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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Before the University of Kentucky basketball team opened its season this week, new coach Billy Gillispie lamented his team's lack of practice time.

The Wildcats have plenty now.

A stunning 84-68 loss to Gardner-Webb at Rupp Arena last night knocked the 20th-ranked Cats out of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic early.

It gave Gillispie a bitter 48th birthday and plenty of time to tinker. It left his team to walk off the court to a chorus of boos.

Grayson Flittner scored 22 points and Thomas Sanders added 21 as Gardner-Webb jumped out to a 14-0 first-half lead to set the tone and held off UK's lone second-half rally.

The loss denied UK the chance to advance to New York for the championship rounds of the tournament, which benefits Coaches vs. Cancer.

Gardner-Webb will play next Thursday and Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. UK will return to the practice court and won't play again until Nov. 21, when they host Liberty.

Gardner-Webb controlled the game from start to finish and turned UK back the one time it made a serious push.

A bank shot by Patrick Patterson with 8:23 to play — followed by two Ramel Bradley free throws with 7:48 remaining — pulled UK within 58-50, the closest the game had been since the first half.

But Patterson's bank shot would be UK's last field goal until an Alex Legion jumper with 2:23 to play, and Gardner-Webb would respond at the other end.

Flittner hit a three-pointer that made it 61-50 with 7 minutes to play and UK went scoreless on three straight possessions during which Gardner-Webb stretched its lead from the free-throw line.

Auryn MacMillan made 1 of 2 free throws after he was fouled by Patterson, who left the game with an apparent ankle injury but returned later in the half.

Flittner made 2 of 3 free throws after Bradley fouled him on a three-point attempt. And after Legion made 1 of 2 at the line, Aaron Linn sank the dagger – a three-pointer from the top of the key that stretched the lead back to 67-51.

Linn fouled out late in the game after scoring 15 points, part of an offensive eruption by the Bulldogs — they shot 53.1 percent and scored more second-half points than UK allowed in its season-opening win against Central Arkansas — that left the Cats stunned and had the crowd at Rupp Arena streaming to the exits early.

Another kind of early exit — UK's from this tournament — denied a trip home for UK senior Ramel Bradley.

The point guard, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., has never played a college game in his home city. He's never played a game of any kind at Madison Square Garden, though he attended New York Knicks games there.

"For any kid from New York, it's a dream," Bradley said this week. "You dream of playing in the Garden."

That dream was denied on a night when Bradley led UK with 24 points, shooting 14 for 14 from the free-throw line. He made just 4 of 11 shots.

Two of his baskets were late three-pointers that came long after the game had been decided. Gardner-Webb all but put it away in the first half.

Gardner-Webb jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Cats scratched the scoreboard, making five of their first nine shots — including 2 of 5 three-pointers — in silencing the Rupp Arena crowd.

UK went scoreless for the first 4:27 before Jodie Meeks scored on a baseline drive to make the score 14-2.

A layup by Grayson Flittner with 8:43 to play in the half gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the half at 26-10.

An 11-2 run — capped by a step-back jumper by Joe Crawford — pulled UK within 28-21, but the Cats couldn't capitalize on that momentum. Gardner-Webb outscored UK 10-6 the rest of the half, taking a 38-27 lead into halftime when Linn sank a jumper at the buzzer.

UK reels from crushing loss to Gardner-Webb