Kentucky men’s basketball (13-6, 4-2 SEC) took down the Texas Longhorns (11-8, 2-4 SEC) 85-80 on Wednesday night inside of Rupp Arena, extending its win streak to four straight games.
The Cats welcomed the Longhorns to Lexington after back-to-back road games where they defeated the LSU Tigers and No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers, courtesy of two large second-half comeback wins.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope rolled out a starting five consisting of Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, Kam Williams, Andrija Jelavic and Malachi Moreno, the same starting lineup that took the court in both Baton Rouge and Knoxville.
Texas’ Matas Vokietaitis kicked off the scoring on the Longhorns’ first possession down by finishing a layup, which Oweh then responded to by making a mid-range jumpshot, knotting the game at two apiece.
At the first media timeout, UK led Texas 7-6 while Jelavic already recorded two points and four rebounds, showing some positive flashes in what was his third career start.
At the 10-minute mark, the Cats were trailing 19-17, shooting 7-20 (35%) and 1-6 (16.7%) from deep while getting outrebounded by the Longhorns 12-11.
The Wildcats went on a positive streak around the midway point of the first half, stringing together five made field goals in a row, with contributions coming from Oweh, Collin Chandler, Aberdeen and Moreno.
Following UK’s offensive run, Texas went on a 7-0 run over the span of a minute, taking a 32-30 lead with under five minutes to go in the first half. Texas’ Dailyn Swain had 12 of Texas’ points up to that point while Vokietaitis was the closest behind him with eight.
Through the first 20 minutes, Oweh and Aberdeen led the Cats with 10 points a piece while Moreno (6 points) and Williams (5 points) were the closest offensive contributors.
Kentucky opened the second half scoring by going on a 6-0 run; Williams had four of those points while Oweh was responsible for the other two.
Following that sequence, Williams limped to the locker room with a foot injury, and would not return to the game.
After that 6-0 start to the second half, UK struggled over the course of a three-minute span, going 2:13 without adding a point while the Longhorns mounted a 7-0 run, nailing three field goals in a row, which resulted in a timeout by Pope.
Out of the timeout, Jelavic, Moreno and Oweh hit consecutive buckets, giving the Cats a 61-56 advantage, which eventually transpired into a 68-60 lead with less than eight minutes to go.
With just over six minutes remaining in the contest, Chandler scored five straight points for the Cats, draining a 3-point field goal then flushing home a dunk after grabbing a steal. At that point, the Cats led by 11 points, 76-65.
After a scary comeback attempt from the Horns, the Cats were able to solidify the win after Mo Dioubate grabbed a defensive rebound following a failed 3-point attempt from Texas’ Jordan Pope.
Kentucky will return to action Saturday, Jan. 24, facing off against Ole Miss (11-8, 3-3 SEC) at 12 p.m. EST. The game will air live on ESPN.
