Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 91-83 win over Missouri at Mizzou Arena on Saturday.
1. Kentucky brings momentum to SEC Tournament
This is the way to close out your regular season. Whip lowly LSU 95-64 in the home finale. Then beat No. 15 Missouri on the Tigers’ home floor. That’s the way you want to go into next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, as well.
Coach Mark Pope’s Cats put together a terrific first half on the defensive end with some key plays on offense in the second half to improve to 21-10 overall and 10-8 in the SEC.
One of the nation’s best offenses, Missouri was just 11-for-31 from the floor in the first half. That included a 3-for-13 effort from 3-point range. And that helped Kentucky to a 38-29 lead at the break. Coach Dennis Gates’ club ended up shooting 43.9% for the game. It was 11-for-28 from beyond the 3-point arc. Caleb Grill, one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters, made just two of his six attempts from deep.
Kentucky led by as many as 16 points (42-26) early in the second half, but Missouri chopped that advantage to five at 66-61. It was 72-67 Cats with 4:04 left when the visitors went on a 6-0 run. Andrew Carr scored three of those points. Amari Williams scored one. Otega Oweh scored two.
Then when a Missouri 3 cut the lead to 78-72, Kentucky scored on seven straight possessions to put the game away. The Cats made eight straight free throws over the final 55 seconds to ice it.
Saturday, Carr finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, his third double-double of the season but his first since Dec. 11.
The Wake Forest transfer was 2-of-3 from 3-point range, grabbed five offensive rebounds, dished three assists and blocked two shots in 33 minutes.
“Definitely come a long way,” Carr said afterward. “Feeling great. Definitely happy to be able to out there and contribute the way I want to.”
It was a Carr 3-pointer that put the Cats up 46-32 with 17:26 left. It was a follow jam by Carr off a missed shot that made it 75-67 with 3:17 remaining.
“Drew, you talk about a Herculean effort,” Pope said. “He had 12 rebounds and they were contested and combative.”
3. Kentucky earns another top-15 victory
The victory set a Kentucky program record with eight wins against teams ranked in the top 15 of the AP Top 25 at the time of the game.
Here are the eight:
Beat No. 6 Duke 77-72 in Atlanta on Nov. 12.
Beat No. 7 Gonzaga 90-89 in overtime in Seattle on Dec. 7.
Beat No. 6 Florida 106-100 at Rupp Arena on Jan. 4.
Beat No. 14 Mississippi State 95-90 in Starkville on Jan. 11.
Beat No. 11 Texas A&M 81-69 at Rupp Arena on Jan. 14.
Beat No. 8 Tennessee 78-73 in Knoxville on Jan. 28.
Beat No. 5 Tennessee 75-64 at Rupp Arena on Feb. 11.
Beat No. 15 Missouri 91-83 in Columbia on March 8.
Notice something about that list? Five of those wins came away from Rupp Arena. Three were on the road in the SEC — at Mississippi State, at Tennessee and at Missouri.
There have been some hiccups. Losses at Georgia and Vanderbilt come to mind. But considering the way this team has to deal with injuries, including season-ending injuries to guards Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Krriisa, and the unprecedented strength of the conference, you’d have to say that this has been an impressive first season for Pope as the UK coach.