Postgame notes and stats from Kentucky's 75-73 loss at Arkansas

Kentucky couldn’t get the job done in Fayetteville, falling to the Arkansas Razorbacks by a final score of 75-73. The Wildcats came back after falling down by 13, but were unable to execute down the stretch to pull off the win.

The game notes and statistics from the loss tell some of the story. Check those out below, courtesy of UK Athletics.

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Final Score: No. 18/18 Arkansas 75, No. 6/3 Kentucky 73

Team Records, Series Notes, Etc.

• Both teams are 23-6 overall, tied for second with a 12-4 record in the Southeastern Conference.

• UK leads the series, 33-13, but Arkansas has won the last two.  
  • The Wildcats lead 9-8 in games played in Fayetteville.
• Next for Kentucky: UK has Senior Day on Tuesday when the Wildcats play host to Ole Miss.  Game time is 7 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

Team Notes

• Kentucky won the rebounding, 39-32, and is 20-3 this season when winning the boardwork.
• UK fell behind by double-figures in the opening half for the fourth straight game.
• The Wildcats won points in the paint, 42-36. 
• UK also edged out Arkansas in fast-break points, 16-9, and second-chance points, 13-7.
• UK’s bench outscored the Hogs by a 24-7 margin. 
• The 17 lead changes were a season-high for the Wildcats. The previous high was 15 at Notre Dame.
• Today’s loss snapped a three-game winning streak for UK in Fayetteville. 

Player Notes                                                                                                                         

• Oscar Tshiebwe totaled a career-high-tying 30 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots and a steal. He also had 30 points on Jan. 11 at Vanderbilt.
  • It is his 11th-straight double-double, first Wildcat to do that since Dan Issel had 12 consecutive double-doubles in the 1969-70 season.
  • It is his 23rd double-double of the season, ranking second in the nation in that category.
    • It’s the third-most in a single season in UK history. 
  • He has scored in double figures in 11 straight games, best at UK since Immanuel Quickley had a 20-game stretch during the 2019-20 season.
  • The nation’s leading rebounder has 16 straight games with double-figure rebounds and grabbed double-figure boards in all but two games this season.
  • It is his sixth game this season with 20 points and 15 rebounds, first Wildcat to do that since Jim Andrews had six 20-15 games in 1972-73.
  • He now has 445 rebounds this season, moving past Frank Ramsey (434 in 1950-51) for fourth place on the UK single-season list.
• Keion Brooks Jr. had 14 points, five rebounds and two steals.  It is his 15th double-figure scoring game of the season.
• After missing two games because of injury, Sahvir Wheeler tallied 14 points, three rebounds and five assists.  It is his first double-figure scoring game since Jan. 25 vs. Mississippi State.
• After missing two games because of injury, TyTy Washington Jr. had 10 points, three assists and two steals.

Coach John Calipari

• Calipari is now 362-99 at UK. 
  • UK is 67-43 against Associated Press ranked competition under Calipari.
• Calipari has an 807-239 all-time on-court record. 
• Calipari has tallied a 379-120 all-time record within conference play as a head coach and owns a 171-54 record since joining the SEC.
• Calipari is 13-8 vs. Arkansas.   

In the First Half

• The starting lineup was Davion Mintz, Kellan Grady, Jacob Toppin, Keion Brooks Jr. and Oscar Tshiebwe for the third game in a row.  
  • It marked this group’s first loss as a starting unit.
• After missing the two previous games because of injury, Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington Jr. were the first Kentucky substitutions at the 16:52 mark, the first time this season that they have not been in the starting lineup in games in which they played. 
• Tshiebwe scored the first basket of the game at 18:18, but the Wildcats went cold for more than five minutes. Arkansas scored 15 straight points and led the remainder of the half.
• Tshiebwe scored UK’s first nine points and the first other Cat to score was a Toppin dunk at 10:43.
• Tshiebwe reached a double-double with a rebound with 4:46 remaining. 
• Still trailing by 13 points with four minutes remaining, UK closed the half with a 9-2 run, bringing the score to 34-28 at halftime.
• Tshiebwe led the Wildcats with 14 points and 12 rebounds in the opening period.
• UK is now 2-4 this season when trailing at intermission.

In the Second Half

• Kentucky began the second half with Wheeler, Washington, Grady, Brooks and Tshiebwe. 
• A fast-break layup by Brooks at the 14:53 mark put UK ahead 41-40, first lead since 2-0.
• From there, neither team led by more than four points the remainder of the game.
• Grady’s 3-pointer with 2:20 to go put UK ahead 70-69.
• Jaylin Williams’ short hook shot with 1:22 remaining put Arkansas ahead 71-70 and his two free throws with 36 seconds left made the lead 73-70. 
• A pair of single free throws made it 75-70 before Washington banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer. 
• Tshiebwe had another outstanding half with 16 points and six boards in the final stanza.