Cincinnati Sports News

Cincinnati Sports News

Box score, MVP, and Twitter reactions to Kentucky falling at Texas

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NCAA Basketball: Kentucky at Texas
Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

The shorthanded Cats couldn’t pull this one out.

The Kentucky Wildcats hobbled into Saturday night’s battle with the Texas Longhorns. Both teams were operating with a limited roster. Expectations for a road win in Austin lessened after the news broke that both Lamont Butler and Jason Robinson would be unavailable.

In the face of adversity, Mark Pope would call on Travis Perry to start his first-ever game as a Wildcat.

UK would get out to a hot start that included a Perry 3-ball. Overall, it played a solid first half of basketball. Travis Perry and Trent Noah would play a combined 24 mins, contributing on both ends of the floor.

However, it was UK’s Amari Williams who stole the show in the first half, scoring nine points, grabbing five boards, and draining his first 3-pointer as a Wildcat.

Despite shooting just 3/13 from deep, Kentucky would take an impressive 41-37 lead heading into the locker room. The rest of the game would prove to be a war, with each team stealing momentum for mini-stretches.

Kentucky would lean on their do-it-all big man Amari Williams early and often. The warrior in the middle of would lead UK in a tenacious effort while willing positive outcomes for his team.

However, led by Tre Johnson, Texas would scrape and claw their way to a four-point lead in with 90 seconds left to play.

A missed Koby Brea 3-pointer and made Tre Johnson jump shot for the Longhorns ended any chance at getting out of Austin with a win.

Texas takes advantage of 15 UK turnovers and wins 82-78. It was a gutsy effort by an undermanned Kentucky team, but now sitting at 6-6 in the conference, there isn’t much time for moral victories.

Box Score



MVP

Amari Williams remains a force in the middle and one of the most difficult players in the SEC to game plan for. What he lacks in finesse, Williams more than makes up for it with pure effort and determination.

With all of UK’s injuries woes, it’s hard to imagine this team without the contributions of Amari Williams on offense and defense. He’s been nothing short of incredible for many games this season, and tonight in Austin, #22 had another great outing.

He’d finish the game with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Kentucky vs. Texas Twitter Reactions

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