AUSTIN, Texas – A disheartened No. 15 Kentucky Wildcat team sauntered its way back to the visitor locker room inside of the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Saturday night, visibly unsettled after suffering a four-point, 82-78 loss to the Texas Longhorns.
Kentucky moved to 2-5 in road games and 2-4 in SEC road games, with only one of the road defeats coming to a ranked team, No. 25 Ole Miss on Feb. 4.
The difference in this road loss and the road loss to the Rebels is that Kentucky actually played a sturdy game, leading 41-37 at the break, unlike the performance it put up in Oxford, surrendering 54 points in the first half alone.
“Our guys, man, we competed really hard,” Head Coach Mark Pope said. “We just, we didn’t execute well.”
The Cats took to the Lone Star State with hopes of besting Texas, a team that sat with a 15-10 overall record and a 4-8 record in SEC play, and was looking for a ranked win to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes afloat.
Without three of its guards, Kerr Kriisa (foot), Lamont Butler (shoulder) and Jaxson Robinson (wrist), Kentucky was able to maintain a 70-67 lead with just over three minutes left to play.
In those dying minutes, Kentucky wanted the clock to drain, just moments away from a win. But, once the clock respected the Cats’ wishes and read zeroes, the visitors wished they had more time left, as the score read 82-78 in favor of the Longhorns.
Through those fading minutes, Kentucky faltered, allowing Texas to finish the game on a 16-9 run, showing flashes of previous road games when it didn’t show up to play.
“Sometimes things don’t go your way, especially on the road, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance that we deserve to give ourselves, especially with the effort that the guys made,” Pope said when reflecting on the last few minutes of the game.
Texas freshman Tre Johnson and fifth-year senior Tramon Mark torched the Cats, combining for 58 of the Longhorns’ 82 total points.
“When you have really important games, you know, guys step up and make huge plays and he (Mark) was a superstar man,” Pope said.
Kentucky allowed Mark, who ended the night with 26 individual points, to close out the game by contributing seven points in the last 5:15.
The Cats, who are now 2-3 in their last five tilts, look ahead to Wednesday, Feb. 19, when they host the Vanderbilt Commodores (17-8, 5-7) at Rupp Arena, a team that UK suffered a 74-69 loss to back on Jan. 25 in Nashville, Tenn.
The rematch between the two sides is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. ET and can be viewed on SEC Network.