A sloppy second half on Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena proved costly for No. 1 UK, as No. 11 UCLA picked up a 97-92 victory, snapping UK’s 42-game home win streak.

“I mean, just wasn’t the same team,” head coach John Calipari said in his post-game press conference. “There are great lessons out of this. I wish we would have come back and won. I would have liked to learn from that lesson a little bit more. But sometimes you need to get hit on the chin, especially at home.”

Coming into the game, the Bruins had ranked in the top-five of almost every shooting category, and Saturday’s game was no different as they shot 53 percent from the field. Not only were the Bruins able to shoot well throughout the game, but it seemed that every time UK was creeping closer, UCLA answered with a big shot.

Freshman point guard, and projected lottery pick Lonzo Ball lived up to the hype despite struggling in the first half. Ball would finish the game with just 14 points, but it was his timely shot making that proved to be the difference.

Perhaps the biggest two plays of the game were made by Ball after UK’s Malik Monk went for five straight to cut the Bruins lead to seven. But a turnover leading to a Ball dunk and a three by Ball on the Bruins’ next possession had Rupp quiet and UCLA back up nine.

“Coach said it was going to be a lot of runs,” Ball said after the game. “They are going to have runs, we are going to have runs, but at the end of the day whoever has the most is going to win. That is just us finding a way to win, it’s not all me, it’s my teammates too. It was just a good collective unit out there and we got the job done.”

Not only was Ball a major player, but it was the guys who get less press than Ball who stepped up and played big for the Bruins.

Both Isaac Hamilton and TJ Leaf went for 15+ points. Hamilton lead the Bruins with 19 points, and Leaf was second on the team with 17 points while grabbing 13 rebounds. And while it was a collective effort from the Bruins, who had six guys in double figures, the Cats did not make things any easier on themselves.

Despite just six turnovers in the second half, UK seemed to turn it over and the most inopportune times. And for a young-inexperienced team like the Cats going up against an experienced-UCLA team, the turnovers and missed shots came at the wrong time.

Looking at the Cats’ 92 points, it is easy to wonder about missed shots, but it came down to the timing and the amount of misses that led to the Bruins’ 11-2 run to open the second half.  

Fresh off his triple-double, De’Aaron Fox struggled shooting, going just 8-20 from the floor but still managed to pick up 20 points. And while Bam Adebayo had a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds, 10 of his 18 points came at the free-throw line and he was just 4-12 from the field with many of his shots being inside of 10 feet.

As a young, inexperienced team, UK struggled to string together that big run and was hampered by UCLA’s timely scoring mixed with the Cats’ untimely turnovers. But because it is an inexperienced team, an early season loss to a top team will only allow UK to improve where needed now rather than later in the season.