Mark Pope’s Wildcats pull off an epic rally on the road. UK beats Gonzaga in overtime.

What appeared to be a blowout turned into a barnburner.

In the end, Kentucky, improbably, came out on top.

The fourth-ranked Wildcats overcame an 18-point deficit in the second half to defeat No. 7 Gonzaga 90-89 in overtime Saturday night in Climate Pledge Arena, technically a neutral site but one that was packed with fans of the Zags, who had defeated UK in each of the past two seasons and appeared to be on their way to a blowout in this one before the Cats unleashed their furious rally.

Andrew Carr led Kentucky with 19 points, Jaxson Robinson added 18 points and five assists, Otega Oweh had 13 points, and Amari Williams (12 points) and Brandon Garrison (10 points) joined them in double figures.

Graham Ike led the Zags with 28 points and 11 rebounds.

UK was playing without its starting point guard — Lamont Butler sat out with an ankle injury — and a few minutes into the game, it looked like the Wildcats were going to be on the wrong side of a rout.

Kentucky made its first two attempts of the night — both 3-pointers — but the Cats went cold from there. They missed nine of their next 10 shots after Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson hit those back-to-back 3-pointers to start the game. Gonzaga built its first double-digit lead before the midway point of the first half and finished the period on a 10-2 run, building a 50-34 advantage by halftime.

UK shot just 12-for-36 from the field and 5-for-17 from 3-point range in the first half.

The Zags scored the opening bucket of the second half to make it an 18-point lead, but — not long after that — the Wildcats came roaring back. Kentucky scored 13 consecutive points over a span of a little more than three minutes early in the second half, narrowing Gonzaga’s lead to 56-52.

The Cats got even closer from there — tying the game at 79-all on a jumper by Carr with 1:01 left — and had the ball for the final possession of regulation. Otega Oweh’s lob attempt to Amari Williams in the final seconds was broken up by Ike, who deflected the ball right to Koby Brea, but the UK sharpshooter missed an open jumper from the elbow right before the buzzer, and the two teams went to overtime.

Oweh threw down a dunk on UK’s first possession of the extra period — giving the Cats their first lead since before the first TV timeout of the game — and Kentucky scored the first seven points in overtime and never trailed again, though Gonzaga did narrow UK’s lead to one point twice in the final two minutes.

Butler had a wrap on his right ankle and did not take part in pregame warmups Saturday night, with head coach Mark Pope officially ruling him out shortly before the game. Butler injured his ankle in the second half of Tuesday night’s loss to Clemson — the Cats’ first defeat of the season — but was able to come back and finish out that game. However, Pope noted Thursday that the injury was “a little bit of an issue” heading into the weekend.

With Butler sidelined, Kriisa made his first start as a Wildcat. He started 93 of 99 games in his college career — three seasons at Arizona and one at West Virginia — before coming to Kentucky.

Kriisa left the game with an injury with 8:41 remaining and did not return. The Cats finished the game with Robinson leading the UK offense.

Kentucky’s next game

After two games on the road, the Wildcats will be back home for a matchup with Colgate on Wednesday in Rupp Arena (8 p.m. on ESPN2). The Raiders have a 2-7 record and are listed at No. 282 in the KenPom ratings, making that matchup the easiest remaining on UK’s 2024-25 schedule. The only other team left on UK’s slate that is outside the top 75 nationally in the KenPom ratings is Brown (No. 190).

Colgate will also be the Wildcats’ final game before their matchup with Louisville on Dec. 14.

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This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 12:34 AM.

Ben Roberts

Lexington Herald-Leader

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Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006. Support my work with a digital subscription