Kentucky beats Ole Miss -- spoiling Travis Perry's return -- for 5th straight win

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Jan 24, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Make it five wins in a row for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Cats defeated Ole Miss 72-63 Saturday, scoring a victory over former UK guard Travis Perry in his return to Rupp Arena and securing their fifth straight win in SEC play.

Kentucky was never behind in the second half, though Ole Miss did briefly tie the score at 39 with more than 13 minutes left. The Cats, who shot just 36.0% from the field, couldn’t manage to put much distance between themselves and the Rebels, who never trailed by more than six points over the final 15:45 until Malachi Moreno hit two free throws to give Kentucky a 68-60 lead with 34.8 seconds left.

UK was clinging to a 62-60 advantage with 1:05 remaining when Moreno made a free throw to put the Cats up by three points. Moreno couldn’t connect on the second free throw, but Mouhamed Dioubate forced a jump ball on that miss, and Kentucky retained possession. Collin Chandler hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to give UK a 66-60 lead with 47.7 seconds left.

Otega Oweh made a number of big plays down the stretch and scored 20 points in the second half. He finished with 23 points after spending much of the first half in foul trouble. Oweh has now scored in double figures in each of UK’s 20 games this season.

Kentucky freshman Jasper Johnson scored 11 points — giving the Cats a major lift in the first half — and Chandler had 12 points and tied his career high with seven rebounds. Moreno had five points and a team-high nine rebounds.

UK improved to 14-6 on the season and 5-2 in SEC play with the victory.

Perry, who is Kentucky’s all-time high school scoring leader, got his first league start of the season for the Rebels but missed all three of his shot attempts and finished with zero points. Perry was a freshman at UK last season and Kentucky’s high school Mr. Basketball at Lyon County during his senior year, which ended with a state title victory in Rupp Arena.

He did not play in the final 17:46 of Saturday’s game, until checking back in with 34.8 seconds left.

Ole Miss dropped to 11-9 overall and 3-4 in the SEC with the loss.

The game tipped off at 11:01 a.m. ET — the start time moved up an hour due to the winter storm hitting Lexington Saturday — with Kentucky as an 11.5-point favorite.

It was an ugly start for both teams. UK missed its first five shots from the field, and Ole Miss was 0 for 4 in the early going. Kentucky led 5-4 at the first TV timeout.

The Cats ended up misfiring on 13 of their first 16 shots before Johnson scored three consecutive baskets — two 3-pointers and a turnaround jumper that banked in — in 94 seconds to put UK ahead 19-15 with 7:22 left in the period.

Johnson’s flurry was the start of an 18-4 run for the Wildcats, who briefly took a 29-19 lead before Ole Miss hit four free throws in the final 2:18 of the half to make it a 29-23 score at the break. It was just the second time in 13 games against high-major competition this season that Kentucky had the lead at halftime.

The Cats managed to do that with Oweh sitting on the bench for most of the half. Kentucky’s leading scorer played only nine minutes in the first half, picking up his second foul with 15:46 remaining in the period. Oweh had just three points at halftime and missed the only two shots he took — both 3-pointers — in the first half.

Kentucky was also without Jayden Quaintance for the fifth consecutive game due to swelling in his surgically repaired knee. It was the Cats’ first game without Kam Williams, who broke his foot during the win over Texas on Wednesday night. Pope confirmed before the game that Williams had foot surgery Friday. There is no timetable for his return.

Neither Williams nor UK point guard Jaland Lowe — out for the season with a shoulder injury — was with the team in Rupp Arena on Saturday. Pope said afterward that Lowe is also preparing for surgery, while Williams stayed home after his operation Friday.

The win over Ole Miss moved Kentucky to 9-2 since suffering back-to-back losses to North Carolina and Gonzaga in early December, a pair of defeats that knocked the Cats out of the AP Top 25 rankings.

This is the first time UK has won five consecutive games since Pope got off to a 7-0 start to his tenure as head coach last season. The Cats never won more than two consecutive games against SEC opponents during the 2024-25 regular season.

Kentucky will look to keep up that momentum with two tough road tests next week. UK will play at No. 15 Vanderbilt on Tuesday night before traveling to Arkansas for a matchup with John Calipari and the 20th-ranked Razorbacks next Saturday.

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