Five things you need to know from No. 15 Kentucky’s 82-78 loss to Texas
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Game day: Texas 82, No. 15 Kentucky 78
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Texas in Austin, Texas.
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Five things you need to know from No. 15 Kentucky’s 82-78 loss at Texas:
1. Cats let it get away late. Playing without its top three point guards due to injuries, Kentucky seemed on the verge of stealing an SEC road victory when Amari Williams scored on a follow shot with 3:51 left in the game to put UK ahead 69-64.
With a gutty victory under adversity seemingly in reach, Kentucky saw Texas go on a 14-1 run that turned the Longhorns’ five-point deficit into an eight-point lead, 78-70, with only 34 seconds left.
Needing to execute under late-game pressure, UK looked like a team playing without an experienced point guard.
The Cats had a pair of costly turnovers in the decisive stretch in which it appeared miscommunication played a role.
After Williams’ follow shot at 3:51, Kentucky did not score another field goal until Travis Perry hit a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left. By that point, Texas had moved ahead by eight points and the game was all but over.
2. A Cat killer strikes Kentucky again. Heralded Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson proved every bit as good as his hype.
The SEC’s leading scorer dropped 32 points on UK. It did take the 6-foot-6, 190-pound product of Garland, Texas, a lot of shots, 11 of 26 field goals, 1 of 8 3-pointers, 9 of 10 foul shots, to get there.
Yet Kentucky probably could have survived Johnson had it not been for the offensive outburst supplied by Tramon Mark.
A 6-5, 200-pound product of Dickinson, Texas, Mark poured in 26 points. Unlike Johnson, Mark was efficient in his scoring, making 9 of 14 shots overall, 3 of 5 treys and 5 of 6 free throws.
At one point in the second half, Mark scored 15 of the Longhorns’ 21 points.
Had it not been for Mark’s performance, Texas probably would not have been close enough to UK to take the game with a late run.
Going off against UK was not a new thing for Mark. Last season, while playing for Arkansas, Mark had 23 points in the Razorbacks’ 111-102 loss to Kentucky in Rupp Arena.
As much as UK missed Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson offensively down the stretch, the absence of the injured starting guards was probably felt even more on defense.
3. Kentucky point guard situation. On its Friday night injury report, Kentucky listed its two primary point guards, Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa, and its emergency lead guard, Jaxson Robinson, as all “out” for the Texas game.
That meant that freshman Travis Perry, the former Lyon County High School star, made his first college start Saturday night at the Moody Center.
Perry ended up playing a career high 28 minutes. He did not shoot the ball well, making 2 of 8 shots, 2 of 5 treys, to finish with six points.
Though Perry’s inexperience showed in the final segment of the game, until that point Kentucky’s 2024 Mr. Basketball had performed with admirable composure.
The 6-1, 188-pound Eddyville product doled out three assists, had two rebounds and a steal while also committing three turnovers.
4. Oweh living a “Monk’s life.” Otega Oweh scored 20 points in Austin. It means the 6-4, 215-pound junior has scored in double figures in Kentucky’s first 25 games of the season.
According to UK, Oweh, a Newark, New Jersey, product, is the first Wildcat to score 10 points or more in the first 25 games of a Kentucky season since Malik Monk did so in 2016-17.
Monk ran his scoring in double digits streak to 30 games before he was held to six points by Texas A&M in the 31st game of the 2016-17 campaign. Monk followed that by scoring only two points vs. Georgia in the 32nd game of the year.
A one-and-done guard, Monk then proceeded to score 10 or more in what became the final six games of his Kentucky career.
5. Another chapter in a weird UK season. With the loss to Texas, Kentucky is now 8-8 this season vs. opponents that began play Saturday in the NET rankings top 45.
What has made the Kentucky season unusual is that UK has fared far better this season vs. highly-ranked foes than against more middling opposition.
Kentucky is 6-1 vs. teams in the top 20 of the NET.
With the loss to Texas (No. 33 in the NET), UK is 2-7 vs. teams that rank 21 through 42 in the NET.
This story was originally published February 15, 2025 at 10:51 PM.
