Cats Crumble: Missouri beats Kentucky, 73-68 in Rupp Arena

Conference play returned to Rupp Arena for the first time in 2026, and yet the Kentucky men's basketball team is still searching for its first SEC win of the season, as the Cats fell to Missouri on their own home court 73-68 Wednesday night.

With the loss, the Cats move to 9-6 overall and 0-2 in the SEC, while Missouri improves to 12-3 overall and stays perfect in league play, with back-to-back wins over No. 22 Florida and, now, Kentucky.

The game featured 11 lead changes and eight ties, while 42 total free throws kept both squads out of rhythm, especially in the first half. Neither team ever led by more than eight points.

Otega Oweh led the way for the Wildcats, with 20 points on 6-11 shooting (3-4 from deep). He added five rebounds (all in the second half), four assists and a turnover in 35 minutes of play. He was the only Wildcat in double-figure scoring, but missed what would have been the go-ahead layup with 17 seconds remaining.

Jaland Lowe and Malachi Moreno finished with nine points apiece.

Mark Mitchell and Jayden Stone paced the Tigers with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Missouri's front court earned a 40-28 advantage in points in the paint.

Denzel Aberdeen scored Kentucky's first points of the day 43 seconds after tipoff; Kentucky would not sink another field goal for more than five-and-a-half minutes, as Moreno eventually got one to go from down low with 13:43 left in the first half.

The Cats connected on only three field-goal attempts in the first ten minutes of play, as Missouri took an early 12-10 lead. Both offenses continued a sluggish start for the majority of the first half.

Then, two things happened for the home team.

First, Otega Oweh started heating up. The SEC Preseason Player of the Year scored or assisted on four straight field goals, which added seven points of his own plus a dish to Moreno for two more. Combined, his efforts helped decrease Missouri's lead from six to two over a three-minute stretch.

In the middle of that swing, Mark Pope was whistled for a technical foul.

With an "animated" head coach on the sideline, Oweh maintained his own fire. The senior guard, who made his final four field goals of the first half and had two of his team's six first-half assists, also secured a last-second steal, which led to a buzzer-beating triple just before the break.

He went to the locker room as the game's leading scorer, having already surpassed the double-digit threshold with 13 points.

Even with Oweh's last-second heroics, the Tigers still possessed the lead at the break, 33-32. The visitors were shooting 50 percent from the field, 30 percent from beyond-the-arc, and 60 percent from the free throw line, while the Cats had a 45/40/71 split.

Oweh scored his next two points with a fast-break layup two minutes into the second half, followed by an Aberdeen three-pointer which gave Kentucky what was, at that time, its largest lead of the evening, 41-35.

A few minutes later, the Cats went on a quick 6-0 run when Lowe and Williams got in on the three-point action, as both guards sank their first triples of the game.

Still, the Tigers would not quit.

The visitors continued to claw their way back, flipping a 5-point UK lead into a two-point Kentucky deficit from the time the game clock ticked from 10:50 down to 9:31.

With the game knotted at 51-apiece, Moreno and Lowe each took a trip to the charity stripe as the Cats slowly rebuilt their lead to five points, again.

The Oweh-Garrison duo ballooned it to eight with back-to-back possessions, before the Cats slipped into a drought. The spell allowed the Tigers to go on a 7-0 run, getting back within a single point, 66-65.

Garrison got his team back on track with a hook shot with 2:10 on the clock, 68-65.

The Cats would not score another field goal, as the Tigers ended the night on an 8-0 run throughout the final 74 seconds of action and a 15-2 run over the final 4:24.

As a team, the Cats shot 43 percent from the field, 39 percent from beyond-the-arc (7-18) and 71 percent from the free throw line (17-24).

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The Wildcats will return to Rupp Arena this Saturday for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff against Mississippi State. Fans can watch the Cats battle the Bulldogs on the SEC Network or listen to Tom Leach and Jack "Goose" Givens on the UK Sports Radio Network.

Following back-to-back home contests, the Cats will have another crack at an SEC road win next week. The Wildcats face the LSU Tigers Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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