Kentucky answered a big weakness in win against Arkansas

The Kentucky Wildcats finally came out as the aggressors to start the game against Arkansas.

Jan 31, 2026; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (7) bumps into Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) during the second half at Bud Walton Arena. Kentucky won 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball went into the Arkansas game coming a performance at Vandy where they were pushed around to start the game and never could embrace that physicality that the Commodores started with. But, against Arkansas, they were the ones that came out with the intention of setting the tone for the game and they did just that.

The Wildcats actually led for the entire first half and it was all thanks to their physicality and the way they just embraced it instead of getting punched first, which is where they can really fall behind. Kentucky started the game setting the tone on the glass, especially, as well as attacking the rim. They started the game with a clear advantage in rebounding and they ended it with a 34-25 advantage. Their ability to attack the rim and the glass is what helped them go up by as much as 13 in the first half and have the lead for all of it.

Then in the second half, the Wildcats weren't forced to have to play catch-up. Instead, Arkansas had to climb back into it with the help of freshman guard Darius Acuff, who had 17 of his 22 points in the final half. The Razorbacks took their first lead of the game with 14:07 left, thanks to all of the chippy moments really setting in, but Kentucky responded. They used their emotions as fuel, as a 7-0 run gave them back the lead and a 5-0 run helped blow the lead open to ten with 2:03 left. That's the resiliency this team has shown throughout the season, but they really answered their weakness of starting games slow very well.

After the 85-77 win over Arkansas, Mark Pope talked about switching up his team's practice routine, which he says may have been a factor in his team not coming out slow against the Razorbacks on the road.

"Our guys were really intentional last couple days together with the staff," Pope said. "They changed some of our routine. In practice, the last two days, we had a huge emphasis on the first four, six minutes of a scrimmage each day. And the guys really worked. It's hard in practice to simulate the intensity of game, but these guys really tried to do that. It really came from our team and our staff of figuring out a better way to approach this. And it doesn't guarantee that we're not gonna have slow starts, but it certainly was credit to our guys for being ready to go from the tip tonight, I thought they were terrific."