Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 96-85 loss at Texas A&M
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 96-85 loss at Texas A&M:
1. Cats get buried by an Aggies avalanche. Believe it or not, Kentucky controlled play in the first 12 minutes of the game.
When Malachi Moreno scored on a layup with 8:03 left in the first half, UK led 30-18.
What happened next was a Big Blue disaster.
Texas A&M closed the first half on a 27-3 rampage. The Aggies turned that 30-18 deficit into a 45-33 halftime lead.
Ruben Dominguez, a sophomore from Spain, got A&M rolling with scalding outside shooting, making 4 of 5 3-pointers and scoring 14 first-half points. In Texas A&M’s three previous games, Dominguez had scored a combined total of 10 points.
UK did the two things you can’t do against Bucky McMillan’s full-court pressing, 3-point shooting system.
The Wildcats turned the ball over seven times in the first half alone, leading to a 10-0 halftime deficit in points off of turnovers. For the game, Kentucky had 12 turnovers and was outscored on points off of turnovers 18-10.
UK also gave up six first-half 3-pointers, while making only 2 of 11 itself. For the game, Kentucky shot 8 of 26 from behind the arc, compared to 13 of 28 for A&M.
That 15-point differential from behind the arc was the difference in the game.
2. Kentucky fails another ball security test. Turnovers have been a telling statistic for Kentucky in SEC play.
When the Cats have had fewer than 10 turnovers against Southeastern Conference teams, they are 7-0. However, with the 12 turnovers Tuesday night, UK is now 3-7 in league play when it has turned the ball over 10 times or more.
The Aggies, who press even after misses, entered Tuesday night’s game forcing an average of 13.5 turnovers a game.
3. Can’t blame Aberdeen. Kentucky lead guard Denzel Aberdeen was not part of UK’s turnover issue.
The senior transfer from Florida had eight assists and one turnover, that coming on a despteration drive in the final seconds of the game.
In Kentucky’s past five games, Aberdeen has 24 assists vs. two turnovers.
4. Series has swung toward Texas A&M . Since Texas A&M entered the SEC in the 2012-13 school year, the Aggies’ men’s basketball history with Kentucky has been surprisingly compelling.
UK and A&M have now met 18 times as league rivals.
Kentucky holds a 12-6 lead in the series, but 11 of the games have been decided by single-digit margins with four overtime contests plus another double-overtime game.
However, in recent meetings, Texas A&M has now beaten UK in three of the past four.
5. The Oweh watch. Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh had 24 points, though he made only 6 of 15 shots.
Oweh now has 1,120 points in his two-season Cats’ career (a transfer from Oklahoma, Oweh has 1,618 total points).
With his 24 points, Oweh moved past Oscar Tshiebwe, 1,117 career points, for 49th on the all-time UK scoring list.
Immediately ahead of Oweh on the list are: 48. Randolph Morris, 1,123 points; 47. Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, 1,151; 46. Vernon Hatton, 1,153; 45. Antonio Reeves, 1,155; and 44. Derrick Miller, 1,156.
Among players who played only two varsity seasons at Kentucky, Oweh moved past Tshiebwe as UK’s third all-time leading scorer behind 1. Bill Spivey, 1,213 points; and 2. Antonio Reeves, 1,155.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 9:35 PM.
