12 Kentucky survived a scare Wednesday night, overcoming a brutal night by beating Texas A&M by a score of 64-58 in a hostile environment at College Station's Reed Arena. The Wildcats registered their fourth-straight win, breaking the Eggies' eight-game winning streak in the process.
John Calipari's squad, trailing by 13 points in the first half, struggled outside the gates and did not maintain the lead until the nine-minute mark of the second half. But the Wildcats held the Aggies without a score for the final 2:48 and continued the plays to win on the road.
"We fought," Calipari said of his postgame message to his team on the SEC Network. "And some people back off, but others move on. That's one team. Next man up. Those who had to back down, learn from it and move on. Move on. We have another game coming up, That is it.
With the win, Kentucky improves to 15–3 in the season and 5–1 in Southeastern Conference play, while Texas goes 15–3 on aggregate with 4–1 points in A&M league play.
With that in mind, scroll down to see what the college basketball media had to say about the Wildcats' comeback win on the road against the Aggies on Twitter.
Kentucky started off on the offensive with two separate scoring droughts of nearly four minutes in the first 13 minutes of the first half alone. The Wildcats dug themselves into the opening 25-12 holes against the Aggies.
Is Kentucky aware they had a game tonight?
— Chris Fisher (@ChrisFisher247) January 20, 2022
Kentucky guard Tyty Washington Jr. suffered an early foul, going on the bench with his second foul just more than five minutes into the game, taking the score 6-6. But the Aggies quickly scored 16-6 with Washington on the bench before John Calipari brought the real freshman back into the game at the eight-minute mark.
I asked Calipari (related to Tshiebwe) recently if he needs to rethink his two-foul rule. He said if the game was getting out of hand, he'd have to.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) January 20, 2022
Welp, you're down 22-12 at rowdy Texas A&M and I don't think you can sit TyTy Washington with two fouls the final 15 minutes.
Kentucky missed its first nine attempts by a three-point boundary, before junior guard Sahveer Wheeler caught the Wildcats from deep on the board, down a long-range bucket, with just five minutes left in the opening half. .
Sahvir Wheeler makes Kentucky's first 3 in 10 tries. Go figure.
— Chris Fisher (@ChrisFisher247) January 20, 2022
Kentucky's first-half shooting trouble was beset by senior guard Kellen Grady, who missed all five of his attempts from long distance in the opening frame. Davidson entered the transfer Wednesday night shooting three to 45.7 percent on 6.2 attempts per game.
Grady missing 4 wide open threes is not normal either
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 20, 2022
And yet, despite the aforementioned first-half struggles, the Wildcats trailed the Aggies by just five points at the halftime break and ended the half with a quick 8-2 run in the final two minutes to a 35-30 margin. shut down.
How in the world is Kentucky only down 5 at halftime? That may have been their worst half of the season.
— Chris Fisher (@ChrisFisher247) January 20, 2022
Kentucky began the second half on a 5-0 run with two free throws from Keon Brooks Jr. and another three-pointer from Sehveer Wheeler. And just like that, the Wildcats turned an 11-point deficit into a tie ballgame in just three minutes of play time.
Kentucky trailed by 13 with six minutes to go in the first half.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) January 20, 2022
Kentucky has tied it up, 35-all, on a Sahvir Wheeler 3-pointer (his second) just 90 seconds into the second half.
Offensive struggles were not confined to Kentucky in the game, however, as Texas A&M shot worse than the Wildcats from the three-point boundary. The Aggies connected on just 1 of 22 attempts from deep in the game.
Also like Kentucky has now missed three dunks this game, and Texas A&M has somehow been the more unlucky shooting team becuase they’re 1–18 from 3 after coming in shooting 37%.
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) January 20, 2022
This game is just a total disaster show.
Tyty Washington made some big plays down the stretch. After Texas A&M tied 54-54 with 6:32 for the game, the true freshman assisted on a Jacob Toppin dunk and followed it up with two big midrange jumpers to help the Wildcats keep the game away. followed.
Also TyTy hit a couple of big contested shots late to give Kentucky the lead. He had struggled in UK’s other losses down the stretch but those were big this evening
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 20, 2022
Kentucky took the first lead of the game at the nine-minute mark of the second half on putback by his own mistake to Kellan Grady. The game saw four quick lead changes, but the Wildcats advanced on Jacob Toppin dunk on the 6:19 mark and led the rest of the way, keeping the Eggies scoreless for the final 2:48 of the game.
.@UKCoachCalipari kids survive on the road vs @aggiembk 64-58 .The Aggies shot 1-22 from the 3 yet were right there with a chance to win . Now @KentuckyMBB leaves with their 9 th W in a row. Next up @AuburnMBB ! @SEC along with @Big12Conference the 2 best conferences.
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) January 20, 2022
2 Auburn Tigers look to enter the weekend as they ride a 14-game winning streak to beat Georgia on Wednesday night. Kentucky will be looking for a fifth straight win.
Those are the games really good teams win…nothing going right and a rowdy environment and you still find a way to win
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 20, 2022
It was hideous. Truly. But in between a 107-point thumping of Tennessee and a massive game at No. 2 Auburn on Saturday, winning a game at 15-2 Texas A&M when you shoot 36.2% with 17 turnovers is good thing.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) January 20, 2022