Kentucky goes cold in overtime. Texas A&M hands No. 6 Wildcats their first SEC loss.
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Game day: Texas A&M 97, No. 6 Kentucky 92 (OT)
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.
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Kentucky forced overtime Saturday afternoon at Texas A&M, but the Wildcats’ magic ran out in the end.
The Aggies struck first in the extra period and pulled out a 97-92 victory over the No. 6-ranked Wildcats, snapping UK’s six-game winning streak and delivering its first SEC loss of the season.
The freshman duo of Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard came up huge for the Wildcats at the end of regulation.
With Kentucky trailing 82-78, Dillingham hit three 3-pointers in a span of just 64 seconds, the last of those shots tying the game at 87-all with 1:07 left. Following a misconnection on a pass from Dillingham to D.J. Wagner — which led to a turnover and two A&M free throws — Dillingham had a chance to win it with another 3 in the final seconds. He missed, but Sheppard got the offensive rebound and drew a foul with just 0.6 seconds remaining.
Sheppard hit both free throws to force overtime.
Kentucky ended up missing its first seven shot attempts in the extra period, and Texas A&M built a 94-89 lead during that drought. Sheppard was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer with 39.2 seconds left, hitting two of three free throws to make it a 94-91 game, but the Wildcats couldn’t get any closer.
UK ended up 0-for-8 from the field in overtime.
Fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves led the Wildcats with 22 points Saturday after averaging 25.3 points over his previous three games. Wagner added 18 points for the Cats.
Kentucky, which trailed by as much as 11 points early, held the lead just twice in the first half — both times by only one point, and for a total of only 20 seconds — but the Wildcats pulled ahead of the Aggies with 3-pointers from Reeves and Justin Edwards on the first two possessions of the second half.
UK’s lead ballooned to as much as seven points on a Sheppard 3-pointer with 12:14 left, but the Aggies fought back, and a steal-and-slam by Andersson Garcia less than five minutes later tied it up at 68-all with 7:46 remaining. A dunk by Wilden Leveque with 6:10 left gave the Aggies the lead again, but Sheppard’s 3 a short time later tied it at 74-all.
SEC preseason player of the year Wade Taylor IV hit three 3-pointers in the final four minutes of regulation to help keep the Aggies ahead.
A reversed goaltending call in the first half took two points away from Kentucky, which appeared to be in position for an easy putback basket anyway if there had been no whistle. Instead, goaltending on Texas A&M was called, and the Aggies got the ball. UK’s two points were then taken away after the play was reviewed during the next timeout.
The sequence was ultimately a two-point loss for Kentucky, which trailed 46-45 at halftime.
Despite their 0-2 start to league play and six total losses going into Saturday’s game, the Aggies were 3-point favorites over the Wildcats at tipoff, according to the Caesars betting odds. Texas A&M had won 12 consecutive home games against SEC competition before LSU upset the Aggies in Reed Arena last weekend.
After playing two of its first three SEC games on the road, Kentucky will return to Rupp Arena for a two-game homestand, hosting Mississippi State on Wednesday (7 p.m. on ESPN2) and Georgia on Saturday (6 p.m. on SEC Network).
This story was originally published January 13, 2024 at 4:43 PM.
