COLUMBIA, Mis. – Roughly 450 miles separate Lexington and Columbia but, according to the AP Poll, this SEC matchup is much closer. 

An injury plagued No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats traveled westward to battle against the No. 15 Mizzou Tigers in the Zou for the final game of the regular season. The Tigers recently dropped three of their last four games whereas Kentucky has gone 3-3 in its last six games. 

Kentucky’s 12th matchup against a top-15 opponent came without guard Jaxson Robinson, who suffered a season-ending injury against LSU on Tuesday. Koby Brea got the start in his place.

It marked Brea’s 11th start of the season and, despite being in his fifth-season, it was a career-high for a season due to an injury to guard Lamont Butler that sidelined him for several games. Those 31 career starts proved to be massive against Mizzou. 

The Wildcats began the game going a disastrous 2-12 from the field, putting Kentucky down 11-4 early.

“They had us really uncomfortable on the offensive end to start the game,” Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope said.

Mizzou was giving the Cats’ offense fits with a stymied half court trap that created turnovers early.

Brea turned the tide for the struggling Cats with a much-needed three ball, which ignited an 11-0 run. Brea was responsible for six of those points. It provided Kentucky with a five-point lead over the Tigers. 

“We were a mess in the first half offensively, we couldn’t find a feel except for Koby,” Pope said. “(He was) just like, ‘don’t worry, guys, I’m gonna do my thing’ and he did his thing.”

Back-to-back deep balls by Brea and guard Travis Perry seized Kentucky a narrow two-point lead around the nine-minute mark of the first half. That was just enough to hold off Mizzou as the Tigers never led again for the remainder of the game.

At the half, Brea led the Cats with 11 points by shooting 4-5 from the field including a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc in addition to leading his team in minutes.

“(Brea’s) been amazing for us all year, he’s been super consistent for us,” Kentucky forward Andrew Carr said. “Every single day he’s ready to work and try and get better.”

Butler went scoreless and got into foul trouble early, which forced Pope to rearrange the rotation. Additionally, Kentucky’s leading scorer, guard Otega Oweh, was held to only two points by halftime. 

“This Missouri team, that’s their DNA,” Pope said. “The fact that we were at 10 turnovers tonight, I mean, we came in here thinking if we don’t manage the turnover situation, we have a good chance to win… we weren’t flowing, like we struggled. We were a little discombobulated (in the) first half, and we still found a way to stay alive protecting the ball.”

In the second half, Oweh was able to overcome his troublesome 1-6 shooting start to finish with 22 points and Butler finally snapped his scoreless stint in the final 10 minutes of the game to finish with eight.

Additionally, Carr had one of his best performances of the season and recorded 34 minutes played, a season-high. The forward had previously been sidelined for a lingering back issue. 

“I definitely have come a long way feeling great, and was really happy to be able to get out there and feel like I can contribute the way that I want to,” Carr said. “And the way (my) teammates and the coaches believe in me that way as well.”

The big man finished with a double-double and led the game in rebounds with 16 points and 12 boards, his third of the season and first since December. 

“It was an awesome game to really try and Coach (Mark) Fox always talks about being the hammer, not the nail,” Carr said. “And we were certainly the hammer tonight.”

Carr led the game in blocks with two and snagged a steal en route to a four block and seven steal team performance by Kentucky. 

The Wildcats handed Mizzou its second home loss of the season, finishing the year 18-2 in Mizzou Arena. An inter-conference win awarded Kentucky with the sixth seed in the SEC Championship, moving the Tigers to the seventh seed.

Kentucky will either play Oklahoma or Georgia next on Thursday, March 14, inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, for the second round of the SEC Tournament. That game will tip off 25 minutes after the Missouri game, which is slated for 7 p.m. ET as the game will be aired live on the SEC Network.