Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 72-63 win over Mississippi
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 72-63 win vs. Mississippi:
1. Cats win a grinder. It should not have been a surprise for a game that tipped off an hour before noon, but UK-Ole Miss was an all-out slog.
For a good bit of the game, shot-making was largely absent for both teams.
To win, Kentucky was going to have to rely on grit and some timely clutch play.
The Cats got both.
In the first half when the Kentucky goal seemed to have a lid on it, Jasper Johnson came off the bench and uncorked a personal 8-0 run that took UK from 15-11 down to 19-15 ahead.
From the point in half two that UK led 37-36, Otega Oweh scored 15 of the Wildcats’ final 25 points.
With Kentucky clinging to a 63-60 lead in the final minute, Collin Chandler drained a cold-blooded 3-pointer from the left wing.
In that final minute, Mouhamed Dioubate made two “winning plays” that were huge for the Cats.
His offensive rebound retained possession for UK, which set up Chandler’s clutch trey.
On the ensuring defensive possession, Dioubate appeared to alter what proved to be an errant 15-foot jumper attempted by Mississippi’s AJ Storr.
And on a day when it didn’t seem like Malachi Moreno played especially well, the freshman big man still ended up with five points, nine rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal.
2. A rare UK halftime edge. Stop the presses. Kentucky led Ole Miss at halftime, 29-23.
In what was UK’s 13th game so far this season against high-level competition — defined as power-conference teams plus Gonzaga — Saturday was only the second time the Wildcats have had a halftime advantage.
The other instance was against Mississippi State, when the Cats rallied from an 18-6 deficit to lead 44-39 at the half en route to a 92-68 victory.
3. Travis Perry’s homecoming. After scoring 84 total points last season as a Kentucky Wildcats freshman, the former Lyon County star transferred to Mississippi for his sophomore season.
Perry made his return to Rupp Arena averaging 5.7 points and shooting 36.4%. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore came back to Lexington on something of an uptick, having scored in double figures twice (14 points in a 97-95 overtime win at Georgia and 15 in a 78-66 loss to Auburn) in his past three games.
On Saturday, Perry’s reception at Rupp Arena was mixed.
Rebels coach Chris Beard started the former Wildcat at Rupp, and there were both cheers and boos when Perry was introduced.
Once the game started, the UK student sections booed Perry whenever he touched the ball.
In the first half, Perry went 0 of 3 on 3-point tries and had no points in seven minutes. He finished the game with no points and two rebounds in 10 minutes.
While college students acting out is never a shocking phenomenon, the boos for Perry were surprising.
The former Lyon County star is the most-accomplished (which is not the same thing as “the best”) boys high school basketball player the commonwealth of Kentucky has produced so far in the 21st Century so far.
He ended his high school career as Kentucky boys basketball’s all-time leading scorer (5,481 points) and the state’s career leader in made 3-pointers (712) and free throws (933).
After becoming our state’s all-time boys hoops scorer as a junior, Perry was elected the 2023 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year. The following year, he led Lyon County to the state championship and was named state tournament MVP and Kentucky Mr. Basketball.
4. Ex-Cats vs. the Cats. Given that we are in the college sports era of unlimited player mobility, it has become common for Kentucky to play against former players.
In recent seasons, ex-UK players have tended to show well against Kentucky:
• In Ohio State’s 85-65 demolition of UK in last season’s CBS Sports Classic, ex-UK forward Aaron Bradshaw hit 5 of 6 shots, 1 of 2 3-pointers, and finished with 11 points, two rebounds, an assist and two steals in 18 minutes.
• John Calipari brought three ex-Cats back to Rupp Arena for what became an 89-79 Arkansas win over Kentucky last season.
UK couldn’t guard Adou Thiero, who finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
D.J. Wagner played the best game he’s played at Rupp, going for 17 points, three rebounds and eight assists.
Zvonimir Ivisic hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and had 14 points and four rebounds.
• In Kentucky’s 95-64 rout of LSU last season at Rupp, former Wildcats forward Daimion Collins had two points and five rebounds.
• During UK’s 78-66 win over St. John’s in this year’s CBS Sports Classic, ex-Kentucky forward Bryce Hopkins had 13 points, three rebounds and three steals.
We can now add Travis Perry (see above) to this list.
5. Kentucky in “snow games.” The starting time for Saturday’s game vs. Ole Miss was moved up an hour to 11 a.m. due to the major winter storm expected to hit the commonwealth this weekend.
In the Rupp Arena era (since 1976-77), Kentucky has been involved in some memorable “snow games:”
• Jan. 16, 1978. A wintry blast limited the Rupp Arena crowd on hand to see Kentucky defeat Mississippi 76-56 to an uncharacteristically “small” 16,450.
• Jan. 28, 1978. An ice storm led to the postponement of Kentucky’s game vs. Tennessee at Rupp. It was rescheduled for February 15, when UK took care of the Volunteers, 90-77.
• Dec. 24, 1983. With Kentucky (6-0) playing at Illinois (8-0) in a Christmas Eve battle of unbeatens, a snow storm and arctic temperatures (the high was minus-5) combined to prevent the scheduled Big Ten referees from making the game.
So the call went out to the Assembly Hall crowd of 7,651 for anyone with basketball officiating experience. That’s how a chemistry doctorate student, a high school baseball coach and a high school principal ended up calling a high-major college basketball game — two of them while wearing bluejeans.
Kentucky won 56-54 when James Blackmon banked in a game-winning 15-foot jumper at the buzzer.
• March 14, 1993. With Rupp Arena set to play host to the SEC Tournament semifinals, Lexington was paralyzed by 6.5 inches of snow.
Many of the tourney fans were already staying at Lexington hotels and took shuttles through the snow to Rupp. That helps explain how a sellout crowd of 23,623 saw LSU upset Vanderbilt 72-62 and Kentucky oust Arkansas 92-81.
• Dec. 6, 2013: With the Kentucky men’s and women’s basketball teams set to play a doubleheader against Baylor in the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, an ice storm immobilized the greater Dallas area.
Nevertheless, a crowd of 12,818 made it to the cavernous football stadium to see the UK women win a 133-130, four-overtime classic over Kim Mulkey and Baylor and see the Kentucky men turn in a clunker in a 67-62 loss to Scott Drew and Baylor.
The discerning Kentucky men’s basketball fan will note that everyone of the UK teams sited above whose seasons were impacted by “snow games” went on to play in the Final Four.
This story was originally published January 24, 2026 at 1:29 PM.
