Gardner-Webb stuns Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Billy Gillispie’s second game at Kentucky turned out to be the first shocker of the college basketball season.

The Gardner-Webb Bulldogs beat the No. 20 Wildcats 84-68 Wednesday night in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic.

The Wildcats hadn’t lost a regular-season game to a midmajor since falling to Western Kentucky on Nov. 15, 2001, in that season’s opener.

The Wildcats lost to Alabama-Birmingham in 2004 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Kentucky’s last home loss to an unranked non-conference foe was Dec. 3, 2005, against North Carolina.

The tournament had been set up to send four top programs – No. 3 Memphis, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Kentucky – to New York next week to play in the semifinals.

However, instead of the Wildcats, Gardner-Webb, which finished 9-21 last season and tied for seventh in the Atlantic Sun Conference, will play the winner of tonight’s game between Buffalo and Connecticut.