This is the team Kentucky is taking into the postseason. And these Cats look pretty good
READ MORE
Game day: No. 19 Kentucky 91, No. 15 Missouri 83
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
Expand All
For the past three months, the world of Kentucky basketball has been dominated by talk of injuries.
First it was Lamont Butler’s ankle. And then it was Kerr Kriisa’s foot. And then Andrew Carr’s back. And Butler’s shoulder. And Jaxson Robinson’s wrist.
The Wildcats were still undefeated — 7-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country — when the first of those injuries hit. And while there have been plenty of wins in the meantime — a historically high number of big ones, in fact — those victories have come amid a constant game of what-if.
What if Kriisa hadn’t gone down for the season in that win over Gonzaga back on Dec. 7, taking away the fastest piece of UK’s fast-paced offense?
What if Butler hadn’t suffered a shoulder injury in that win over Texas A&M a month later, an ailment he’ll be battling the rest of the way?
What if Carr hadn’t hurt his back, turning him into a shell of himself for a period of time that seemed like it might not end?
And what if Robinson hadn’t injured that shooting wrist that had been red-hot for weeks but will now be relegated to the sidelines for the rest of this season?
This UK basketball team could have been something special.
On Saturday, the Wildcats showed everybody that they still can be.
Kentucky’s high-octane offense sputtered out of the gate against No. 15 Missouri, a team that came into the day with an 18-1 record on its home court, with a hot crowd looking for one more win on the final day of the regular season.
The Wildcats’ scoring attack came around eventually. In the meantime, the defense showed up. Again. UK’s players showed grit. They battled for 50/50 balls. They came up with stops. And when that offense finally got going — sending the Cats on their way to a 91-83 victory — Kentucky didn’t have too deep of a hole to dig out of.
“They had us really uncomfortable on the offensive end to start the game,” UK coach Mark Pope said. “And so I was really proud of our guys, because we talked about it in the timeouts. ‘Hey, it’s OK, because our defense is going to keep us afloat.’ And for us to be able to — in that run — just be able to trust our defense. Trust that, ‘We know we don’t feel great on the other side of the ball. We will eventually get there.’ For these guys to step up and make tough, physical plays on the defensive end to kind of keep us alive was incredibly encouraging.”
Kentucky missed seven of its first eight shots from the field but never trailed by more than seven points in the early going.
And then Trent Noah buried a 3-pointer. About a minute after that, Koby Brea buried a 3-pointer. About a minute after that, Travis Perry buried a 3-pointer. And then Otega Oweh came up with a steal and a dunk to complete the 11-0 run. It was UK’s first 2-pointer of the game. More than 11 minutes had ticked off the clock. But the Cats led 15-11, and they never trailed again.
It took a little while longer for the Kentucky offense to fully fire, but the Cats kept up the intensity on the defensive end.
Missouri, a team rated No. 5 nationally in offensive efficiency coming into the game, had just 20 points at the final TV timeout of the first half. A Tigers squad that dropped 59 points on Alabama in the first half — en route to a 110-98 victory over the Tide less than three weeks earlier — had 29 on the board at halftime Saturday.
Butler, one of the best perimeter defenders in all of college basketball, is back on the court. Carr, a do-whatever-it-takes player on both sides of the ball, is looking healthy again for the first time in months. But this UK turnaround on defense — a sore spot for Pope and anyone else who had to watch it for most of this season — started before they returned.
“I’ve always said: defense is kind of a mindset,” said Brea, whose improvement on that side of the ball has coincided with Kentucky’s team gains. “When you come into the game and you take your matchup personally, you’re more intense with it. And you’re more focused. … I think that’s helped us a lot.”
Throughout Saturday’s victory — one that pushed Kentucky to 21-10 to end the regular season, a 10-8 record in perhaps the toughest league in college basketball history — there were signs that this Wildcats team might be equipped to play well into March. Maybe even longer.
When UK needed buckets in the first half, Brea provided them. He hit a couple of contested 3-pointers and then sized up a Mizzou defender with a hypnotic display of dribbling near the top of the key before canning a third.
He might be the best 3-point shooter in the country. That’s a good asset come tournament time.
But Brea, who finished with 17 points, didn’t do it alone in that first half. All three of Kentucky’s freshmen — Noah, Perry and Collin Chandler — hit 3-pointers, with Chandler’s coming on a confident look with just five seconds left before halftime.
“I thought the three freshmen were elite tonight,” Pope said.
Chandler was the first UK player off the bench. He ended up with eight points, which would have been a career high if he hadn’t scored 11 in a win over LSU four days earlier. He’s clearly getting better at the right time.
Perry played only two seconds after halftime and Noah didn’t play at all in the second half, but each of them gave UK major minutes in the first, with Butler and Otega Oweh in foul trouble. Perry came up with a big steal and assist in a key moment. Noah (listed at 6-5 and 220 pounds) battled with the much bigger, stronger and older Josh Gray (7-feet, 260 pounds) in the paint and held his ground. Good signs for the immediate future.
Oweh led the team with 22 points, but he also came up with three steals. He scored 20 after halftime.
Amari Williams had 14 points and eight rebounds. He continued to battle for boards and bring the ball up the court. He was also 10-for-12 on free throws. He’ll need to make those as March continues.
Butler had eight points and two assists — all in the second half — and he barely left the court after halftime. He continues to come out of games in good shape, as positive a sign as any for this Kentucky team moving forward.
But perhaps the highlight of Saturday was Carr, who first injured his back around the start of the new year and tried to play through it before he finally had to take some time off. Even when he returned, the 6-11, 235-pound forward in his final season of college basketball didn’t look quite like himself. He shied away from contact at times. He wasn’t as assertive offensively as he had been.
Over the past couple of weeks, he clearly started feeling better.
On Saturday, he looked as good as ever. Carr finished with 16 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, but the visual of him going right at Missouri’s bigs — banging for boards and putting his body on the line — had to be the best sight of the night for Kentucky fans.
When Carr was asked if he would have been physically able to do such a thing a few weeks ago, Pope, who was seated next to him, smiled.
“Three weeks ago, that would have caused so much pain,” the coach interjected, poking his power forward on the shoulder. “It would have been shooting up and down his back.”
Carr, who had just played a season-high 34 minutes, agreed.
“I definitely have come a long way,” he said. “Feeling great. And I was really happy to be able to get out there and feel like I can contribute the way that I want to. And the way that I know I can. And the way that teammates and the coaches believe in me that way as well. So, you know, it was an awesome game to be able to really try and — as (assistant coach Mark Fox) always talks about — being the hammer, not the nail. And we were certainly the hammer tonight.”
That they were.
In the process, the Wildcats ensured they’ll go into the SEC Tournament with momentum on their side. They likely went a long way toward locking up a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And they tied the record for most wins over AP top 15 teams in a single season. This was their eighth.
But more important than a team’s seed or its place in the regular-season record books is how it’s playing going into the postseason, and these Cats — the group of players that will actually be on the court from here on out — proved that they can still beat really good opponents amid difficult circumstances.
This time of year, that’s all you can ask for.
“It’s a credit to these guys, man. It’s a special group,” Pope said. “… And it hasn’t been an easy road. We’ve been tested in every way. In health and rotation stuff — and all this stuff has been a massive, massive challenge. And these guys just keep raising up to it. It’s been pretty fun.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM.
