It’s Nick Richards to the rescue as Kentucky defeats Texas Tech in OT
For the 12th time in 19 games this season, Kentucky faced a possession-by-possession test of wills that featured a margin of four of fewer points inside the final eight minutes.
And for the eighth time in such games, Kentucky won.
Nick Richards made two free throws with 10.3 seconds left in overtime to give UK a 76-74 victory. That capped a 25-point game, which equaled his career high (against Fort Wayne on Nov. 22, 2017).
Richards also grabbed a season-high 14 rebounds in posting his eighth double-double of the season.
Kentucky improved to 15-4 the hard way.
UK led 59-50 with less than seven minutes left. But with Davide Moretti making six of seven free throws, Texas Tech got the game into overtime.
It helped that Moretti, who ranked seventh nationally in free-throw accuracy (91.5 percent), missed one with 18.4 seconds left.
Earlier, UK scored five points in the final 5.6 seconds of the first half to take a 36-34 lead. After a timeout with 18.3 seconds to go, Tyrese Maxey hit a turnaround floater.
Then after Tech carelessly threw away the inbounds pass, Immanuel Quickley made a three-point heave from near mid-court.
Going into the game, Kentucky had a 13-1 record when leading at halftime. The Cats were 1-3 when trailing.
UK on GameDay
ESPN announced that its College GameDay show will originate from Auburn next Saturday. The show will be in conjunction with Kentucky’s game at Auburn that evening beginning at 6 p.m. EST.
It will be the 19th time UK has played in a GameDay game. That will tie North Carolina for the second most in show history.
Duke has the most appearances with 20.
It will be the first time Auburn has played in a game linked to ESPN’s College GameDay show.
Next game
Vanderbilt at No. 15 Kentucky
6:30 p.m. Wednesday (SEC Network)
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 8:53 PM.
