No. 15 Kentucky looks for its third straight win and continued momentum for the stretch run when it squares off against struggling Texas on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference contest in Austin, Texas.
It’s just the third all-time meeting, with the Wildcats winning both, including a 63-51 home victory on Dec. 5, 2014, in the most recent matchup. This will be the first matchup in Austin.
The Wildcats (17-7, 6-5 SEC) head to the Texas capital with consecutive wins, the latest a 75-64 home decision over No. 5 Tennessee on Tuesday that gave Kentucky a season sweep. Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh scored 13 points each and Koby Brea and Trent Noah had 11 apiece for the short-handed Wildcats.
The Wildcats surrendered the lead in the second half but finished on a 20-6 run.
Kentucky played without Jaxson Robinson, its second-leading scorer (13.3 ppg) who missed his first game of the season due to a wrist injury he suffered in practice on Feb. 7. The Wildcats also lost Lamont Butler to a shoulder injury late in the second half.
Robinson and Butler’s availability for the Texas game is to be determined.
“We’re still kind of going day by day,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said Thursday of the players’ injury status. “We’re trying some different treatments. We’re going to piece it together. They’re both complicated situations.
“This is the part of the season where our young guys kind of have to become sophomores a little bit. Our roster issues are forcing them to do it, and they’re ready.”
The Longhorns (15-10, 4-8) return to their home court after a 103-80 loss to No. 2 Alabama on Tuesday. Freshman guard Tre Johnson, the leading scorer in the SEC (19.3 points per game), poured in 24 points and Jayson Kent added a season-high 19 for Texas, which shot just 42 percent from the floor and was outrebounded 41-25.
Texas has dropped three straight after producing a stretch of three league wins in four games and need a victory over Kentucky to bolster its flagging NCAA Tournament hopes. After playing the Wildcats, Texas will face just one more opponent currently ranked in the AP Top 25.
The Longhorns have been wildly inconsistent and coach Rodney Terry is on the proverbial hot seat after a 23-point loss at home, albeit to the No. 2 team in the nation.
“I’m all about trying to get my team better,” Terry said. “It’s about focusing on those guys and focusing on what we have to do as a program to continue to stay the course and keep working. I don’t get caught up in outside noise. If I’m worried about what people are saying, this or that, that’s not my job.”
Texas has played without energy provider Chendall Weaver for the past 10 games because of a hip injury and lost second-leading scorer Arthur Kaluma (12.9 ppg) to a left knee injury after just 11 minutes against Alabama. The status of both for the Kentucky game is to be determined.
–Field Level Media
