LIVE BLOG: Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky

FINAL: Kentucky 87, Western Kentucky 68

It wasn’t pretty, but Kentucky moves to 6-0 and will take home the BBN Invitational crown with an 87-68 win over Western Kentucky. On a very bad shooting night, the Cats still managed to win by 19. Can’t be too mad at that.

The new CFP Rankings are out

Elsewhere in sports, the new College Football Playoff Rankings just dropped. After a turbulant weekend, the SEC has three teams in the top 12: Texas (No. 3), Georgia (No. 7), and Tennessee (No. 8). Alabama and Ole Miss are just outside.

Officials reversed the goaltending call on Amari Williams

Remember that block by Amari Williams that officials called goaltending? They just reversed that. Good.

Definitely not a great shooting night for the Cats

We’ve wondered what it would be like when Kentucky struggled to make shots. Well, we’re seeing it. The Cats are just 23-56 from the floor (41.1%), 8-28 from three (28.6%), and 24-36 from the free-throw line (66.7%). If they don’t make two more threes, the streak of games with at least ten will be over.

Kentucky still leads by 15, 78-63, wtih 3:39 to go.

Score Update: 7:18 2H – Kentucky 71, Western Kentucky 57

If you still believe in the Rule of 71, it just hit. Kentucky leads by 14, 71-57, with 7:18 to go. WKU forward Babacar Faye just fouled out with 16 points and 6 rebounds.

Oweh three forces a WKU timeout

Now we’re talking! A big three by Otega Oweh just pushed Kentucky’s lead to 14, 69-55, with 8:54 to go, prompting Western Kentucky to call a timeout. Oweh is up to 18 points now. The Hilltoppers haven’t hit a field goal in over three minutes.

BIG THREE by Koby Brea!

Koby Brea had missed four threes before his sixth attempt dropped in. He, Otega Oweh, and Andrew Carr are helping Kentucky reestablish control of this game. Two free throws by Oweh have the Cats up 13 now, 66-53 with 9:18 to go.

Score Update: 11:54 2H – Kentucky 57, Western Kentucky 50

The lead is down to seven, 57-50, at the under-12 timeout. The Cats keep firing from outside but they keep missing too, now just 5-22 from three. Kentucky has missed its last seven field goals.

Jasper Johnson got a nice ovation during the timeout, though.

Kerr Kriisa from the logo!

Kriisa is infusing the Cats with some needed energy right now as Western continues to hang around.

Tonight’s Y: Dicky Lyons Jr!

The former Kentucky wide receiver had the honor of being tonight’s Y. Maybe he can stop by the football facility and give the team a pep talk ahead of the Governor’s Cup too.

Jasper Johnson in the house

A future Cat is taking in tonight’s game while home for the holidays. 2025 signee Jasper Johnson is with his family courtside tonight.

Score Update: 15:09 2H – Kentucky 52, Western Kentucky 41

Western Kentucky isn’t going away quietly. The Hilltoppers cut Kentucky’s lead to nine before Otega Oweh pushed it back to 11 with just over 15 minutes to go. Amari Williams continues to struggle. He’s up to six turnovers so far.

Kentucky starts the half on a 4-0 run

Kentucky scored four quick points to force Western Kentucky to call a timeout just over a minute in. Two of those came off free throws by Lamont Butler, and two more off an Andrew Carr bucket off a no-look pass by Butler. Kentucky’s lead is now 16, 49-33.

HALF: Kentucky 45, Western Kentucky 33

The first half has come to an end, with Kentucky leading the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky 45-33. Tyrone Marshall picked up his third foul with about 12 seconds remaining, sending Jaxson Robinson to the line to hit two free throws to push Kentucky’s lead to 12. Robinson has eight points so far, trailing Andrew Carr and Otega Oweh, who both have nine.

It wasn’t the prettiest half. The Cats turned it over seven times and are just 4-14 from the three-point line. It’s been a particularly rough night for Amari Williams, who is responsible for four of those turnovers and is 0-3 from the field tonight. Still, the Cats lead by double digits. The first half’s only for collecting data anyway, right?

Koby Brea hits his first three of the night

Watch out, Koby Brea’s warming up. The best three-point shooter in college basketball hit his first three of the night (after two earlier misses) to put Kentucky up 16. Western’s Babacar Faye got a bucket on the other end to cut that margin to 14, but the Cats are starting to settle in after a rough start.

Kentucky leads 38-24 with 3:20 to go in the first half. Carr is up to nine points and six rebounds.

Andrew Carr gets a tough bucket to push Kentucky’s lead to 11

When you need a tough bucket, call Andrew Carr. The big man worked his way into the lane and scored to put Kentucky up 11, 31-20, with 5:09 left in the first half. The Hilltoppers have gone cold, hitting just one of their last 13 shots.

This is Kentucky’s biggest lead of the night. Keep it up, Cats…

Score Update: 7:39 1H – Kentucky 24, Western Kentucky 18

It’s a six-point game at the Under-8 timeout. The Cats are ice cold from the outside, shooting just 2-11 (18.2%) from beyond the arc. They also have six turnovers. Western has nine.

It’s been an ugly game so far, but this play by Otega Oweh was beautiful.

A good crowd with spots of Hilltopper red

Thanksgiving Week brought a good crowd to Rupp Arena. They’re all the way to the top on both sides and in one of the end zones, then only three or four empty rows at the very top of the other end zone. As you can see, there is WKU red sprinkled throughout the audience. Lots of kids at this one, too.

Cats lead 24-18 with 8:00 to go in the first half.

Score Update: 11:52 1H – Kentucky 19, Western Kentucky 16

The Hilltoppers have pulled within three with a 7-0 run. Meanwhile, the Cats haven’t scored in the last two minutes. Western Kentucky clearly isn’t afraid to run with Kentucky, leading to some sloppy play (11 turnovers between both squads). Jaxson Robinson leads all scorers with six points, a pair of threes.

Time to see how the Cats respond to a little adversity.

McHenry shoots a lot

Lamont Butler scores four straight points

A Lamont Butler “and-one” puts Kentucky up two, 9-7, with 15:57 to go. That’s two straight buckets for Butler, who scored off a steal on Kentucky’s previous play.

Score Update: 17:26 1H – Kentucky 5, Western Kentucky 5

We’re all tied up at 5 early on, with Andrew Carr getting a dunk to start the game and Jaxson Robinson hitting a three to even the score with 17:26 to go.

Same Starters

At this point, it might not even be worth posting, but Kentucky is rolling with the same starting five vs. Western Kentucky:

00 Otega Oweh
01 Lamont Butler
02 Jaxson Robinson
07 Andrew Carr
22 Amari Williams

Pope’s phrase of the night: “Emotional Reservoir”

In his pregame talk with Tom Leach, Mark Pope explained what an “emotional reservoir” is and how he’s teaching his team about it. It’s a concept he came up with after working with the “P-squad,” a group of psychologists the last few years to help his team come into games with the ideal intensity levels.

Of course Pope has a “P-squad” of psychologists.

Pregame shootaround vibes

One of my favorite parts of covering Kentucky games is watching pregame warmups. Got here early enough to see the three freshmen going through shooting drills. Watching them shoot one after the other from the corner is kinda mesmerizing. Vibes are high 45 minutes out from tipoff.

Kentucky WBB leads at half, UConn goes down again

Meanwhile in Nashville, the No. 14 Kentucky Women’s Basketball team leads Arizona State 42-23 in the Music City Classic. Clara Strack leads the Cats with 14 points and 5 rebounds, while Teonni Key has 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 assists.

In Maui, the UConn men’s basketball team just lost its second straight game, falling to Colorado. The defending national champs will now play in the 7th-place game. Dan Hurley seems to be handling it well.

Tonight’s game is on ESPNU

No more “games on the computer”! We survived the final SEC Network+ game of the season. Tonight’s game will be on ESPNU with Roy Philpott and Pat Bradley on the call. You can also listen to Tom Leach and Goose Givens on the radio or just refresh this here live blog for updates and highlights.

Television: ESPNU (Roy Philpott, Pat Bradley)
Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
Online Radio: iHeart
Satellite Radio: Sirius 210 or 191
Live Stats: StatBroadcast