Kentucky's comeback effort not enough to beat UCLA as 'Cats fall 63-53 in NYC

Kentucky showed plenty of fight in the second half, but couldn’t find a way to come all the way back against UCLA.

On Saturday night in Madison Square Garden, the No. 13 Wildcats (7-3) fell to the No. 16 Bruins (10-2) by a final score of 63-53. Kentucky trailed by double-digits in the first half before trimming the UCLA lead down to eight at the intermission. The ‘Cats showed signs of life out of the halftime break and made it interesting down the stretch, but too many missed foul shots and poor offensive execution plagued UK.

Freshman Chris Livingston was the star for Kentucky, recording a career-high 14 points to go along with four rebounds. He was aided by 11 points and six rebounds from Sahvir Wheeler, who also turned the ball over six times. Oscar Tshiebwe contributed eight points and 16 rebounds for the ‘Cats but shot just 4-12 for the game.

Kentucky finished the night with a shooting split of 33 percent from the field, 29 percent from distance, and 38 percent from the free throw line.

Cason Wallace got the ball rolling for Kentucky, scoring his team’s first five points. But five minutes into the game, UK trailed 11-9 and failed to get that close again until the second half. UCLA extended its lead to double-digits midway through the first half and went ahead by as many as 13. However, the ‘Cats finally woke up down the stretch.

Kentucky finished the first half on a 7-2 run to make it an eight-point deficit at the break. Wallace led the ‘Cats with seven points and two rebounds while Tshiebwe was up to six points and nine rebounds. Wheeler was a perfect 3-3 for six points but turned the ball over four times. Antonio Reeves was just 1-9 overall from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

The second half saw a completely different Kentucky team come out of the locker room — one ready to show some fight. Thanks to necessary energy and effort from Livingston and Lance Ware, the ‘Cats crawled their way back into the contest. UK was able to tie up UCLA early in the second half before the Bruins went back in front for good.

In the end, an inability to make free throws spelled doom for Kentucky. The ‘Cats finished just 5-13 from the charity stripe, missing four key freebies in the second half. Despite leveling the score at 40-40 with 14:26 left in regulation, UK never found a way to take the lead. Poor shot selection down the stretch hindered any comeback opportunity for Kentucky in the closing minutes.

UCLA closed the night on an 8-0 run to seal the 63-53 victory. Saturday night marked the fewest amount of points Kentucky has scored in a game so far this season.