throws in bunches late, and they were 5 for 11 at the line in the second half.
Teague had 16 points for the Wildcats, and Kidd-Gilchrist had eight points and eight rebounds before fouling out.

Kentucky 79, Georgia 49
March 1 at Lexington