Kentucky's awful start against No. 11 Gonzaga leads to worst loss of Mark Pope era

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Dec 5, 2025

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Kentucky Wildcats got off to an unimaginably bad start in Bridgestone Arena.

And they finished the night with the same result as all three of their previous games against ranked opponents this season. A loss.

No. 11 Gonzaga beat the 18th-ranked Wildcats, 94-59, on Friday, handing Mark Pope’s team an embarrassing defeat in front of a packed crowd that was overwhelmingly in favor of Kentucky. There were loud boos directed at the Cats for much of the evening.

It was the most lopsided defeat of Pope’s tenure as head coach.

UK (5-4) was just three days removed from a 67-64 loss to No. 16 North Carolina in Rupp Arena, where the Cats led for most of the game but ran ice cold toward the end, missing 13 consecutive shots from the field and going more than 10 minutes without a basket in the second half.

The shooting woes followed the Wildcats south for this one.

Kentucky missed its first 10 shots Friday night, and the Cats didn’t score from the field until their 15th possession of the game. The first 14 featured seven missed 3-pointers and five turnovers, as well as some other shots that landed nowhere near their mark.

By the time UK did find the bottom of the net during live play — a corner 3-pointer from Denzel Aberdeen with 11:04 left in the first half — Gonzaga had taken a 19-2 lead.

The Cats never got back within 12 points after that.

Kentucky point guard Jaland Lowe did make his return to the court — checking in with 15:38 left in the first half — after missing the previous five games with a shoulder injury, but his presence couldn’t do much to get the Wildcats going in the right direction.

The losses to Gonzaga and North Carolina this week followed an 83-66 defeat at the hands of now-No. 7 Michigan State on Nov. 18 and a 96-88 loss at now-No. 6 Louisville on Nov. 11.

All five of Kentucky’s wins have come against mid-major competition, with Valparaiso, which came into the day at No. 193 in the KenPom ratings, counting as its most well-regarded victory.

Otega Oweh led UK with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Collin Chandler added 11 points. The Cats shot 16 for 60 from the field and were 7 for 34 from 3-point range.

Lowe had one point, one rebound, one assist and one turnover in 14 minutes off the bench. He was 0 for 5 from the floor and 0 for 2 on 3-pointers.

Senior forward Graham Ike led the Bulldogs with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Ike tallied 28 points and 11 rebounds against Kentucky last season in Seattle, but the Wildcats rallied from an 18-point deficit in that game to earn a 90-89 overtime victory.

There would be no such comeback Friday night. UK was down 43-20 at halftime and trailed by as many as 37 points in the second half. Oweh scored the first basket out of the break — a 3-pointer to cut the Zags’ lead to 43-23 — but that 20-point deficit was as close as the Cats got after halftime.

The last time the Wildcats played in Bridgestone Arena, they suffered a 99-70 loss to Alabama in the 2025 SEC Tournament quarterfinals. That was UK’s most lopsided defeat in Pope’s first season as head coach. The 2026 SEC Tournament will also be held in the building.

Kentucky will return to the court Tuesday night with a matchup against North Carolina Central in Rupp Arena. That game is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

The Eagles are off to a 3-7 start this season and entered Friday at No. 344 nationally in the KenPom ratings, making them the lowest-ranked team on Kentucky’s 2025-26 schedule.