UK Hoops Lose Second Straight

After trailing by as many as 23 in the second half, the no. 11 Kentucky Wildcats were defeated by the no. 15 Texas A&M Aggies by a score of 81-69. With their second-straight loss, UK is now 19-7 on the season, dropping to sixth place in the Southeastern Conference at 8-5.   Texas A&M did not attempt a three-pointer the entire game, making this the sixth time this season the team failed to hit a shot from deep. Instead, the Aggies dominated inside, scoring 52 points in the paint, 20 more than Kentucky. A&M also out-rebounded UK by twelve, grabbing more offensive rebounds than UK did on defense. Tonight also marked the third game this year that A&M has held a team to under 6 assists. On the other hand, A&M’s Jordan Jones is tenth in the nation in assists, and dished out eight tonight to go along with her twelve points. After a slow start, the SEC’s leading scorer, Courtney Williams, was able to reach her season average with 19 points tonight on 6-17 shooting.   Hall of Fame coach Gary Blair, after the game, was proud of his team for picking up a win in a place he called historic, and was impressed nearly 6,000 people came to the game despite the weather conditions. He noted that the end of the first half was where he thought the game changed. An 8-0 run for the Aggies gave them a seven-point lead going into the locker room. Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell said that the reason was “100 percent hustle” and a “lack of defense” when referring to the final minutes of the first.   To open up the game, Makayla Epps was able to knock down a couple of threes and free throws to give her eight of the teams’ first fourteen points. Following this, she then went on to miss her next eleven shots, despite finishing with a team-high 19 points and 9 rebounds. Azia Bishop played a great game, coming up just one rebound shy of her third double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Jennifer O'Neill (5-10FG) and Bria Goss (8-8FT) also chipped in ten points apiece in the loss.   Kentucky will travel to Oxford to take on Ole Miss on Monday, and then to Arkansas on Thursday, before finishing the season at home with a rematch against no. 2 South Carolina. The game on Monday will take place at 7 p.m. and can be seen on the SEC Network.