Dillingham rallies No. 16 Kentucky in second half to 111-102 win over Arkansas

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Rob Dillingham scored 11 of his 15 points in the final 6:33 and No. 16 Kentucky rallied for a 111-102 victory Saturday over Arkansas.

The Razorbacks (14-15, 5-11 SEC) led 86-77 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining before the Wildcats (21-8, 11-5) stormed back with a 21-6 burst to open a 98-92 lead.

“I had to take him out. He held the ball, took some crazy shots,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said of Dillingham. “He comes back and plays the right way and finishes off the game.”

The freshman scored nine points and assisted on dunks by Justin Edwards and Zvonimir Ivisic in a two-minute stretch that turned the game in Kentucky’s favor.

“Coach has the confidence to put me back in and I had confidence in myself,” Dillingham said. “So I feel like I’ve done it before, so I can make plays.”

Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 22 points and D.J. Wagner added 19. Kentucky held a 54-31 edge in bench points and had six players in double figures. Aaron Bradshaw also scored 15 points after playing only 23 minutes total in the last four games.

Khalif Battle scored 34 points for the Razorbacks, his third straight 30-point game. Arkansas shot 53% from the floor, outscored Kentucky 48-38 in the paint and was 21 for 21 from the free throw line in the second half. Tramon Mark added 23 points and Jeremiah Davenport added 14, including two 3-pointers in a 20-7 run that had given Arkansas a seven-point lead.

“I thought we played extremely hard. We had a couple live-ball turnovers that were critical,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “I’m not sure I have had a team that went 27 for 28 from the line, had 10 steals, 13 assists and shot 53% and lost.”

BIG PICTURE

Arkansas: Defending the 3-pointer has been an issue all season for the Razorbacks, but they had gotten better in their last six games, holding opponents to 21% shooting. However, the Wildcats shot 45% behind the arc Saturday.

Kentucky: The Wildcats have won five of their last six and three in a row. They also kept pace to get a double-bye in the SEC tournament and currently sit in fourth place after Florida lost to South Carolina earlier Saturday.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Kentucky could move up a few spots as ranked teams are playing each other in front of them.

UP NEXT

Arkansas: Wednesday against LSU

Kentucky: Wednesday against Vanderbilt