Kentucky matched the biggest halftime comeback in program history on Saturday with a 90-89 overtime win over Gonzaga at the "Battle in Seattle.”
The No. 4 Wildcats trailed 50-34 at halftime and by as many as 18 points early in the second half but fought all the way back to claim their second win over a Top Ten 10 opponent this season.
"It was a heavyweight battle," Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said. "That team is really, really good. You bring Baylor in and you beat them by 40, you're really, really good. And coach (Mark) Few is one of the best in the business... Pretty special win by our guys."
Kentucky (8-1) outscored the No. 7 Bulldogs 56-39 in the second half and overtime. The Cats became the first team to rally from a halftime deficit of 10 points or more and win against Gonzaga in the last 176 games.
"We came together at halftime and said we didn't come all the way out here to get punked," said UK junior guard Otega Oweh. "... The people in the circle had belief to go out there and win, to play hard. Just forget about the score. Just go out and do the things that we do."
How they did it was even more impressive.
The Cats played without starting point guard Lamont Butler, arguably their MVP to this point in the season, who was sidelined with the lingering effects of an ankle injury sustained Tuesday at Clemson. They also lost their backup point guard, Kerr Kriisa, to a foot injury with just under nine minutes remaining in the second half while trailing by six.
Enter grad senior wing Jaxson Robinson as the emergency "lead guard" for the rest of the game. The transfer from BYU responded with four big buckets, two free throws, and a pair of timely assists the rest of the way as part of an 18-point, five-assist night.
Kentucky also got a huge effort from grad senior forward Andrew Carr, who scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and overtime.
"I thought Jaxson was extraordinary, and Andrew had a big second half for us," Pope said. "And BG (Brandon Garrison) probably had the best game he's had for us in recent weeks."
Garrison came off the UK bench to score 10 points, grab a team-high nine rebounds, and block one shot.
The Cats found a way to win despite their fourth straight game of struggling from the 3-point arc. They finished 7-of-25 from deep, but compensated by winning the rebound column 43-42 and holding a 16-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Gonzaga (7-2) got 28 points and 11 rebounds from center Graham Ike, but 18 of those came in the first half. The Cats held him to a modest nine over the final 25 minutes of play.
The Bulldogs were held to 39% shooting from the field in the second half and overtime -- thanks in part to Pope adding more zone looks -- after shooting 54% in the first half.
"We've run that 1-3-1 in practice a bunch of times," Oweh said. "And for us, it causes confusion, so just being able to pull that out of our back pocket was huge."
*****
In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...
KEY MOMENT:
Kentucky scored the first three buckets of overtime to stun the Bulldogs and seize control of the momentum. Gonzaga clawed back within a point on two occasions, but could never reclaim the lead. Andrew Carr missed a pair of free throws with four seconds left, but hustled back on defense to deflect the ball a prevent a good look at a potential game-winning shot for the Zags.
GAME BALL:
Jaxson Robinson, Kentucky -- With his team's top two point guards sidelined by injuries, the grad senior wing took over "lead guard" duties late in the second half and delivered in a huge way. Robinson had four buckets, two free throws, and two assists in the final five minutes of regulation and overtime.
BY THE NUMBERS:
2-2 - UK evened the all-time series with the Bulldogs after losing each of the last two seasons. The Cats' other win over Gonzaga came at the 2002 Maui Invitational, an 80-72 triumph.
3 - Times in school history that Kentucky has won a game after trailing by 16 points at halftime -- Gonzaga 2024, Louisville 2004, and LSU 1994.
7 of 25 - Kentucky's 3-point shooting, under 30% for a fourth straight game.
15 - Consecutive free-throw makes by UK until the Cats missed the final three of the game.
17:7 - Kentucky's assist-to-turnover ratio playing without starting point guard Lamont Butler.
QUOTABLE:
"They were really tearing us up with ball screens in all different ways, so we were trying to make adjustments to our ball-screen coverage... The zone helped us, and we kept changing it up. We can morph it into several things. It just kinda helped us stay afloat until we could find our legs offensively." -- UK head coach Mark Pope on changing to a 1-3-1 defense in the second half after Gonzaga shot 54% in the first half and scored 50 points.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action on Wednesday at Rupp Arena against Colgate. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The Radiers (2-7) will face Northeastern on Sunday before traveling to Lexington.
