Kentucky 'falling in love' with making the winning plays

The Kentucky Wildcats continue to find ways to win ugly games, and multiple players are stepping up.

Jan 24, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope celebrates after a play during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball once again found a way to win an ugly game of basketball on Saturday against Ole Miss. Many times this season, the Wildcats have found themselves down big early. While this one did not feature a big deficit, there was plenty of bad offense to go around for both teams. In the first half, both Kentucky and Ole Miss were a combined 15-53 from the field. The ugly play continued and that required one of them to come up with big plays. It was Kentucky that did that.

Ole Miss never went away for much of the game. Kentucky had the lead for the bulk of it, but they held it for the entire second half. For much of the final half, the Wildcats would extend their lead to six multiple times, but the Rebels would claw their way back, not allowing Kentucky to blow open their lead. That was until the final minutes, where with 2:48 left, Kentucky turned a two-point lead into eight, thanks to a 6-0 run, where they ended the game on a 12-3 run to escape with the nine-point win. Collin Chandler especially came up big with a clutch three.

Kentucky just continues to find ways to win games, and Mark Pope talked about his team continuing to have impressive fight and resiliency, never backing down from the many hardships that games that bring. "We have guys that are falling in love with making the dirty, non-scoring, massively important winning plays of the game. We have guys stepping up and doing that all over the place. It's why we've had so much success in all these close games, is because guys have fallen in love with it. And I can go down a list -- like, Collin's triple charge defensive stand, Mo (Dioubate) racing across the floor to challenge for (AJ) Storr's airball was so huge. Denzel is the smallest guy on the floor and he comes up with one of the biggest defensive rebounds of the game. We can go down the list of all these little plays guys are making."

Jan 24, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Collin Chandler (5) celebrates after making a three point basket during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

After the Wildcats started SEC play 2-0, many questioned where this team's season would end up. They responded by continuing to win games, now extending their streak to five wins in a row. Following Kentucky's loss at home to Missouri two weeks ago, Pope admitted the staff has had to 'dumb it down' for players on offense. That has turned out not to be a bad thing, as since then, Kentucky has found ways to win, even in ugly moments. Pope said on Sturday that they are continuing to do just that, and the players are starting to become more comfortable on the floor. "I think the guys are a little more comfortable with each other. We're staying as simple as we possibly can."

The Wildcats are starting to prove that they can win in different ways, and they are not shying away when things are going bad.