Oscar Tshiebwe's 30 points not enough, Kentucky falls to Arkansas 75-73
After falling down by double-digits in the first half for the third consecutive game, Kentucky couldn’t complete the victory trifecta.
The No. 6 Wildcats trailed by as many as 13 points early in the contest against the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks before coming back in the second half to create one of the most thrilling finishes of the season. But the late UK effort wasn’t enough down the stretch as Arkansas pulled away in the final minute to sneak out of Bud Walton Arena with a 75-73 win on Saturday. Kentucky saw a 30-point, 18-rebound performance from National Player of the Year candidate Oscar Tshiebwe, but the defense couldn’t slow down Arkansas’ JD Notae, who exploded for 30 points of his own.
Kentucky scored the first basket of the afternoon, but it would be a while before it took the lead again. Arkansas burst ahead to a 15-2 advantage as Notae took over early. But eventually, Tshiebwe got rolling. The Wildcat big man kept his team alive throughout the first half, abusing the Arkansas frontcourt on nearly every trip down the floor.
After trailing by double-digits for most of the opening 20 minutes, UK finally made its run with roughly 90 seconds until the halftime break. Kentucky managed to trim the Arkansas lead down to as few as six at the intermission, making it 34-28 at the intermission. Notae was up to 18 points, but Tshiebwe was staying right there with him, adding 14 points and 12 rebounds.
And just as Kentucky had done in its previous two games, the team came out of the locker room with the perfect adjustments. A six-point hole quickly turned into a back-and-forth battle. UK took its first lead since the 2-0 start thanks to a Keion Brooks Jr. layup and the two sides were off from there. The lead continued to switch sides as neither team could break away by more than five points.
Arkansas was able to go ahead by four on several occasions, but the ‘Cats always responded. At the final TV timeout, Kentucky was down 69-67. Then Kellan Grady finally showed up.
The graduate student drilled a corner triple to put UK in front 70-69, his first made bucket of the outing. Arkansas would quickly answer though to go back ahead by one with just 63 seconds left. Unfortunately, an offensive foul on Brooks led to a pair of Razorback free throws. Now with just 32 ticks left in regulation, Kentucky called a timeout down 73-70.
However, Brooks would miss the potential game-tying 3-pointer as Arkansas recovered to hang onto the lead and ultimately the win. Brooks finished with 14 points and five rebounds while Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington combined for 24 points and eight assists in their first game back since Feb. 15.
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