Kentucky may have allowed its disappointing loss to Arkansas last weekend to turn into an even more disheartening defeat on Tuesday night at Ole Miss.
The No. 25 Rebels blitzed the No. 14 Wildcats from the opening tip, racing to a 23-point halftime lead en route to a 98-84 win at SJB Pavilion in Oxford.
Ole Miss (17-6, 6-4 SEC) took advantage of UK's struggling defense -- which was missing grad senior point guard Lamont Butler for a third straight game -- to shoot 55% from the field, 13-of-30 from the arc, and rack up 24 assists with only one turnover.
"We have some things we're struggling with right now," Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said. "Defensively, we're really struggling. Give Ole Miss credit, they played well, but we also contributed to them playing really well.
"We're trying some different things, trying to find some remedies, but we were wildly unsuccessful in that first half."
Matthew Murrell scored a game-high 24 points and knocked down six of the Rebels' treys. Ole Miss also got 17 from Dre Davis, 16 from Malik Dia, 15 from Jaylen Murray, and 10 from Jae Brakefield as almost the entire roster got in on the scoring fun.
"I just thought they were super-comfortable all night," UK grad senior forward Andrew Carr said. "... We're faced with a lot of things as a team right now, and we have to learn and grow and get a lot better on the defensive end of the floor."
Kentucky (15-7, 4-5 SEC) won the second half 53-44 but waited far too long to get its Top 5 offense going. Otega Oweh shook off a 2-for-9 shooting start in the first half to lead the Cats with 24 points. Jaxson Robinson followed with 18 points, and Amari Williams recorded a bittersweet triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.
The Cats lost handily despite making 10 of 21 from the arc and winning the rebound column 37-29. They had only eight turnovers on the night.
Asked where UK turns now after losing four of its last five games, Carr said: "Nobody's gonna feel sorry for us, and we can't either... At this point, it really is a personal challenge for everybody to figure out how to do it, and do it together."
"We're in a tough spot right now, and it's unacceptable," Pope said. "We have to look inward to find answers."
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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK loss...
KEY MOMENT:
Tipoff? The Cats were simply overwhelmed from the get-go tonight. They were down 12-4, 31-18, and then 54-31 at the half. The body language told the story. Kentucky was not ready to play this game, and Ole Miss made it pay. The Wildcats played harder in the second half and at one point had the ball with a chance to cut the lead to single-digits, but could never get over that hump.
GAME BALL:
Matthew Murrell, Ole Miss -- The Rebels' senior guard more than doubled his season scoring average, racking up a game-high 24 points. He entered the game a 41.6% shooter on the season, but feasted on the UK defense, hitting 8-of-13 from the field and going 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.
BY THE NUMBERS:
3rd - Worst halftime deficit (23) for the Wildcats ever in an SEC game.
4th - Triple-double in UK program history recorded by center Amari Williams (12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists). He joins Chris Mills, De'Aaron Fox, and Isaiah Briscoe in the exclusive club for the Wildcats. He is the only 7-footer in college basketball to record a points-rebounds-assists triple-double in the last 20 years.
25:15 - Time it took UK to force a turnover by Ole Miss. It was the only turnover committed by the Rebels in the game.
98 - The most points ever scored by the Rebels against Kentucky. The previous high was 95 in 1971.
111-15 - Kentucky's lead in the all-time series against Ole Miss. The Rebels have won 12 of those 15 in Oxford. The Cats had won 25 of the last 28 meetings dating back to March of 2001.
QUOTABLE:
"It starts with on the ball and taking pride in staying in front of your man... We have to man-up." -- UK grad senior forward Andrew Carr on the Cats' defensive woes.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday at Rupp Arena against South Carolina.The Gamecocks (10-12, 0-9 SEC) have a mid-week open date after a 76-72 loss to No. 13 Texas A&M this past weekend. Tipoff is slated for Noon ET.
