LEXINGTON, Ky. — Evansville showed no fear either of Kentucky or venerable Rupp Arena, where the Wildcats had been perfect at ruining visitors’ dreams of pulling off the seemingly impossible.
Until Tuesday night.
Not only did the Purple Aces deal No. 1 Kentucky a stunning 67-64 upset, they beat the bigger, stronger Wildcats at their own game. When it was over, players, coaches and their fans whooped it up in a corner of the famed court, making sure they savored every bit of a momentous victory.
“To be here is a dream come true,” Evansville sophomore forward DeAndre Williams said. “We took advantage and we made history.”
Sam Cunliffe scored 17 points, including two free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining to silence Kentucky (2-1) and a crowd of 19,101 — most of whom had expected a routine nonconference win from the Wildcats, who were 25-point favorites and had earned the top ranking a day earlier.
Those expectations never materialized as Evansville (2-0) controlled the younger Wildcats on both ends of the floor.
K.J. Riley added 18 points as the Purple Aces — coached by Walter McCarty, who won a national title with Kentucky in 1996 — pulled off the biggest upset in program history with their first win over a No. 1 team in three tries.
Evansville led much of the game and answered each Kentucky rally with clutch baskets to grab the lead and then maintain it for the season’s biggest upset.
Kentucky had been 39-0 at home against unranked, nonconference opponents when ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press poll. Evansville, meanwhile, got its first-ever road win over an AP-ranked team.
“Walter and their team deserved to win,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “If we would have somehow pulled it out, it would have been, kind of wouldn’t even have been fair because they fought us the whole game and they were the tougher team.
“They executed, they made shots and 3s and free throws. My hat’s off to them. It’s hard to do that in this building, but they were more ready to play. He had his team better prepared than I had my team.”
Tyrese Maxey’s layup with 8 seconds remaining got Kentucky within 65-64, but Cunliffe stepped to the line and calmly made both ends of the 1-and-1 as his teammates locked arms on the bench. The Purple Aces raised their hands and ran around a silent Rupp Arena after the final horn as the Wildcats slowly walked off.
Immanuel Quickley led Kentucky with 16 points, and Maxey scored 15.
Cunliffe, a redshirt junior guard who played at Arizona State and Kansas, did most of his damage with 15 first-half points off the bench.
“It’s amazing. You come to a school like this and you talk about doing things like this and making history and playing in front of these bright lights,” Cuncliffe said. “We prepared the right way. We had our mind set in the right spot that we could actually do it. It is surreal.”
Evansville won just 11 games last season, its first under McCarty, who played in the NBA for 10 years and was an assistant at Louisville under Rick Pitino — his coach at Kentucky — and in the NBA before returning to his hometown to coach the Purple Aces.
Evansville made nine of 30 3-point attempts while shooting 38% from the field to Kentucky’s 37%. The Aces also outrebounded the Wildcats 38-35 and were edged by just 30-28 in points in the paint.
“We started off saying, OK, we’re going to punch them in the mouth and not let them punch us in the mouth first,” Williams said. “Once we started getting stops, they started turning the ball over, things like that. We saw that and we took advantage.”
NO. 2 DUKE 105, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 54
DURHAM, N.C. — Freshman Matthew Hurt scored 19 points to help Duke beat Central Arkansas.
Fellow freshman Vernon Carey Jr. added season highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who played much of the night without starting point guard Tre Jones after he was shaken up during a first-half collision.
Duke (3-0) had no trouble, running off 19 straight points to build a 25-5 lead by midway through the opening half.
Jones — the returning floor leader for a team that has turned over its rotation with another recruiting wave — played just 9 minutes.
Rylan Bergersen scored 13 points for the Bears (1-3).
NO. 8 GONZAGA 97, NORTH DAKOTA 66
SPOKANE, Wash. — Filip Petrusev had 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots as Gonzaga beat North Dakota.
Corey Kispert scored 20 points and Anton Watson added 15 for Gonzaga (3-0), which has romped to victory in all three games. Six Bulldogs scored in double figures.
The Zags have won all six meetings with the Fighting Hawks.
Marlon Stewart scored 21 points and Filip Rebraca had 16 points and 13 rebounds for North Dakota (1-1).
NO. 14 OREGON 82, NO. 13 MEMPHIS 74
PORTLAND, Ore. — Shakur Juiston had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Oregon held off Memphis in the Phil Knight Invitational.
Payton Pritchard added 14 points and six assists as the Ducks collected their third straight win to open the season.
James Wiseman had 14 points and 12 rebounds as controversy continued to swirl around the Tigers’ 7-foot-1 freshman phenom, who is fighting to maintain his eligibility to play. Memphis (2-1) was led by Lester Quinones with 16 points.
NO. 17 UTAH STATE 97, DENVER 56
LOGAN, Utah — Brock Miller scored a career-high 27 points, and Utah State cruised past Denver.
Alphonso Anderson added 15 points and Sam Merrill had 14. Justin Bean led the Aggies (3-0) with 15 rebounds.
Ade Murkey led Denver (1-2) with 14 points.
NO. 20 WASHINGTON 56, MOUNT ST. MARY’S 46
SEATTLE — Isaiah Stewart scored 16 points and blocked five shots, Nahziah Carter scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and Washington (2-0) overcame an awful first half offensively to pull away from Mount St. Mary’s.
Stewart was again a force on the interior as the freshman made 7 of 10 shots, mostly from close range, and was imposing defensively.
The Mountaineers (1-2) wouldn’t go away, hitting five 3-pointers in the second half as they found gaps in Washington’s zone defense. Vado Morse finished with 10 points.
NO. 21 XAVIER 63, MISSOURI 58, OT
CINCINNATI — Naji Marshall hit a 3-pointer that tied it in regulation and made a pair of free throws in overtime as Xavier overcame poor outside shooting and rallied past Missouri.
The Musketeers (3-0) let a 15-point lead slip away because they couldn’t hit an outside shot, going only 3 of 21 from beyond the arc. Marshall’s 3-pointer — Xavier’s only one in the second half — tied it 51-all with 27.1 seconds left. Marshall finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Missouri (2-1) missed a 3 at the end of regulation and never led in overtime, losing to a ranked team for the seventh time in a row. Dru Smith led the Tigers with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
NO. 22 AUBURN 70, SOUTH ALABAMA 69
MOBILE, Ala. — Freshman Isaac Okoro made a layup with 2.9 seconds left to lift Auburn past South Alabama.
Samir Doughty twice rebounded missed 3-pointers for the Tigers (3-0), setting up the game-winning shot.
Okoro had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists for Auburn. Jamal Johnson scored 14 and made 4 of 5 3-pointers. Anfernee McLemore also had 14 points while Doughty had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Andre Fox led the Jaguars (2-1) with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting. He also had 10 rebounds. Fox hit back-to-back 3-pointers in between an Okoro basket to give South Alabama a 69-68 lead with 28 seconds left.