Kentucky closed out the regular season on a high note Saturday with a 91-83 win at Missouri.
The 19th-ranked Wildcats (21-10, 10-8 Southeastern Conference) notched their eighth win of the year against a top 15 opponent, tying an NCAA record set by Indiana (1992-93) and Duke (1978-79). Kentucky also improved its NCAA Tournament resume, collecting its 10th Quad 1 win of the season.
"It's just an insane number," UK coach Mark Pope said of his team's success against top 15 foes this season. "I mean, if you come to Kentucky and you can do something all-time at the University of Kentucky as a team, like all-time, at Kentucky, and you think about the people who have rolled through here.
"For this group now to hold that record is just insane and then in the history of the game of college basketball for them to be tied, it's a credit to these guys man. It's a special group, and it hasn't been an easy road. Like, we've been tested every way in health, and rotation stuff and all of this stuff has been a massive, massive challenge and these guys just keep rising up to it. It's been pretty fun."
Kentucky clinched a bye in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville and will be seeded no lower than fifth and no higher than seventh, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s conference encounters. The Wildcats will carry a two-game winning streak into the five-day event.
In the finale against the Tigers, Kentucky’s upperclassmen provided a big lift combining for 77 points, led by leading scorer Otega Oweh, who finished with 22 points. Oweh tallied 20 of those in the second half to help the Wildcats hand Missouri its second home loss of the season.
Koby Brea made three 3-pointers and followed Oweh with 17 points. Brea was perfect from behind the arc in the first half (3-for-3) and scored 11 points in the first half, including a clutch trey during a decisive 11-0 run by the Wildcats in the first half. The spurt, which blossomed into a 14-2 run, featured two 3-pointers by Brea that turned an 8-3 deficit into an 18-13 lead.
From that point on, Kentucky never trailed and led by as many as 16 early in the second half.
Andrew Carr contributed with 16 points and 12 rebounds for Kentucky, while Amrari Williams added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Sparked by Brea, the Wildcats finished with 11 3-pointers, with four players connecting on multiple shots from long range. Oweh made a pair of clutch treys in the second half, while Carr and Colin Chandler each added a pair of threes Chandler popped a three during each half. Kentucky shot 55 percent — 11-for-20 — from behind the arc.
"I thought the three freshmen were elite today," Pope said. "There were three or four possessions where we were getting late in the shot clock and they just stayed diligent and aggressive, like trying to get downhill with two feet in the lane and then finding the next guy and busting it to get two feet in the lane and with two seconds left in the shot clock finally making a play.
"I was getting nervous. I was getting anxious. I was like, 'Guys! The shot clock's running down!' But they were super poised, and the best thing was if they were going to make a mistake, they were going to make our mistakes. So I thought they were great."
Mark Mitchell scored 22 points and Marques Warrick scored 17 points for Missouri (21-10, 10-8), which ended the regular season with three straight setbacks.
Andrew Carr scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 91-83 win at Missouri Saturday. (UK Athletics Photo)
