Kentucky hung on for a 66-58 win Tuesday night at Missouri in a game that had all the thrill and some of the pain of a trip to the dentist.

Now Big Blue Nation's collective breath is held for Reid Travis.

The Wildcats' burly grad transfer forward went down with an apparent knee injury and left the game early in the second half. UK announced that he has a sprain, but the severity is not yet known.

It was a night in which No. 4 Kentucky (22-4, 11-2 SEC) could not summon the same kind of intensity it showed Saturday in a blowout of top-ranked Tennessee. The Cats led by 18 at halftime and as many as 20 in the second half, but could never fully put the struggling Tigers away.

Mizzou (12-13, 3-10 SEC) outscored UK 35-25 in the second half. Kentucky took only one field goal attempt over the final messy six minutes and 57 seconds. To their credit, however, the Cats hit 13 of 14 free throws in the second half to seal the victory.

"I've got to watch the tape," UK head coach John Calipari said. "You know, when Reid got hurt, I was just trying to get out of the gym, and we were tentative. Part of it was me, part of it was how we were finishing the game.

"We got up 18, and it's hard coming off the Tennessee game. These kids aren't machines, they aren't robots... But, hey, it's a road win, and you march on."

Sophomore forward PJ Washington, the reigning Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, continued his strong play with 18 points and eight rebounds. Freshman wing Tyler Herro added 18 points and five rebounds for the Cats.

Freshman point guard Ashton Hagans added 12 points for UK.

The Tigers were paced by Ronnie Suggs with 13 points and Jordan Geist with 11.

*****

In this Cats Illustrated "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...

THE GOOD:

The Cats survived, thanks in large part to hitting just enough 3-pointers (7 of 19) and making nearly all of their free throws (19 of 22). Beyond those categories, UK mostly leaned on strong defense to gut out an ugly win.

THE BAD:

The Cats were out-rebounded 34-28 by Mizzou, and by a 19-8 count in the second half. Without Reid Travis, there was a clear drop in physicality round the basket. He's more important to UK in the grand scheme of things than his averages would suggest.

THE UGLY:

Seeing Travis (and even PJ Washington with a few seconds remaining) limp off the court was the last thing UK wanted to view with the tournament time rapidly approaching. No one will feel too good about this victory until they receive word that Travis will be OK.

GAME BALL:

PJ Washington, Kentucky -- He's got this award on lockdown of late. This wasn't as dominant a performance as some of the other recent efforts, but it was rock solid. Washington mixed in a couple of 3s, dished out three assists, and played strong defense.

BY THE NUMBERS:

1st - Time Kentucky has been out-rebounded since Jan. 8 against Texas A&M.

6 - Straight road wins for Cats.

12-1 - UK's all-time series record against Missouri.

37 - Percent shooting (22 of 59) by the Tigers from the field. It was the eighth SEC team to make less than 40 percent of its attempts against UK.

44 of 45 - Tyler Herro's free-throw shooting in SEC play this season. He was 8-for-8 on Tuesday.

297 - John Calipari ties Joe B. Hall for second-most wins in UK program history.

QUOTABLE:

"We have to learn to play for a full 40 minutes." -- UK freshman wing Tyler Herro

UP NEXT:

Kentucky returns to action Saturday at Rupp Arena for a 1:30 ET tipoff against Auburn. The Cats won the first matchup with Bruce Pearl's Tigers 82-80 down on the Plains. Auburn (17-8, 6-6 SEC) will play host to Arkansas on Wednesday night before traveling to Lexington.