Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s humiliating 94-59 loss vs. Gonzaga
Five things you need to know from No. 18 Kentucky’s 94-59 loss vs. No. 11 Gonzaga in the men’s college basketball Music City Madness:
1. The gang that couldn’t shoot straight. In falling to North Carolina 67-64 on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena, Kentucky went the final 13:46 of the second half with only two made field goals.
It was more of the same in the first half Friday night vs. Gonzaga.
Kentucky missed its first 10 shots vs. the Bulldogs.
Denzel Aberdeen broke that streak by hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner with 11:03 left in the first half.
With 8:34 left, Aberdeen scored on a follow of his own miss.
There was 7:49 remaining when Brandon Garrison swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
At 5:12, Collin Chandler hit a trey from the left corner.
And with 48.2 seconds left before halftime, Otega Oweh scored on a breakaway layup.
That is every made Kentucky field goal of the first half.
The Wildcats finished half one 5 of 31 on field-goal attempts, 3 of 20 on 3-pointers.
Down 43-20 at the half, what had started the game as an exuberant, pro-Kentucky crowd in the Bridgestone Arena booed the Wildcats off the court.
UK finished the game 16 of 60 overall, 7 of 34 on treys.
In the defeats at Louisville and vs. Michigan State, North Carolina and Gonzaga, Kentucky has shot a combined 27 of 111 on 3-point shots, a frigid 24.3%.
It remains astounding that Mark Pope, one of the better offensive coaches in men’s college basketball, put together a roster with so little dependable shooting on it.
2. An alarming UK men’s basketball trend accelerates. In its fourth try this season against an opponent ranked in the AP Top 25, Kentucky took its fourth defeat.
Going back to the end of last season, UK is now 2-9 in its 11 most recent contests vs. Top 25 foes.
It goes without saying, the expectation at Kentucky is to perform better than that in marquee matchups.
Prior to the loss to No. 11 Gonzaga, UK had compiled losses this season at then-No. 12 Louisville (96-88); vs. then-No. 17 Michigan State (83-66) in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden; and to No. 16 North Carolina (67-64) on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
After a game next Tuesday vs. North Carolina Central, UK’s following two contests — vs. No. 22 Indiana on December 13 at Rupp Arena and vs. No. 23 St. John’s in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta — will be against teams that are presently in the AP Top 25.
3. A Cat killer. In two meetings with Kentucky prior to Friday night’s, Gonzaga big man Graham Ike had been a UK nemesis.
In the Bulldogs’ 89-85 victory over John Calipari’s Wildcats at Rupp Arena in 2023-24, the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Ike hit 10 of 17 shots and finished with 23 points and five rebounds.
Last season, when Kentucky rallied from 16 down at halftime to win 90-89 in overtime in Seattle, Ike made 9 of 16 field goals and 9 of 14 free throws en route to 28 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
It was more of the same this season in Nashville. Ike alone almost had as many made field goals as the Kentucky team.
As it was, Ike finished 11 of 18 from the field and had a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
4. Jaland Lowe’s return. Wearing a harness on his injured right shoulder, the UK point guard saw game action for only the third time this season and the first time since he scored nine points and doled out five assists in 30 minutes of game action during UK’s 96-88 loss at Louisville on Nov. 11.
Lowe entered the contest with 15:38 left in the first half and Kentucky trailing 7-0.
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound junior looked rusty. In 14 minutes, he missed all five of his field-goal attempts and finished with one point, one rebound, one assist and one turnover.
5. Bridgestone Arena is no longer “Rupp Arena South.” The contest with Gonzaga was the 21st game — but first regular-season contest — Kentucky has played in the Nashville venue.
The Wildcats’ first 20 games in the arena were all in SEC Tournament competition.
When Kentucky won 13 of its first 14 games at Bridgestone Arena, the venue was dubbed “Rupp Arena South.”
Bridgestone hasn’t been that hospitable to the Cats lately. UK’s past two appearances in Nashville have been a 29-point loss to Alabama in last sesson’s SEC Tournament quarterfinals and the debacle vs. Gonzaga.
Overall, UK has now dropped six of its past seven games at Bridgestone Arena.
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 9:06 PM.
