Kentucky bounces back from brutal loss with 42-point win over Loyola (Md.)

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov 21, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Three nights after perhaps the lowest point of Mark Pope’s tenure as Kentucky’s head coach, his Wildcats came out like a team knowing it had something to prove.

The 12th-ranked Cats dominated Loyola (Md.) from the start and ultimately left Rupp Arena with an 88-46 victory Friday night. UK (4-2) was coming off an 83-66 loss to Michigan State in Madison Square Garden earlier in the week, a result that led to much consternation within the Wildcats’ fan base.

Their bounce-back opponent was bad — Loyola (now 2-5) entered the game at No. 292 in the KenPom ratings, with previous losses to Towson, NJIT, Fairfield and Duquesne — but it was still an impressive showing for the Cats, who scored 20 points before the first TV timeout and looked like a totally different team offensively.

Pope shook up his starting lineup for this one. Part of that was out of necessity — Mouhamed Dioubate was sidelined with an ankle injury suffered late in the loss to the Spartans — and part of it was by choice. UK’s coach benched starting center Brandon Garrison in favor of freshman big man Malachi Moreno for this one.

It didn’t take long for everyone in blue and white to get in on the fun.

SEC preseason player of the year Otega Oweh, who had struggled to this point in the season, got things started. Oweh cut to the basket on the opening possession and took a pass from Kam Williams — Dioubate’s replacement in the first five — for an easy bucket at the rim.

The next trip down the floor, Oweh did it all himself with a strong drive for another layup. He forced a turnover on the other end, then found Moreno, who dunked one home. Oweh hit a jumper on Kentucky’s next possession. Collin Chandler had a layup on the possession after that, and Williams immediately followed that up with a layup of his own.

By that point, the Cats led the Greyhounds 12-3, and barely three minutes had ticked off the clock. Kentucky was up 20-8 at the first TV timeout — thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Chandler — and the UK’s offense kept chugging along from there.

Williams put the final touches on a cathartic first half with a long 3-pointer to beat the buzzer. He was mobbed by his teammates as soon as the horn sounded, and the Cats went into the halftime locker room with a 50-20 lead.

The mood was a total switch from three nights earlier in Madison Square Garden, where the Cats turned in one of the worst performances of Pope’s tenure in charge of the program.

Kentucky got off to a slow start to the second half — no points in the first three minutes — but then Oweh, Chandler and Williams threw down dunks on consecutive possessions to get the Cats moving again.

Chandler and Williams led the Cats with 13 points each. Williams added nine rebounds, four assists and three steals in his first UK start. Denzel Aberdeen had 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Oweh also had 11 points. Moreno tallied 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Garrison had a team-high 11 rebounds.

There were plenty of team superlatives, too.

The Cats forced a season-high 16 turnovers and often used those plays to get out in transition, outscoring the Greyhounds 33-3 in fast-break points. Kentucky also won points in the paint 52-16 and outrebounded Loyola 56-33.

The Wildcats will return to the court Wednesday, with coach John Pelphrey bringing his Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles to Rupp Arena.

Pelphrey played for Kentucky from 1988-92 and is in his seventh year as head coach at Tennessee Tech, which is off to a 3-3 start to the 2025-26 season.

The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook picked the Golden Eagles to finish last in the 11-team Ohio Valley Conference this preseason. They went into Friday at No. 320 in the KenPom ratings.