Five things you need to know from No. 10 Kentucky’s 88-54 blowout win over Brown

Five things you need to know from No. 10 Kentucky’s 88-54 win over Brown University in men’s college basketball:

1. A rebounding concern? Kentucky took care of business on its home court against an Ivy League opponent in the manner one would expect.

Yet there was an area of statistical worry in the Wildcats’ performance.

UK got hammered on the glass by the smaller Bears 21-10 in the first half. The Cats turned that around in half two, winning the battle of the boards 19-14.

Part of the first-half problem was caused by lack of opportunity for rebounds, as Brown turned the ball over 14 times before halftime.

Still, as Kentucky prepares to open SEC play with a showdown against No. 6 Florida, rebounding figures to be vital.

Entering play Saturday, the Gators were third in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-12.8. Florida is the seventh best offensive rebounding team in Division I men’s hoops, averaging 15.31 a game.

When Saturday morning’s 11 a.m. tipoff against Florida arrives, Kentucky cannot afford to start the game asleep on the glass.

2. “Ivy League Iverson.” On his weekly radio show Monday night, Mark Pope piqued interest in Brown star Kino Lilly Jr. by referring to the 6-foot, 165-pound senior as “Ivy League Iverson.”

Lilly, a product of Glenn Dale, Maryland, came into Tuesday’s game having scored at least 18 points in 10 of Brown’s 11 games. He had gone for 20 points or more in seven games.

In Brown’s 87-53 loss at Kansas on Dec. 22, Lilly scored 18 points, but made only seven of 21 shots, four of 13 3-pointers.

The Brown University star came to Lexington averaging 20.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

Against UK, Lilly hit seven of 12 shots, two of six treys and finished with 16 points, four assists and four turnovers.

3. Cats vs. the Ivy League. Having beaten Brown, Kentucky has now played at least once against all eight schools in the Ivy League.

With the victory over the Bears, Kentucky is now 20-2 all-time vs. Ivy League teams — 1-0 vs. Brown, 2-0 vs. Columbia, 2-0 vs. Cornell, 3-1 vs. Dartmouth, 1-0 vs. Harvard, 6-0 vs. Pennsylvania, 3-1 vs. Princeton and 2-0 vs. Yale.

UK has played five NCAA Tournament games against Ivy League foes. The Wildcats are 4-1 in those contests.

▪ 1942: Kentucky fell to Dartmouth 47-28 in what was the equivalent to a modern Final Four game.

▪ 1948: En route to Adolph Rupp’s first NCAA championship, UK opened tournament play with a 76-53 win over Columbia.

▪ 1977: Kentucky defeated Princeton 72-58 in its East Region opener.

▪ 2010: John Calipari’s first UK team beat Cornell 62-45 in the Sweet 16.

▪ 2011: En route to Calipari’s first Final Four as Kentucky head man, the Wildcats staved off a Princeton upset bid in the round of 64 with a 59-57 escape.

4. First-year UK coaches in the nonconference. The win over Brown was the final regular-season, non-league game of Mark Pope’s debut season as UK head man.

At 11-2 with wins over Duke, Gonzaga and Louisville, Pope’s first non-league stint stacks up well against UK’s historical standard.

Below are the nonconference marks produced by the modern Kentucky head men in their first years:

▪ 1972-73: Joe B. Hall 5-3.

▪ 1985-86: Eddie Sutton 9-2.

▪ 1989-90: Rick Pitino 4-6.

▪ 1997-98: Tubby Smith 12-2.

▪ 2007-08: Billy Gillispie 6-7.

▪ 2009-10: John Calipari 15-0.

▪ 2024-25: Mark Pope 11-2.

5. Checking in on UK vs. KU all-time wins race. Through his first nonconference season as Kentucky head coach, Mark Pope has gained for UK in its battle with Kansas to be the all-time winningest program in men’s NCAA Division I college basketball history.

Entering the 2024-25 season, Kentucky had 2,398 all-time victories compared to 2,393 for Kansas.

After UK (11-2) beat Brown on Tuesday and Kansas (9-3) was upset at home by West Virginia 62-61, the Wildcats now hold a 2,409 to 2,402 advantage over Kansas.

In the battle to be men’s Division I college basketball’s all-time wins leader, Kansas passed Kentucky for the lead during the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks finished that 2021-22 season with a 2,357-2,353 advantage over UK.

By the end of the 2022-23 season, the Jayhawks added six more victories to their all-time lead over the Wildcats and ended that year with a 10-win advantage, 2,385-2,375.

During the ensuing offseason, however, the NCAA ordered KU to vacate 15 victories from the 2017-18 season after a Kansas player was retroactively ruled to be ineligible.

Those vacated victories returned the all-time wins lead to Kentucky, which officially entered the 2023-24 season with a 2,375-2,370 lead over Kansas.

So given a five-game advantage over KU by the NCAA, Pope in his first 13 games has added two wins to the Kentucky margin.

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