WATCH: Mark Pope talks Kam Williams, Collin Chandler, NCAA after Texas win

Kentucky got a big win tonight, but given the news about Kam Williams, it wasn’t exactly a celebratory press conference. Mark Pope announced that Williams broke his foot in the second half of the 85-80 win over Texas and will be out “a while.” How long that is remains to be seen, but once again, Kentucky will have to regroup after a serious injury.

Performances like Collin Chandler’s tonight will help. Battling a stomach bug, Chandler posted a career-high 18 points and 7 rebounds in 32 minutes. Fourteen of those points came in the second half. Pope raved about Chandler’s performance, which came after he spent three days in bed with cold sweats.

“I thought he was elite. I thought he was aggressive. I thought he was sure. I thought he turned down one three late that I wanted him to shoot that one too, but, man, he put together a really incredible performance.”

There was more praise to go around for Otega Oweh, who also had 18 points, and Denzel Aberdeen, who finished with a team-high 19. Texas leads the country in getting to the free-throw line, but Kentucky got there more often tonight, going 30-35 from the charity stripe, 23-27 in the second half.

“Sometimes you get to the free throw line because you’re belligerent, driving, putting your head down, and you end up with a really poor two-point field goal percentage. It didn’t feel like that. The game didn’t feel like that. Today, it felt like we were earning fouls because of our patience and our attack.”

Pope ended his press conference with a lengthy aside on the new trend of pro players coming back to college. Today, former Alabama center Charles Bediako was granted a temporary restraining order to make him immediately eligible to play for the Crimson Tide. Pope said he doesn’t fault programs for getting creative, but implored the NCAA or coaches to take a stand to make sure the rules are the rules.

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