LEXINGTON, KY – Playing in historic Rupp Arena for the first time in program history, Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) led the Hawks with 14 points in falling to No. 10/9 Kentucky, 90-44 on Wednesday night.

UK extended its halftime lead to 24 to open the second and never looked back en route to the win. Salnave netted six second-half points, while Keldon Johnson netted 12 in the final 20 minutes for UK. Dave Calloway, Jr. (Neptune, NJ/St. Rose) knocked down his second triple of the season, both from the right corner, late in the ballgame.

After tying the game at six, Tyler Herro netted eight in a row for Kentucky as part of an 11-0 Wildcats run, forcing a Hawks timeout. MU rebounded from that by trimming the deficit back to four when Melik Martin (York, PA/York Catholic) tipped one home, but a 10-0 push from UK had the home team back up 14. The Wildcats closed the half with a 12-2 spurt, leading by their largest margin of the period of 22 at the buzzer, 44-22.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"I want to thank Coach Calipari, I've known him a long time and it's really nice that he would play us last year and also play us this year. Even on nights when they beat you the way he beat us tonight, I think it's great for our program to have the opportunity to tome to Rupp and play one of the iconic basketball programs at one of the most big-time arenas in the country. It got a little rough out there for us tonight and you feel bad for the kids for a few minutes about that. I think this is what college basketball is all about and our team needs to grow. Sometimes you take lumps and it's a lesson." – Head Coach King Rice

-Dave Calloway Jr. knocked in his second triple of the season, with both coming against a ranked opponent.
-Monmouth falls to 0-2 against Kentucky all time.
-Salnave's 17 field goal attempts was the most by a Hawk this season.
-The crowd of 18,680 was the largest of the season that MU has played in front of.
-MU is now 1-7 all-time against the SEC and 0-8 against top-10 ranked teams.
-Ray Salnave worked into double digits for the 16^th time in his career, fourth time this season and second game in a row.
-This marked Monmouth's first trip to Rupp Arena, and second straight year MU played Kentucky.
-Kentucky's Nick Richards and Monmouth's Marcus McClary competed against each other for the second straight year after playing together as high school teammates at The Patrick School.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth topped Kentucky on second-chance points, 14-11.
-The Hawks forced 14 Kentucky turnovers.
-UK shot 56.6% from the field.
-Tyler Herro led Kentucky with a game-high 16 points.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is back in action on Saturday at Bucknell for a 2:00 p.m. tip.