Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Kentucky Wildcats Match Player Stats On Dec 12, 2020

Nate Laszewski scored 21 points and Prentiss Hubb added 18 to lift Notre Dame to a 64-63 victory over Kentucky on Saturday in Lexington.

Olivier Sarr led the Wildcats with 22 points, however his baseline jumper rimmed out as time expired.

Terrence Clarke and Brandon Boston Jr. each scored 14 points for Kentucky (1-4).

The Fighting Irish (2-2) dominated the first half before nearly losing their grip on the game in the final 20 minutes.

The Irish helped build their early lead with a 19-0 run midway through the first half that helped open up a 33-9 advantage.

Notre Dame went into the break with a commanding 48-26 lead behind 19 points and six rebounds from Laszewski.

Outside shooting from the entire squad was the difference in the first half, as Notre Dame shot 6 of 11 from behind the arc. Kentucky made just 1 of 13 such baskets.

The Wildcats opened up the second half on a tear, however, cutting the deficit down to 53-49 behind a 16-0 run.

Hubb finally stopped the bleeding for the Irish with a fastbreak layup with 6:54 remaining.

Sarr responded for the Wildcats with a jumper to keep things close, but Hubb drilled a clutch 3-pointer. Juwan Durham slammed down a thunderous dunk off a beautiful pass from Cormac Ryan to push the lead back to 60-51 heading to the under-4 media timeout.

Kentucky made one final push when Brandon Boston Jr. canned a 3-pointer, Davion Mintz converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Isaiah Jackson scored off a steal to make it 62-61.

The two teams exchanged buckets with just under a minute to play before a shot clock violation gave the Wildcats one final chance to win the game with 11.4 seconds remaining.

Notre Dame shot just 1 of 10 from beyond the arc in the second half.

--Field Level Media