A night filled with drama ended with another loss for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Mark Pope got his first technical foul as UK’s head coach, Otega Oweh hit a three-quarters-court shot to beat the halftime buzzer, and the Wildcats came back from yet another second-half deficit to take a lead into the final minute of their SEC home opener.
They lost it from there.
UK committed two key turnovers in that final minute, and the Tigers escaped Rupp Arena with a 73-68 upset over the Wildcats on Wednesday night. Missouri ended the game on a 15-2 run.
Four days after getting run out of Tuscaloosa in an 89-74 loss to Alabama, the Cats returned to Rupp for their first home game in more than two weeks.
Pope trotted out a new starting lineup for the occasion, inserting Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance — something UK fans have been clamoring for — to play alongside Denzel Aberdeen, Oweh and Mouhamed Dioubate from the opening tip.
That combo didn’t get much done in the beginning, and — with the Cats’ offense sputtering yet again — Mizzou opened up a seven-point lead a little more than midway through the first half. Oweh led a 7-0 run to tie it up in quick order, though Kentucky never retook the lead before halftime.
There were still plenty of fireworks as the half came to a close.
With the Cats down 28-27 and 1:23 left until halftime, Pope took exception to Quaintance getting sent to the floor on UK’s offensive end, and the theatrics led to his first technical foul as Kentucky’s coach. This was his 51st game in the role.
UK fell behind by six right after that, but — following a pair of Lowe free throws — Oweh came up with a steal under the basket and barely beat the buzzer with a shot from more than 75 feet away. It dropped, the Rupp crowd went wild, and the Cats went into the locker room down 33-32.
Kentucky’s new starting five got off to a much better start to the second half, jumping out to a 38-33 lead with consecutive baskets from Lowe, Aberdeen and Oweh.
After a series of mishaps handed the lead back to Mizzou, the Cats got consecutive 3-pointers from Lowe and Kam Williams, and they were back up 47-42.
They still couldn’t manage to pull away, though, with Missouri retaking the lead a short time later, and Kentucky immediately answering that with a 9-2 run of its own.
The Cats took a 68-67 lead into the final minute, but turnovers doomed them in the end.
Oweh was the only Wildcat in double figures. He scored 20 points.
Kentucky fell to 9-6 on the season. Missouri, which was a 12.5-point underdog right before tipoff, improved to 12-3.
The Cats will stay in Lexington for game three of the SEC schedule, which continues Saturday night against Mississippi State. That one is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
See complete stats from Kentucky-Missouri.
Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) looks to move the ball as Missouri Tigers guard Anthony Robinson II (0) defends during a game at Rupp Arena on Wednesday. Ryan C. Hermens [email protected]
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 9:20 PM.
Ben Roberts
Lexington Herald-Leader
Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006.
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