In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky's 82-78 loss to Texas on Saturday night in Austin, Texas. Each staff member will share his three main takeaways from the game.

DAVID SISK:

1. You can’t help but feel that was one that got away. Kentucky was up 69-64 with 3:51 left, and got outscored 18-6 from there is you take away Otega Oweh’s uncontested three of no significance at the buzzer. Everything went wrong down the stretch. They couldn’t finish, they got outworked, and the point guard injuries really reared their ugly heads. But neither team was able to hold a lead. There were seven changes in all. But it really stings for Kentucky when one figures they led for almost 23 minutes.

2. Rodney Terry put out a blueprint of how to defend Kentucky as long as the roster stays in this current state. They face guarded Koby Brea. He didn’t make a three, and only scored four points. They let Amari Williams go one on one in the post, but they weren’t going to leave an open shooter to double. They gapped the non-shooters, and pressured the ones they respected. The Cats only shot 42%, and made just six of 24 three-pointers.

3. Opponents are going to try to make Kentucky pay because of all their point guard injuries. They couldn’t create at all off the dribble. But the big stat was 15 turnovers that led to 21 Texas points. The indecisive turnovers at the end of the game were killers. There was an unforced one in halfcourt on an easy point to wing entry, then a total miscommunication against the press. Expect Vanderbilt to copy the blueprint in the next game.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

1. This is a frustrating loss for the Cats because, despite being extremely shorthanded with no point guards available and no Jaxson Robinson on the wing, the game was there to be had. Kentucky led by five late in the second half and 70-67 at the under-4 timeout. From there on, it was a complete collapse as Texas closed the game out with a 15-8 run.

2. Kentucky went 6-for-24 from 3-point range with two of those makes coming in the final 18 seconds after the game was already over. The Cats cannot survive that kind of shooting night.

3. The other big stats that jumped off the page were turnovers (15) for Kentucky and transition points (16) for Texas. Part of that can be chalked up to having no point guards available, but many of the 15 miscues were unforced. UK did not value the basketball tonight.