Kentucky holds off James Madison 89-80 at Rupp Arena

Kentucky beat James Madison 89-80 on Friday night at Rupp Arena and now has a 2-0 record. The game was tied 39-39 at halftime. Kentucky then outscored the Dukes 50-41 in the second half.

Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins led the Wildcats with 16 points each. Diallo shot 7-of-11 from the field. Wilkins went 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from three, and 6-of-6 at the free-throw line. Justin McBride came off the bench for 13 points and a team-high 8 rebounds, including 3-of-4 from three. Mason Williams had 12 points and 5 assists. Braydon Hawthorne added 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Malachi Moreno finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds.

Kentucky shot 51 percent (32-of-63) from the field, 36 percent (10-of-28) from three, and 79 percent (15-of-19) from the line. The Wildcats scored 40 points in the paint to James Madison's 20 and 20 fast-break points to 10. ESPN's box score listed 18 lead changes. Kentucky's largest lead was 14; James Madison's was 2.

Kentucky led 81-70 with 5:28 left and 89-77 in the final minute before Garrett Sundra's 27-foot three with 9 seconds remaining made the final 89-80.

Brandon Lee led James Madison with 26 points (7-of-14 from the field, 10-of-13 at the line). Garrett Sundra added 15 points, including 4-of-6 from three. Paul Jones III scored 12 points, all from behind the arc (4-of-9). James Madison fell to 0-2 after shooting 40 percent (27-of-68) overall and 33 percent (15-of-45) from three.

Scoring by half (ESPN):

Kentucky 39 / 50 — 89

James Madison 39 / 41 — 80

Attendance: 19,292 at Rupp Arena.

Kentucky plays Kansas on Tuesday, Nov. 10 in the Champions Classic (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Sources: ESPN box score.

### Box score
- Ousmane N'Diaye: 17, 3, 1-3, 1-3, 0-0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0
- Milan Momcilovic: 32, 7, 2-9, 1-8, 2-2, 3, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 3, 1
- Malachi Moreno: 22, 8, 3-5, 0-0, 2-4, 7, 2, 3, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1
- Alex Wilkins: 21, 16, 4-8, 2-3, 6-6, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 4
- Zoom Diallo: 22, 16, 7-11, 1-2, 1-1, 3, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 3, 1
- Braydon Hawthorne: 22, 10, 5-8, 0-3, 0-0, 4, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 4, 1

Stats via ESPN box score.