Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 85-80 win over Texas
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 85-80 vs. Texas:
1. More first-half blues? Entering the Texas contest, Kentucky had played 11 games in 2025-26 against high-level competition — defined as power conference teams and Gonzaga.
In those 11 contests, Kentucky had trailed at halftime nine times, been tied once and led once.
On Wednesday night, the Wildcats and Longhorns battled to a 40-40 tie in the first half.
Last week, the Cats trailed LSU by 16, 38-22, at the half and Tennessee by 11, 42-31. Kentucky rallied to win both games, beating LSU 76-75 and UT 80-78.
Without a double-digit deficit to be overcome, Kentucky did not need the same level of drama to defeat Texas.
Nine straight points from Collin Chandler — part of his career-high 18-point performance — helped the Cats open a 70-60 lead with 7:33 left.
Because nothing comes easy for the 2025-26 Wildcats, Texas chipped away and pulled within 80-78 on a Tramon Mark jumper with 56 seconds left.
But Denzel Aberdeen converted 5 of 6free throws in the final minute, and the Cats prevailed.
2. Aberdeen’s encore. Kentucky senior guard Denzel Aberdeen was the lead actor in the Wildcats’ come-from-behind wins at LSU and Tennessee last week.
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Orlando, Florida, product scored all 17 of his points in the second half to key UK’s 76-75 comeback win in Baton Rouge.
In Knoxville, Aberdeen had 18 of his 22 points in half two to rally Kentucky to an 80-78 victory.
Back at Rupp Arena vs. Texas, Aberdeen was not quite as stellar as he had been in the prior two games.
But he was still pretty good.
He finished with 19 points, one assist and two turnovers — and closed the Longhorns out at the foul line.
3. Another injury knocks a UK player out of a game. Kam Williams was enjoying a strong offensive night for Kentucky.
After the 6-8, 205-pound sophomore cashed a pair of free throws with 18:40 left in the game that put the Wildcats ahead 46-40, he had nine points.
But the Lafayette, Louisiana, product did not get a chance to reach double figures.
What appeared to be a non-contact injury knocked him from the game with 18:11 remaining.
UK subsequently announced that a foot injury had sidelined Williams for the remainder of the game. Beyond that, the severity of Williams’ injury was unknown immediately following the game.
The last thing a Kentucky team that has already lost point guard Jaland Lowe (shoulder) for the season and is playing without big man Jayden Quaintance (knee) needs is to lose another rotation player.
4. Death, taxes, Oweh. After Kentucky’s win at Tennessee Saturday, UK coach Mark Pope described Wildcats senior guard Otega Oweh as “probably the most consistent player I’ve ever coached. He brings it every game.”
Oweh entered the Texas game having scored in double figures in all 18 UK games this season.
Against Texas, Oweh was in double figures by halftime, having 10 first-half points on 5-of-13 shooting.
For the game, Oweh finished with 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting.
Since transferring to Kentucky from Oklahoma prior to his junior season, the 6-4, 220-pound Oweh has had at least 10 points in 52 of the 55 games in which he has worn the Wildcats uniform.
The three games in which Oweh played for UK and did not reach double figures all came last season and all involved teams from Alabama.
The Crimson Tide held Oweh to two points in a 96-83 Bama win in Tuscaloosa last year and held him to eight in a 99-70 rout of UK in last season’s SEC Tournament quarterfinals. Auburn limited Oweh to four points while beating Kentucky 94-78 last year at Rupp Arena.
5. The Rupp debuts of new SEC teams. New SEC members are now 2-3 in their first games against Kentucky in Lexington.
In the Rupp Arena era (since 1976-77), the Southeastern Conference has expanded by two teams on three different occasions.
In 1991-92, Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC.
For 2012-13, Missouri and Texas A&M entered the league.
Last season, Oklahoma and Texas became SEC members — but neither played Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
The Longhorns and Sooners are each making their Rupp debuts as league rivals of UK this season.
This is how Kentucky has fared against SEC newcomers in their first games at Rupp Arena:
1991-92: Arkansas 105, Kentucky 88
Kentucky 74, South Carolina 56.
2012-13: Texas A&M 83, Kentucky 71.
Kentucky 90, Missouri 83 (overtime).
2025-26: Kentucky 85, Texas 80.
Oklahoma will play at Rupp for the first time as an SEC member on Feb. 3.
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 9:22 PM.
