Kentucky Falls to No. 15 Kansas 89-69 in the Champions Classic

No. 24 Kentucky fell to No. 15 Kansas 89-69 on Tuesday night in the State Farm Champions Classic at the United Center in Chicago, per UK Athletics and ESPN. The Wildcats now have a 2-1 record. Kansas has a 3-0 record.

Kentucky scored first, on a Zoom Diallo baseline jumper, and led 10 to 5 after making its first five shots, forcing a Kansas timeout, per the official UK recap. The Jayhawks took over from there. Kansas led 46 to 36 at halftime and, after the score reached 51 to 41 in the second half, scored the next 12 points to lead by 22. The official box lists that 12-point run at the 15:00 mark of the second half. Kentucky later cut the deficit to 82 to 64 on a Malachi Moreno basket inside, but got no closer. Kansas's largest lead was 23.

Diallo led Kentucky with 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting, including 3 of 6 from three. Moreno had a career-high 19 points, plus 10 rebounds and five assists. Milan Momcilovic finished with 5 points on 2 of 7 shooting. Alex Wilkins scored 8 points on 3 of 10 shooting and was 0 of 4 from three.

Tre White led all scorers with 30 points on 11 of 16 shooting, including 4 of 8 from three. Tyran Stokes had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Trey Kaufman-Renn added 12 points, six rebounds and six assists. Taylen Kinney had eight assists. Kansas finished with 24 assists on 32 made field goals.

Kentucky shot 27 of 59 from the field (45.8 percent), 4 of 21 from three (19.0 percent) and 11 of 19 from the line (57.9 percent). Kansas shot 32 of 69 (46.4 percent), 10 of 26 from three (38.5 percent) and 15 of 23 from the line (65.2 percent). The Wildcats had 15 turnovers, and Kansas scored 22 points off them. Kansas had 10 turnovers, and Kentucky scored 0 points off those miscues, per the official box and UK recap. Kansas also held a 40 to 35 rebounding edge, including 12 to 8 on the offensive glass, and outscored Kentucky 38 to 32 in the paint and 11 to 6 on the fast break. Attendance was 18,891.

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Injuries: No Kentucky injuries were reported in the official UK Athletics box score or recap. ESPN reported that Kansas played without Melvin Council Jr., who broke a bone in his right foot during practice Monday.

What's next: Kentucky hosts Northern Arizona on Friday at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is 7 p.m. ET, per UK Athletics.

Sources: UK Athletics recap · UK Athletics official box score (PDF) · UK Athletics men's basketball schedule · ESPN game page and box · ESPN recap