By Kevin Erpenbeck

“Certainly not at this level,” Ulis said about if he’d ever been a part of such a blowout win. “I feel like as a team, it was a great performance. We came out with energy and we just kept it up throughout the entire game.”

Ten UK players scored in the game while holding the Bruins to seven first-half points, their lowest total since December of 1943. The Cats shot 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc.

Head coach John Calipari said his team was up by so much that he didn’t even pay attention to the scoreboard before heading into the half.

“I did not know what the score was. I knew it was pretty good, but I did not look,” Calipari said. “That’s the best way to coach if you don’t have to look at the scoreboard. You’re just looking at your team.”

The matchup, part of the CBS Sports Classic tournament, featured two of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball. UCLA has the most national championships with 11 while UK is second with eight.

But after the blowout win, Calipari still didn’t want to hear the 2014 Cats being called historic, like the UCLA teams of old were. Not yet, at least.

“Please don’t compare us to teams in college that have three Hall of Famers on their teams. Like, real Hall of Fame,” Calipari said. “As we go forward, we’ve got one thing: How do we become that world-class team? We’re going to let this thing play out.”

But Bruins head coach Steve Alford said if this year’s UK team continues to play hard defensively and stay focused down the stretch, it has a chance to make history and become the first-ever team to go 40-0 on the season.

“I’m a firm believer,” Alford said. “They got a chance to run this thing out. They’re that good and that talented.”

UK has a chance to close out the nonconference schedule with a perfect record when it takes on in-state rival Louisville Dec. 27.