Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky basketball traveled to Texas on Saturday where they were upset, 82-78.
The No. 15 Wildcats held a lead for over half of the game but collapsed late to fall to the unranked Longhorns.
Kentucky had no answer for the combination of Tre Johnson (32 points) and Tramon Mark (26). The duo accounted for over two-thirds of their team’s points and did so efficiently.
While Kentucky’s Amari Williams and Otega Oweh had good games, they desperately missed the presence of Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson in the backcourt – especially on defense.
Mark Pope’s team is now 17-8 on the season and an even 6-6 in Southeastern Conference play, with four of those league losses coming against unranked schools.
Kentucky now hits the final stretch of their regular season with six games remaining, which are made up of three at home and three away. The Wildcats can finish league play above .500, but it won’t be easy.
Matchups with Alabama, Auburn, and Missouri remain, and – due to lack of health – Kentucky could lose each of those three games.
They’ll have to take things one game at a time and that will start by returning home to face Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm ET with coverage on the SEC Network.
Kentucky-Texas MBB
Photos by Vicky Graff
4 Responses
Coach continues to do the Talking and players still not ready to do the Walking. We have to be able to have more players that "want it" than Williams and Oweh. Our problems are still the same I.e., we still have no one able to hit a jumper or shot in close, we still cannot pass or handle the ball efficiently, and we still allow all our opponents to almost score at will at the basket if they don’t they get fouled. Brea, Carr, Garrison, and to some extent Perry are not up for the challenge. I think we have been oversold on the skillset of these players and maybe the coachability of them as well. Brea played 15 mins in first half and went scoreless. It is difficult to tell if Carr’s lack of performance is back or between the ears related, but he fails to really contribute. Garrison looks the part and appears to be able to take over a game at any time but seems to lack the "want to" and that is probably why his PT limited. We can still play D only in spurts. We should be better than 6-6 in the SEC.
I agree with most of your points – many valid concerns.
The will to win, just basic “wanting to win” AND be a TEAM 1st player is essential for this collection of “extended college years” players because most were not anywhere near being a star before coming to UK.
One major problem has not been mentioned – the SEC THUG ball with biased refs. The way Noah got knocked down and other UK players were pushed, shoved & hacked without a fouls being called is just too common – it has been since the 1960’s with the SEC administration loading up the ref group with bias, crooked and in some cases just plain ignorant and incompetent refs who can’t call a game consistently.
It’s a valid point & can be tagged as “poor loser” but should have been addressed by the AD many decades ago. It’s happened to UK teams regardless of who is the UK HC.
Remember the thief Higgins! The only thing done was an investigation of some overzealous BBN fans in Lexington who made threats on the internet. What was done about the thief Higgins? Nothing.
Note to out of touch UK President: “get off your duff and demand your lackluster AD personally go to the SEC Administrators with UK lawyers and UK administrators with a show of force demanding a thorough and unbiased review of EVERY SEC REF… AND of every SEC administrators who picks and hires those who are just crooked!
DRAIN THE SEC SWAMP filled with crooked, incompetent and ignorant administrators!
I still remember being in the 3rd to 6th row at the FT line when Big Dan Issel was called for his 5th foul in the Regional Finals in St John’s Arean (if I recall the arena correctly) in Columbus, Ohio (I’m sure of the city) in his last game, denying UK a chance to go to the FF and win a championship instead of UCLA. Issel was not even close to the player (who tripped on his own on a fast break) he was called for fouling. Rupp was just irate!
Awesome Jamal Mashburn was called for a 5th foul when UK was in the lead in overtime 2 years in a row to end the chance to go cor the Title. He was the key with the Unforgettables who lead Duke before he fouled out. Then the next year in the FF against the pseudo fab-5, he was called for a 5th foul while UK was leading in OT.
Those 3 losses – games stolen from UK – are just the tip of the iceberg – it has been happening decade after decade. The crooked NCAA cronies and the crooked SEC cronies should all be investigated and then prosecuted and out on trial – in an “unbiased” Federal court in Kentucky!
It’s a new age when crooks & thieves are being exposed and after the DOJ, WH and new agency leaders as well as the Supreme Court get though dealing with the crooked ultra-liberal anti-USA judges, there will be jails and prisons filled with evil crooked folks. Let’s add the evil crooked sports administrators to the list of those who must pay for their cheating & lying.