5 things you need to know from Kentucky’s 88-46 blowout win over Loyola (MD)
Five things you need to know from No. 12 Kentucky’s 88-46 rout of Loyola (Maryland) in men’s college basketball:
1. Fan reaction to Mark Pope. The second-year Kentucky coach was coming off a brutal week bookended by losses to Louisville and Michigan State in big-stage games.
As a result, the fan reaction to Rupp Arena public address announcer Patrick Whitmer’s typically-ebullient pregame introduction of “Mark POOOOOOOOOOPE!” might have been a tad more subdued than normal.
But there wasn’t a drastic difference.
2. A different starting lineup for UK. After the dispiriting showings against U of L and Michigan State, there was interest in whether Mark Pope would shake up the Kentucky starting lineup.
He did, with freshman center Malachi Moreno and sophomore forward Kam Williams joining regular guards Otega Oweh, Collin Chandler and Denzel Aberdeen in UK’s starting five.
Mouhamed Dioubate, who had started Kentucky’s first five games, was out with an ankle injury. Center Brandon Garrison, who had also started UK’s initial five contests, had only two points and four rebounds in 20 minutes in the loss to Michigan State at Madison Square Garden.
In their first UK starts, Williams and Moreno performed well.
Moreno, the 7-foot former Great Crossing High School star, had 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and four blocked shots in 23 minutes.
Williams, the 6-9 transfer from Tulane, went for 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals in 26 minutes. He was a team-best plus-40 on the plus/minus chart.
While the sample size is small, Kentucky has tended to fare best so far this season when Williams is in the game.
At Louisville, in a game in which UK was behind by double digits for a good bit of the contest, the Wildcats were plus-11 in the 12:24 in which Williams played.
During the blowout defeat to Michigan State, every Kentucky player had a negative rating in plus/minus except for one: The Wildcats played even in the 17:16 in which Williams was on the court.
3. Tis better to give. One of the strongest indicators of how discombobulated Kentucky was in its 96-88 loss at Louisville and the 83-66 loss to Michigan State in the Champions Classic was the Wildcats’ lack of assists.
In the defeat at U of L, Kentucky had only 14 assists on 32 made field goals. Against Michigan State, it was a paltry 13 assists on a meager 20 made baskets.
That made UK’s crisp ball movement in the first half against Loyola encouraging. While opening a 50-20 halftime advantage, Kentucky assisted on 14 of its 21 made field goals.
The second half, with the game far out of hand, saw the Cats putting the ball on the deck and driving more. There was less of the ball movement of the first half, and only seven assists on 16 converted field goals.
For the game, Kentucky finished with 21 assists on 37 made buckets.
4. Pope vs. Calipari. With the pummeling of Loyola, Kentucky is now 13-0 under Mark Pope against teams from outside the power conferences plus Gonzaga (a power-conference equivalent basketball program).
That might not seem like a big deal until you consider that Pope’s predecessor, John Calipari, lost five games against non-power conference opposition over his final five seasons as UK head man.
The “little guys” that beat Cal’s Cats from 2019-20 through 2023-24 were:
• 2019-20: Evansville 67-64 at Rupp Arena
• 2020-21: Richmond 76-64 at Rupp Arena
• 2021-22: Saint Peters 85-79 in overtime in the NCAA Tournament
• 2023-24: UNC Wilmington 80-73 at Rupp Arena
• 2023-24: Oakland 80-76 in the NCAA Tournament
5. Kentucky vs. the state of Maryland. With the victory over Loyola, UK is now 19-6 all-time against current NCAA Division I teams from the “Old Line State.”
How Kentucky has fared against teams from Maryland:
• Coppin State 2-0
• Loyola 2-0
• Maryland 9-5
• Maryland Eastern Shore 0-0
• Morgan State 0-0
• Mount St. Mary’s 3-0
• Navy 3-1
• Towson 0-0
• UMBC 0-0
This story was originally published November 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM.
