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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky will face No. 1 ranked Kentucky on Sunday at 6 p.m. in Rupp Arena.  The game will air live on the SEC Network.
 
The live radio broadcast of the game is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com.
 
The Colonels are 4-2 after falling to Valparaiso at home on Wednesday.  Eastern had a two-point lead midway through the second half but the Crusaders used a 22-4 run in the latter stages of the contest to pull away for a 72-66 victory.
 
Senior Timmy Knipp led the Colonels with a season-high 16 points and five rebounds.  Fellow senior Corey Walden added 13 tallies and five boards.
 
EKU has committed 92 fewer turnovers and out-scored its opponents by 112 points off turnovers (169-57) this season.  The Colonels lead the nation in turnover margin (+15.3).  EKU is second in steals per game (13.0) and seventh in three-point field goals per game (10.5).
 
Two Colonels played games in Rupp Arena as high school stars.  Knipp played six state tournament games in Rupp while playing for Elliott County High School.  He played in two games as an eighth grader and three in 2009 while helping ECHS to the final four.  Robbie Stenzel played four games in Rupp Arena during his career at George Rogers Clark High School.  The senior has not played in a game this season due to an injury.
 
Senior Eric Stutz needs two more rebounds to become the 27th player in school history to grab 500 rebounds.
 
This is the third straight season EKU has faced a top-10 team (No. 10 Illinois in 2012-13, No. 4 Wisconsin in 2013-14).  It will be Eastern's third game against a top-5 opponent since 2007, when the Colonels faced No. 4 North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament on March 15.
 
No. 1 Kentucky is 8-0 after beating No. 6 Texas, 63-51, on Friday. Only one of the Wildcats' opponents have scored more than 52 points.  Their opponents have shot just 28 percent from the field, which ranks first in the nation.  UK also leads the country in scoring defense (45.4 ppg), scoring margin (31.6) and is second in blocks (8.6 bpg). Kentucky held Montana State to 28 points and allowed Providence to score only 38.

Seven Wildcats average seven or more points and the team's top-3 scorers average between 9.4 and 10.4 points per game.  No player is averaging more than 24 minutes per contest.

Five Kentucky players average four or more rebounds per game led by the duo of 7-foot Dakari Johnson (7.0 rpg) and 6-foot-11 Karl-Anthony Towns (6.9 rpg).  The Wildcats are 11th in the nation in rebound margin, beating teams on the boards by an average of 11.4 per game.

UK held the sixth ranked Longhorns to 30 percent shooting from the field, including 20 percent from three-point range.  Kentucky had 14 fewer turnovers.  The Wildcats were out-rebounded in this game by 11 and made just 1-of-12 attempts from long range.
 
The last time these two teams played, Adam Leonard hit six three-pointers and finished with 20 points, but it wasn't enough as Kentucky held off Eastern Kentucky, 78-65, Dec. 30, 2006 in Rupp Arena.  Lexington native Darnell Dialls had 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
 
For Kentucky, center Randolph Morris led all players in points (25) and rebounds (10). Ramel Bradley connected on four three-pointers in the second half to keep the Colonels at bay and finished with 20 points.
 
Eastern started slowly out of the gates, turning the ball over on its first four possessions. However, an 11-2 run sparked by two three-pointers from Mike Rose gave the Colonels an 11-8 advantage. A pair of Leonard three-pointers later in the half kept the score knotted at 21-all. UK took a 34-28 lead into intermission.
 
An 8-2 run to start the second half allowed the Colonels to even the contest for the third time at 36-all. Kentucky then hit its first three-pointer of the game to jump back on top, 43-39, with 16:14 remaining. Three-pointers by Bradley and Joe Crawford a few minutes later enabled the Wildcats to establish their first double-digit lead, 57-46.
 
Kentucky eventually stretched its cushion to 13 points, 66-53, only to see the Colonels make one last charge. A pair of buckets by Dialls and a Josh Daniel trifecta slashed the deficit to six, 68-62, with 4:07 showing on the clock. The Wildcats finally ended any thoughts of an EKU upset by going on a 10-1 run over the ensuing three minutes.