One Last Game: My Grandfather, His Stat Books, and a Kentucky Miracle

Since the start of the 1974–75 season, my grandfather Bob Peake kept stats for nearly every Kentucky basketball game. Last year, at 87 years old, he thought he had done his final game.

Maybe it was Mark Pope’s uptempo offense, which had him constantly playing catch-up. Maybe it was that he could no longer make it downstairs to his favorite chair and his familiar game-day setup. Whatever the reason, the pages stopped in notebook No. 9 with the last entry being a 94–78 loss to Auburn.

I don’t get to watch many games with him anymore, but since I didn’t make the trip to Baton Rouge, I reached out to see if he’d be willing to do one final game of stats. So just like we’ve done for years, my dad and I joined my grandfather and his stat book at his house for a Kentucky basketball game.

Instead of being downstairs where we would normally be, the three of us crammed into his TV-room to watch another Kentucky-LSU classic.

It could not have started worse. “Papa” Bob had recorded only one made Kentucky field goal through the game’s opening 11 minutes, and he was in his bag. I’ve still never heard anyone else use the phrase “buncha yo-yo’s,” and I had to Google it just now to see if it was even a saying. Turns out, it is.

Things were obviously bleak to start the second half. With Kentucky down 18-points, I actually felt bad for asking him to do this.

Then the Cats caught fire. When Otega Oweh hit a jumper to put Kentucky up 74-72, the three of us started to feel the victory. Maybe the whole point of falling behind by 18 was so this night could become something more special than a forgettable road win over LSU.

Then the basket was taken away. LSU hit two free throws. Oweh split a pair. And suddenly, with 1.6 seconds left, we were staring at a heartbreaking loss.

It could not end like this. This can’t be the final page in a stack of notebooks that I will undoubtedly cherish the rest of my life. Something HAD to happen.

So, when Malachi Moreno (moh-RREH-no) caught the full-court pass from Collin Chandler and was wide open from 15-feet out, I just knew it was going in.

That tiny room erupted as my grandfather calmly wrote one final “2” next to Malachi Moreno’s name.

This is where I would have added a quote from “Papa” Bob, but he went to bed right when the TV coverage ended.

Thank you, Malachi. Thank you, Coach Pope. Thank you to everyone associated with this team for a moment we will never forget.

Check out the video here:

My grandfather has been keeping Kentucky stats since 1974.

He had to stop doing them midway through last year, but we convinced him to do one more game with us tonight…

…and what a way to end it.

Thank you Malachi Moreno for the memory! https://t.co/GA8sh93xjQ pic.twitter.com/B2gCnuUi08

— Steven Peake (@StevenPeakeKSR) January 15, 2026