Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats made the trip down to Austin, Texas, to take on the Longhorns, but a late collapse led to the Wildcats picking up their sixth loss in conference play. Kentucky got some solid performances from Amari Williams, Otega Oweh, and Ansley Almonor, but the freshman phenom Tre Johnson was too much for the Wildcats to handle with 32 points.

The Wildcats needed a big game from Koby Brea if they were going to get this win on the road, but he had one of his worst games of the season, going 0-6 from the field and 0-4 from three. Brea’s only four points all came at the free-throw line.

Kentucky played this game without Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson. These two are the primary ball handlers for the Wildcats, and without them, it is hard for Coach Pope’s team to get much going on offense. Not having Butler also really hurts Kentucky’s defensive effort, as he is one of the best on-ball defenders in college basketball.

The goal for the Wildcats needs to be getting these guys healthy and back on the floor. The Wildcats need to find a way to finish conference play with a winning record, and this won’t be easy to do if both Butler and Robinson aren’t back soon.

Kentucky still has some challenging games left on the schedule against Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, and Oklahoma, so the Wildcats need to get as close to 100% as possible. It is hard to see this team making a run without these two players healthy.