Jasper Johnson's solo first-half run gave Kentucky a lead it would not give back

Points were hard to come by for Kentucky in the first half against Ole Miss. But freshman guard Jasper Johnson went on a run midway through the half that gave the Wildcats a lead they would not give back.

With 10 minutes remaining in the opening half, Kentucky trailed the Rebels 15-11. UK was shooting just 3-16 from the field up to this point. Johnson checked in a few minutes before then, but it took him a while to find his groove. A couple of missed shots and a turnover weren’t how he wanted to start his first stint in this game.

Then he turned into the microwave scorer we all know he can be.

Johnson rattled off a solo 8-0 run from the 8:56 mark to the 7:22 mark of the first half, drilling a pair of contested three-pointers (one of them a banker) sandwiched around a tough turnaround jumper in the lane. A four-point hole for the ‘Cats turned into a four-point lead in the blink of an eye. Ole Miss would tie the game at the 13:51 mark of the second half, but after Johnson’s spark in the first half, Kentucky never looked back.

“I’m so proud of him,” Head coach Mark Pope said of his talented rookie. “I say it every single game, he’s playing more and more and more and playing better and better and better, and getting more and more and more confident. He’s making some mistakes, but he’s learning from him, and he’s a really talented player.”

Jasper Johnson was a spark plug for Kentucky off the bench vs Ole Miss pic.twitter.com/wYQzOMcQmv

— KSR (@KSRonX) January 24, 2026

Especially with Denzel Aberdeen and Otega Oweh struggling offensively in the first half (although Oweh poured in 20 points after the intermission), Pope needed someone to provide a scoring punch and keep his team afloat. He turned to Johnson, who did something similar on the road just last weekend when he rained in 12 points in the first half during the win over Tennessee.

Slowly but surely, Pope is beginning to trust Johnson more and more in SEC play, and he’s doing so by allowing Johnson to play through some errors — which wasn’t always the case early in the season. That was particularly true against Ole Miss. Johnson turned the ball over three times for the game, but dished out a pair of assists and grabbed a couple of rebounds in his 17 minutes. When the Rebels tied the game back up at 39-39 in the second half, it was Johnson who broke it for good with another timely triple.

“Coach let me play through a little bit more mistakes today,” Johnson said postgame. “I know I had to learn every possession matters… It was a great experience today.”

Johnson is still waiting for his breakthrough moment in Kentucky’s rotation, but it doesn’t feel too far away. The minutes will be there as injuries to his teammates open up more opportunities for himself. After his terrific showing against Tennessee, Johnson saw just eight minutes against Texas earlier this week without scoring a single point.

Good players find ways to respond, though. He did that against Ole Miss. Now it’s time to start stacking those kinds of performances moving forward. Kentucky will need them as the conference schedule continues to heat up.

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