Tonight was Kentucky's second-worst loss ever in an SEC opener

Coming into tonight, Kentucky was 69-19 all-time in SEC openers, 11-2 under John Calipari. With tonight’s 89-75 loss to Missouri, those numbers have moved to 69-20 and 11-3. When it comes to SEC openers on the road in the Cal era, Kentucky is now 9-5. This was only the Cats’ third-ever loss to the Tigers, the previous coming in the 2020-21 and the 2017-18 seasons. All three losses have occurred in Columbia.

To put tonight’s loss into historical perspective, here’s a depressing note from UK Athletics statistician Corey Price. If you go by margin of victory, this is Kentucky’s second-worst loss ever in an SEC opener, behind only an 18-point loss to Vanderbilt on January 5, 1965.

This is @KentuckyMBB’s 2nd worst loss ever in an SEC opener (14 points) (lost to Vanderbilt by 18 points on January 5th, 1965)

— Corey Price (@coreyp08) December 29, 2022

In fact, as Corey points out, if you combine the previous margins of defeats vs. Missouri (5 points in 2021, 9 in 2018), it matches tonight’s (14). Missouri’s 89 points are the most allowed by a Kentucky team in an SEC opener since the 1989-90 Cats beat Mississippi State 102-97.

Some more depressing stats because why not, we’re wallowing in them:

• 0:23 – Amount of time Kentucky led in this game
• 2-12: Kentucky’s first-half three-point shooting. The Cats finished 8-23 from outside the arc, but couldn’t dig themselves out of the first-half hole
• 14: Turnovers by Kentucky and subsequent points by Missouri
• 1 – Player that finished in the positive in +/- efficiency, Adou Thiero. Thiero was +3 in his 17 minutes in, which came in the second half
• 17-8: Missouri’s advantage in fastbreak points
• 15-24: Kentucky’s mark at the free throw line.

More below.

Box Score

Efficiency

Shot Chart

Lineup Comparisons

Season Stats