No. 7 seed Kentucky men’s basketball suffered a blowout defeat to the No. 2 seed Iowa State Cyclones 82-63 in the Round of 32 on Sunday afternoon in St. Louis. 

This is Kentucky’s worst NCAA Tournament loss since 1971, making it the second-worst loss in program history.

The Wildcats, looking to punch a ticket to their second straight Sweet 16, rolled out Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, Andrija Jelavic and Malachi Moreno for tipoff.

On the other end, the Cyclones were forced to battle without their second-leading scorer, Joshua Jefferson, who suffered an ankle injury in Iowa State’s 108-74 Round of 64 win over No. 15 seed Tennessee State.

Iowa State won the opening tip and converted on its first attempt after Blake Buchanan nailed a jumper, and on the other end, Oweh got UK’s scoring started with a slam. 

The Cats grabbed an early 7-2 lead and forced two Iowa State turnovers just three minutes into the contest, and by the first media timeout, Kentucky had a 10-4 advantage.

Chandler started the game 2-2 from deep, showing positive signs of encouragement after he went just 1-9 from beyond the arc in the Round of 64 against No. 10 seed Santa Clara.

Aberdeen had a strong start as well, opening the game 3-3 from the field and 2-2 from deep.

At the 11:40 mark, it was all Kentucky, leading 20-9, shooting 8-12 from the field and 4-6 from deep while the Cyclones were 4-14 from the field and 0-6 from deep.  

However, it didn’t take long for Iowa State to find its rhythm and smother the Cats.

The Cyclones soared on a 9-0 run over 1:57, and in that span, Jasper Johnson and Oweh each coughed up a turnover, which both led to Iowa State points. 

Kentucky’s lead shrank to just two points, holding a 20-18 advantage at that point, struggling to even get up a shot while Iowa State’s fanbase was howling; the game was tilted and the Cyclones were catching fire.

At the 8:18 mark the game was tied at 20 after Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey went 2-2 at the free-throw line.

However, Aberdeen was able to swing some momentum towards UK, finishing a layup through contact while getting the and-one foul call; he went on to miss the lone free-throw.

Iowa State eventually cooled off after knotting the game, making just one of its last eight field goal attempts, and UK was able to take advantage of its misses. 

Over that stretch, Oweh and Kam Williams each buried 3-point field goals, giving UK a 28-23 advantage with 2:52 remaining in the first half. 

Again, in typical March Madness fashion, Iowa State responded, closing the first half on an 8-0 scoring run, forcing UK to go into the break down 31-30.

Through the first 20 minutes, Kentucky shot 11-23 from the field and 6-15 from beyond the arc, while Aberdeen led the team with 10 points. 

Kentucky wounded itself pretty badly in the first half, surrendering 12 turnovers compared to Iowa State’s four.

Oweh, Aberdeen, Chandler and Jelavic each had two turnovers, while Garrison, Johnson, Williams and Moreno each had one.

Iowa State opened the second half by adding three more points to its total when Lipsey drained a 3-pointer, but, as in the first half, Oweh responded for the Cats. 

Not far after, Kentucky got itself in some deep foul trouble, racking up three fouls in the span of 10 seconds, two of which were on Chandler and one on Aberdeen. 

Following that sequence, Chandler and Aberdeen each had three personal fouls, and Oweh had three as well, putting the Cats’ three most efficient players in danger of fouling out with a ton of clock still left to tick.  

Through the first four minutes of the second half, Kentucky was shooting 2-6 from the field and 0-1 from deep, with few opportunities to get to the rim or hoist up shots, as Iowa State’s defensive pressure was making the Cats visibly uncomfortable.

Kentucky closed the game shooting 21-45 (46.7%) from the field and 9-25 (36%) from deep while surrendering a grand total of 20 turnovers.

Aberdeen closed out his UK career with a team-high 20 points while Oweh finished his UK tenure with 18 points; the third-highest scorer was Chandler with six.