Few things delight John Calipari like spoiling an opponent's "T-shirt night," as the Kentucky head coach is apt to call the familiar frenzied environment when the Wildcats roll into town.
Despite falling behind by 13 points in the first half on Wednesday night at Texas A&M and offering one of its more ragged performances of the season, Kentucky found a way to walk out of Reed Arena with a hard-fought 64-58 victory.
The No. 12 Wildcats (15-3, 5-1 SEC) held the Aggies to just two points during the final 4:22 to pick up their first "close win" of the season. All of UK's previous 14 victories had come by 12 or more points.
"I don't know if you guys know, but I've invested in different T-shirt companies," Calipari joked after the win. "You know, the white-out, the blue-out, the orange-out, the black-out, and I'm getting a piece of all that action. I'm happy that they come in and put on all that stuff."
On a more serious note, Calipari added: "I try to tell them, you take pride in this because they're coming to see you. Now, they may want to see you lose, but they want to watch you. Take pride in that... I want to be roundly booed."
For slightly more than half of Wednesday's game, it seemed like those jeers would help rattle the Cats and carry the Aggies to their ninth straight win. Texas A&M led 29-16 late in the first half and 47-41 with 13:22 remaining in the game.
Kentucky surged ahead, however, by holding A&M to just one field goal during a seven-minute stretch that saw a six-point deficit turn into a one-point lead on a 3-pointer by Kellen Grady with 9:00 to go.
How gritty was the route to victory? It was the only 3-pointer that Grady hit all night. The SEC's leading perimeter shooter finished 1-for-9 from behind the arc.
The Cats and Aggies mostly traded baskets until the final four minutes when UK opened up some space on a pair of TyTy Washington jumpers. UK's Jacob Toppin, Davion Mintz, and Oscar Tshiebwe combined to hit four of six free throws in the final 1:25 to seal the victory.
"We learned a lot about ourselves, and I’m just proud of this team that we stuck together because we’ve struggled a lot in the last four minutes," Mintz said. "Just to know that we finally got one under our belts in crunch time. That’s big for our confidence going forward.”
Texas A&M (15-3, 4-1 SEC) entered the matchup as the SEC's top 3-point shooting team, but finished 1-for-22 from beyond the arc as part of a 39% shooting night overall. The Aggies also missed eight of their 13 free-throw attempts.
Kentucky shot just 36% and committed 17 turnovers but was 18-of-26 at the line.
Sahvir Wheeler led the Cats with 12 points, although the junior point guard had an uncharacteristic eight turnovers. Mintz followed with 10 points and eight rebounds, while fellow reserve Toppin came off the bench to contribute nine points and six rebounds and was praised by Calipari for defending four different positions on the night.
Junior center/forward Oscar Tshiebwe added eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds for UK.
Henry Coleman III was the only Aggie in double-figures with 17 points. He also pulled down eight rebounds.
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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...
KEY MOMENT:
There were many on a night when neither team led by more than six in the second half, but the game may have been won at the end of the first half. Kentucky managed to whittle a 13-point deficit to five going into the locker room. As bad as the Cats had played in the opening 20 minutes, they felt like they were in good shape at the break and had withstood the wild atmosphere at Reed Arena.
GAME BALL:
Davion Mintz, Kentucky - The grad senior guard came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down eight rebounds, including four big ones in the final four-plus minutes of the game. He went 2-for-7 from the field, but one of them was a 3-pointer with seven minutes remaining to give the Cats a lead they would not surrender.
BY THE NUMBERS:
4.5% - Kentucky's all-time best defensive percentage against the 3-point shot in a game where the opponent attempted 20 or more from beyond the arc.
12-4 - The Cats' record in the all-time series with the Aggies. UK has won three straight.
17 - Season-high turnovers for the Cats, including eight by starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler.
36.2% - Season-low field goal percentage for UK, which entered the game shooting 51% on the season and had shot 68% in its last game against Tennessee.
218-24 - Kentucky's record under John Calipari when holding the opponent to under 40% FG
14,036 - The largest crowd ever to attend a game at Reed Arena.
QUOTABLE:
"Down the stretch, we definitely made plays that won us the game. We definitely played a lot better in the last four minutes. Coach has always emphasized the last four minutes of the game if we’re in a close game situation, how we’re going to finish. And I think we did a pretty well job of finishing the game." -- UK forward Jacob Toppin
UP NEXT:
It's a quick turnaround and another challenge for Kentucky, which travels to Auburn on Saturday for a clash with the No. 2 Tigers (17-1, 6-0 SEC). Bruce Pearl's squad defeated Georgia 83-60 on Wednesday in Auburn. Tipoff for UK and Auburn is 1 p.m. ET on CBS.
