Five things you need to know from No. 23 Kentucky’s 76-65 win vs. No. 19 Texas Tech in a NCAA men’s college basketball exhibition game:
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1. Kentucky ball security. In its 69-49 exhibition victory over Little Rock last Friday, UK committed a robust 19 turnovers.
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The three players expected to be the primary facilitators for Mark Pope’s 2026-27 Wildcats, Alex Wilkins (four turnovers), Malachi Moreno (four) and Zoom Diallo (three), combined for 11 of the miscues.
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Against Texas Tech, it started the same way. At the 7:29 television timeout in the first half, UK had seven turnovers to one for Texas Tech — and Diallo (three) and Wilkins (two) had five of those.
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With Wilkins and freshman Mason Williams manning the Kentucky backcourt, however, the Wildcats stabilized.
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UK ripped off a 17-3 run to turn a 25-18 deficit into a 35-28 edge.
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By halftime, the turnover battle was even, seven apiece, and Kentucky held a 37-33 lead.
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In half two, Kentucky committed only four turnovers and finished the game with an acceptable 11.
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2. UK 3-point shooting. At SEC Media Days, Mark Pope proclaimed the current Cats as “probably the best shooting team I’ve ever had.”
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In the exhibition vs. Little Rock, Kentucky hit 12 of 28 3-pointers, led by 4-of-7 shooting from Milan Momcilovic and 2 of 4 from Justin McBride.
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Versus Texas Tech, UK made only 1 of 11 trey tries in half one.
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The Cats were far better in the second half, sinking 6 of 12.
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Two treys by Alex Wilkins with 4:29 and 2:51 left in the game, respectively, helped turn a 62-59 UK lead into a 70-61 lead.
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A Momcilovic trey with 1:43 left pushed the Kentucky edge to 73-63 and was essentially the dagger that exterminated the Red Raiders’ hopes.
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For the game, the Wildcats finished 7 of 23 from behind the arc.
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3. Cats got a recruiting steal. According to the Rivals 150, Mason Williams was the No. 139 prospect in the recruiting Class of 2026.
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If there are 138 freshman better that Williams, then men’s college basketball has one hellacious freshman class.
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After scoring 10 points with three assists and three steals in UK’s exhibition vs. Little Rock, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Williams came back with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting vs. Texas Tech.
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When the game was in the balance, Williams came up big.
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With the game tied at 54, Williams drained a trey from just right of the circle to regain the lead for Kentucky.
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On Texas Tech’s ensuing possession, Williams stole the ball from Tech’s Cruz Davis, which led to Malachi Moreno making 1-of-2 free throws for a 58-54 UK edge.
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Williams pushed the Kentucky lead to 60-54 with a spinning 8-footer in the lane.
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The son of new UK assistant coach and former longtime NBA guard Mo Williams, Mason Williams looks like an under-recruited gem.
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4. Cats in exhibition games. With its victory over Texas Tech, Kentucky improved its all-time record in exhibition contests to 157-13.
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Since a 63-62 loss to the Dominican Republic National Team in Nassau, Bahamas, on Aug. 17, 2014, UK has subsequently gone 36-1 in exhibitions.
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5. Kentucky vs. Division I teams in exhibitions. Exhibition games pitting two NCAA Division I teams are a recent phenomenon.
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The matchup with Texas Tech was the fifth time in UK men’s basketball history that the Wildcats have played a D-I opponent in an exhibition game.
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This is how the Cats have fared in those games:
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• Oct. 30, 2017: Kentucky beat Morehead State 92-67 in a game the NCAA sanctioned as a charitable fundraiser.
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• Oct. 24, 2025: The No. 9 Wildcats beat No. 1 Purdue 78-65 in the first exhibition of the season for both teams.
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• Oct. 30, 2025: The No. 9 Wildcats, playing without a lead guard due to injuries to Jaland Lowe and Denzell Aberdeen, were defeated by the Georgetown Hoyas, 84-70.
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• Oct. 16, 2026: The No. 23 Wildcats defeated Little Rock, coached by ex-UK point guard Travis Ford, 69-49, in front of an announced crowd of 18,955.
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• Oct. 23, 2026: No. 23 Kentucky defeated No. 19 Texas Tech to improve to 4-1 all-time in exhibition games vs. D-I opposition.
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The Wildcats will face Central Florida Wednesday, Oct. 28, in a third and final exhibition game prior to the 2026-27 regular season at 6 p.m. EDT at Rupp Arena.
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Эта история была первоначально опубликована 23 октября 2026 г., 21:05.
Марк Стори
Лексингтон Геральд-Лидер
