Oxford, MS (SportsNetwork.com) - Julius Randle gave 25 points with 13 rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 13-of-14 from the free throw line as No. 18 Kentucky took an 84-70 victory over Ole Miss on Tuesday.
Aaron Harrison had 17 points and James Young added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Wildcats (20-6, 10-3 SEC), who have won five of their last six.
"In the last eight years or so, after a loss, our teams have bounced back to win by an average of 17 points," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "I challenged them to see how they would respond and they responded."
Jarvis Summers scored 22 points and Anthony Perez added 21 off the bench for the Rebels (16-10, 7-6), who have dropped their past three games.
"Our approach out of the gate was not as good as it needs to be against a team that played as well as Kentucky," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. They were in control of the game from the start. We got off to a slow start and took some ill-advised shots and allowed them to run out. We couldn't sustain anything defensively and then the rebounding woes as well."
Ole Miss kept the game close over the first several minutes and held an 11-10 lead after Demarco Cox put in a free throw, but a jumper from Randle started 15 straight points for Kentucky as Young capped the run on a dunk for a 25-11 lead with under nine minutes to play in the first half.
Young's layup near the buzzer gave the Wildcats a 42-25 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Kentucky built its lead to 21 points 5 1/2 minutes in as Randle hit a free throw for a 52-31 advantage.
The Rebels got a layup and 3-pointer from Perez, followed by a steal and layup by Summers to cut their deficit to 64-52 with under seven minutes to play.
A pair of buckets and free throw from Perez and Summers got Ole Miss to within seven, 72-65, with 2:26 to play, but Randle countered with two from the line.
Perez and Randle gave a bucket and free throws, respectively, before Perez drained a 3-pointer to make it a 76-70 game, but Randle answered with another bucket.
The next series saw Marshall Henderson and Summers miss 3-pointers and Henderson float an air ball, with Willie Cauley-Stein finally grabbing the defensive board. He hit two from the line with 52.9 seconds to play to seal the victory.
Game Notes
Kentucky hosts LSU on Saturday ... Ole Miss hosts Florida on Saturday ... Kentucky dominated the boards, 39-23, and shot 52.1 percent to Ole Miss' 38.7 percent ... The Wildcats have won five straight over the Rebels and hold a dominating 102-13 lead in the series.
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