Just three days after losing at home on Senior Night, the Kentucky basketball team went into Fayetteville and pulled out an unlikely win over Arkansas to close out the regular season. The Wildcats beat the Razorbacks with a final score of 88-79.

Kentucky came in even more limited at the guard position than usual. Sahvir Wheeler has been out multiple weeks with a lingering ankle injury and just recently had a medical procedure that will cause him to miss more time. In the loss to Vanderbilt, Cason Wallace suffered an ankle sprain that kept him sidelined in this game.

For the first time this season, Kentucky was without a true point guard. Of those that receive true playing minutes, Antonio Reeves, CJ Fredrick, and Adou Thiero were the only guards available for the game. Fredrick is coming off recovery of a cracked rib and still isn’t considered 100%.

Despite the limitations, the Wildcats overcame the odds and pulled out a huge win that very few expected.

Kentucky had a much more efficient night shooting the basketball. On 54 shots, the Cats went 53.7% from the field. They also got it done at the free throw line shooting 78.8% on 33 attempts.

Comparatively, Arkansas took 70 shots in the game, only making 35.7% and shooting 64.7% from the free throw line on 34 attempts.

With the win, Kentucky has locked themselves in for the 3-seed and a double-bye in next week’s SEC Tournament.

Let’s take a look at what all occurred in the win.

Things Got Chippy

Arkansas is known for being a very physical team. In their last matchup that took place in Lexington on February 7th, Arkansas’ physicality was too much for Kentucky. The Wildcats lost that matchup 88-73.

Coming into Fayetteville, Kentucky refused to let that happen again. The Cats were able to match the physicality of the Razorbacks and it led to a chippy game from start to finish.

When it was all said and done, a total of five technical fouls were called in addition to a single Flagrant-1 call.

From the tip, Oscar Tshiebwe and Arkansas’ Makhel Mitchell were going at it. Tensions came to a boil at the 16:12 mark of the first half. In an attempt to secure position in the post, Mitchell pushed and threw his weight into Tshiebwe in which Tshiebwe would retaliate with an elbow into Mitchell’s neck area.

Mitchell would be assessed a common foul, while Tshiebwe would receive a dead ball technical foul. Arkansas’ Anthony Black would receive a technical foul, also, for getting involved in the scuffle.

Many people across social media and including the CBS announcers believe Tshiebwe’s action deserved to be classified as a flagrant foul. Tshiebwe would be called for a Flagrant-1 later in the game for a separate incident that appeared much less intentional.

Shortly after returning from the halftime break, Arkansas’ Davonte Davis and Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves got nose-to-nose before being broken up by the pinstripes.

Moments later, Davis would be called for a foul that he expressively disagreed with. He would be assessed a technical foul and then ejected after a second technical foul minutes later for continuing to voice his displeasure with the call.

Kentucky’s Lance Ware would receive a technical foul in the second half after making some “colorful” comments towards Arkansas’ Anthony Black.

Kentucky needed toughness to get this win, and that is exactly what they brought to Arkansas. “We understand teams are going to be aggressive with us, but we’re not going for any of it,” said Jacob Toppin. “They tried to punk us, and we weren’t having it.“

Antonio Reeves

With the lack of an available point guard, someone had to step up and be the one to make plays. Senior guard Antonio Reeves answered the call.

Reeves went nuclear, scoring a career high of 37 points. He went 12-17 from the field and 11-11 at the free throw line. The Arkansas defenders couldn’t find an answer for him all day. Reeves never left the game as he played all 40 minutes.

Other Wildcats contributed significantly to the win as well.

Notably, Jacob Toppin scored 21 points of his own on 6-9 shooting and going 7-8 from the stripe. He and Reeves combined to shoot 4-7 from the three point line. Toppin also shared some of the ball-handling duties with Reeves. He added 4 assists and 4 rebounds in the contest, as well as a block and a steal.

Oscar Tshiebwe got his 18th double-double of the season in only 26 minutes played. Tshiebwe faced foul trouble throughout the game and fouled out with 4:58 left in the game. Nevertheless, he was able to score 12 points and grab 13 rebounds.

CJ Fredrick only scored two points in 15 minutes played. However, he had the highest “+/-” stat of any player in the game with +16. Even though Fredrick had limited time due to his gradual recovery from injury, he was able to contribute to the win. He added four assists and a steal to the stat sheet.

Fredrick would receive the “Most Impactful Player” award from his coaches and teammates.

Box Score

Highlights