Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins scored 16 points apiece for No. 23 Kentucky, which had its hands full against James Madison before the Wildcats eventually pulled out an 89-80 victory on Friday in Lexington, Ky.
A 3-pointer by Ousmane Ndiaye capped an 11-0 Kentucky run over 1:52, giving the Wildcats a 65-56 lead with 11:38 left. However, prior to that decisive stretch, they exchanged the lead 18 times with the Dukes (0-2), a squad that entered Friday ranked No. 162 by KenPom.com.
Diallo, a transfer from Washington, shot 7-for-11 and Wilkins finished with 13 in the second half after he picked up two fouls in the first 4:40 of the game and sat for the remainder of the first half.
They led five Wildcats in double figures. Justin McBride had 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds for Kentucky (2-0), Mason Williams scored 12 points with five assists and Braydon Hawthorne added 10 points.
Kentucky used a 9-0 run to take a 16-8 lead with 13:38 remaining in the first half. Diallo scored the final six points in the outburst.
However, every time Kentucky seemed on the verge of pulling away, the Dukes had an answer. James Madison even led twice in the final 1:40 of the opening half, but a Diallo layup with five seconds left enabled the Wildcats to go into halftime tied at 39.
James Madison made just 14 of 36 shots (38.9%) in the first half, but the Dukes made 9 of 26 3-pointers (34.6%) and committed just one turnover before halftime, allowing them to stay with their ranked opponent.
Kentucky, meanwhile, made just 5 of 16 treys in the first half but found its stroke from beyond the arc in the second half, going 5-for-12. McBride, who transferred to Kentucky from James Madison, went 3-for-4 from behind the arc against his old school.
Brandon Lee, who transferred to James Madison from Illinois, scored a career-high 26 points. A guard who had 37 career points in 19 games entering Friday, Lee scored 20 in the second half alone.
Garrett Sundra got 10 of his 15 points in the first half, and the former Notre Dame player went 5-for-7 from the floor, including 4-for-6 shooting from distance.
A 3-pointer by James Madison’s Paul Jones III cut the deficit to 73-68 with 7:12 remaining, but Kentucky answered with a 12-3 run that put it up by its widest margin, 85-71, with 3:46 to go.