Kentucky men’s basketball (10-6, 1-2 SEC) got back in the win column Saturday night after beating Mississippi State (10-6, 2-1 SEC) 92-68 inside Rupp Arena.

While the Cats put on one of their most dominant displays of the season, this season is still nowhere near a success story, and honestly, it may have become even more difficult even after such a positive result.

The Cats did build immense momentum, not just by beating the Bulldogs, but beating them by 24 points, shooting 55% from the field and 41% from deep, while finally closing out a contest with authority.

However, Jaland Lowe left the game after re-injuring his shoulder, while projected first-round NBA draft lottery pick Jayden Quaintance was held out with swelling in his knee.

Playing without these guys was nothing new for the Cats, as Lowe missed seven total games toward the start of the year, while Quaintance missed 11 games as well, and without them on the court, UK has been forced to play a new style of basketball nearly every single game.

With Kentucky’s 0-4 start against ranked opponents, a common therapeutic response was thrown around, with many fans holding onto hope, believing that this team would perform better if everyone were fully healthy.

And the Cats did finally strike full health, but unfortunately, it didn’t last very long, nor did it bring them the results they were expecting, losing at No. 14 Alabama by 15 points while losing to unranked Missouri at Rupp Arena, starting 0-2 in SEC play for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

On Dec. 20, Lowe and Quaintance saw minutes in Kentucky’s 78-66 win over No. 22 St. John’s in Atlanta, and Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino called out the media during the postgame press conference.

“I think you all need to learn a little bit of a lesson as writers because you’re expecting Kentucky to be this great basketball team with all those injuries,” Pitino said. “So you all need to learn a lesson because you can’t be a great basketball team without two of your best players, with no point guard, no big men. So I think everybody really exaggerates one game or two games or three games. Kentucky got blown out and usually Kentucky doesn’t get blown out of any game.”

While Pitino may have been right at the time, that statement holds less significance now considering the team was fully healthy and still completely underperforming.

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Otega Oweh scored 22 points while Lowe scored 21 points, both serving as the only threat to the Crimson Tide, and once head coach Nate Oats’ squad started to limit those two, the game fell apart due to a tremendous gap on the scoresheet, as Denzel Aberdeen was third on the team with just seven points.

Winning on the road at Alabama, coming off a 10-day break, is difficult, I am not saying that it isn’t, however, the gap on the scoresheet is concerning as no team will win anything in the postseason with one or — occasionally — two players contributing.

Moving to the Missouri game, Kentucky allowed the Tigers to close the game on a 15-2 scoring run, getting exposed defensively, while generating — once again — no offense.

Oweh played hero, leading UK with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists, a team-high in each category, but behind him? Lowe scored nine points, which was followed up by a frustrating one-point showing from Quaintance.

Against Mississippi State, there was more all-around contribution, with Oweh (22), Malachi Moreno (17), Aberdeen (16) and Kam Williams (14) all reaching double figures, which is all a great look, but I am still not fully bought in.

Listen, I am not here to try and be negative, but I am just calling it how it is.

Kentucky has been extremely inconsistent, even in games it has won. Aside from Mississippi State, the Cats haven’t played a full 40 minutes of solid basketball, there are always periods of time where they suffer from an elongated scoring drought.

The Cats finally see their wheels start turning and then boom, Lowe leaves with the same injury again, which is even more of an issue than Quaintance being out, as Lowe is Kentucky’s only true point guard.

Sure, head coach Mark Pope could throw Aberdeen or Jasper Johnson up there, but it’s clear that no one runs the point as efficiently and quickly as Lowe does.

“It’s time. He’s got magic to his game, and once he gets comfortable, that magic is going to show,” Pope said following the Mississippi State win.

And while Pope may be right, how can he say “once he gets comfortable?”

Johnson is averaging 14.9 minutes per game, but he hasn’t built consistent playing time, playing just eight minutes against St. John’s, 22 minutes against Bellarmine, six minutes against Alabama and 10 minutes against Mississippi State, while not playing a single minute against Missouri.

It’s about halfway through the season and now Pope is trying to get him to be comfortable?

As a freshman, seeing your minutes fluctuate like that while being held out of a home SEC game, it just cannot be the best approach for success, it just simply can’t be.

Now, Johnson is going to need to step up while Lowe gets his shoulder figured out again, and his confidence can’t be strong enough to go in and run the point at LSU, who is 12-4, next game and even beyond that when UK plays on the road at No. 21 Tennessee.

Kentucky desperately needs him to be successful against the Tigers and even further beyond that, but he just wasn’t put in the best spot for success, and now Big Blue Nation just has to hope.

So, while UK looked dominant at home against the Bulldogs, I still wouldn’t forget how they played and how poorly everything was handled prior.

I’m not saying to shut down the season and lose all hope on this team, not at all, but with such a dominating victory, it’s more than easy to fall back into the “we’re back” trap as fans and the last thing you want is to fall into a never-ending cycle, constantly expecting different results.

As of now, the status of Lowe and Quaintance is unclear, but one thing is for sure, and that is that the Cats are left to fight without two of its strongest players again, and I could see them drowning, like they did before, without them.

But, I could be wrong.

Maybe UK needed a 25-point SEC win to finally build momentum, and maybe it will capitalize off it in its future games, but after watching this season unfold thus far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same malfunctions become an issue again.

The Cats are back Wednesday, Jan. 14, when they travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to face the LSU Tigers (12-4, 0-3 SEC). That contest can be viewed on the SEC Network.