The Cats may have been playing in the Big Easy, but UK basketball’s 83-75 loss to the UCLA Bruins in the CBS Sports Classic was anything but.

To begin the game, UCLA was on fire, attacking the Cats in the open floor by throwing long outlet passes to each other. The Bruins attacked the basket, while the Cats took many more jump shots, resulting in UCLA leading for about nine straight minutes in the first half.

UK also cooled off from three-point range after its 11-for-22 performance against Virginia Tech, shooting only 6-21 from behind the arc in New Orleans. They shot 48 percent from two-point range, but their inefficient three-point shooting hurt their offensive attack.

After several adjustments, the Cats applied more pressure on the defensive end and forced four straight turnovers, including a pass interception by UK guard Hamidou Diallo, which resulted in his dunking on Bruin point guard Aaron Holiday in the open floor.

UK also had a hard time stopping Bruin big man Thomas Welsh, who netted eight rebounds in the first half. While the Cats were outrebounded by the Bruins 36-37, no rebounder for the Cats was within five of Welsh’s numbers on the glass. Welsh finished the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The game didn’t look much better for the Cats in the second half. UCLA began the period with a 11-0 run that gave them a 11-point lead after the teams were tied at halftime.

The Cats responded with a run of their own, outscoring the Bruins 13-2 to tie the game back up in the following minutes, led by eight from forward Kevin Knox during the run.

With 10 minutes left, the Bruins led by five as both teams started trading threes, including UK forward Wenyen Gabriel’s two triples during the two-minute exchange.

The Bruins then broke out ahead with a 10-0 run to give them a double-digit lead with under seven minutes remaining. Led by UK forward P.J. Washington, who had been struggling all game, the Cats responded with a run of their own to cut the Bruin lead to four with three minutes remaining.

With just over a minute left, Diallo got scored a basket and was fouled, sending him to the free-throw line as the Cats trailed by four. He missed the free throw, but Gabriel took the rebound. However, Knox missed the clutch three that would’ve brought the Cats to within one, then fouled at the other end to give the Bruins two free throws.

From there, the Bruins were in command of the last seconds of the game as they made their last free throws to close the game out.

UK will be back in action Dec. 29 at they take on in-state rival Louisville.