Turnovers Hurt Kentucky as the Cats Drop 97-87 to Aggies in SEC Tournament
By Jamie H. Vaught
NASHVILLE -- It's March Madness in the world of college and high school basketball.
But, for Kentucky, it's March Sadness as the No.7-seed Texas A&M Aggies upset the No. 2-seed Wildcats 97-87 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
Beginning with the 2019 SEC Tournament, UK has won only two games in seven tourney matchups.
The loss dropped UK's record to 23-9, snapping a five-game winning streak, while Texas A&M, which also defeated the Wildcats 97-92 in overtime back in January at College Station, improved its mark to 20-13.
Both teams were fairly even in four statistical categories in the overall field goal shooting percentage, three-point shooting percentage, free throw shooting percentage and rebounding. But the turnovers hurt Kentucky as the Cats lost the battle of turnovers 14-6, leading to an 18-4 disadvantage in points off turnovers. Also, Texas A&M had 26 second-chance points, while the Wildcats only had nine.
"Give A&M credit," said UK coach John Calipari in a postgame press conference. "They played a physical game. Did a great job. Defensively, they made it hard. Just wasn't one of our better games. We didn't pass the ball to each other like we've been doing. They deserved that game the way they played. Again, I mean, we give up 97. How many games you going to win giving up 97 points? Two (actually three) guards got 72 points. You're not going to win."
Kentucky freshman Rob Dillingham, who hit 5 of 10 three-pointers, gunned in 27 points, his second-highest scoring game of the season. Also, it was his eighth 20-point game of the season. He also led the Wildcats in assists with seven.
UK senior Antonio Reeves, who fouled out after 18 minutes of playing time, added 13 points, ending his streak of seven straight games of at least 20 points. Reeves now has 1,128 points in his two seasons as a Wildcat – moving past Oscar Tshiebwe (1,117) and Randolph Morris (1,123) to No. 47 on the all-time UK list.
Kentucky freshman Reed Sheppard pumped in 5 of 8 baskets for 14 points, including 3 of 6 three-pointers.
The Aggies were by All-SEC guard Wade Taylor IV who hit a game-high 32 points.
For Kentucky, the next game will be in the NCAA Tournament, while Texas A&M faces No. 7-seed Florida Saturday afternoon in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” He is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine, and a professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.
