Turnovers have been a trend in Kentucky's three-game losing streak

The last week has not been kind to Kentucky basketball. Following winning eight of nine games, they are now on a three-game losing streak, with losses at Florida and Auburn as well as home against Georgia. The Wildcats have taken two bad losses back-to-back after coming within single-digits against the Gators. In those losses, there is one thing above all that has been a common occurrence, and that is turnovers.

During Kentucky's big stretch when they won eight of nine, they turned the ball over just 9.3 times per game. But, in their last three games, the Wildcats are averaging 13.5 miscues per game. Against Florida, Kentucky turned it over 14 times, which resulted in 25 points off turnovers. That turned out to cost them late in the game when they fell short in an attempted comeback. They followed that up by turning the ball over 13 times at home against Georgia. That then turned into 22 points off of turnovers.

You can see the nasty trend already, and it continued on Saturday night down at Auburn, as Kentucky coughed it up 14 times, which Auburn ended up turning into 17 points. It was really late in the second half where it really costed them. Kentucky had a staggering seven turnovers, where five of those were from Collin Chandler, who had a rough entire second half after becoming known to show up in a big way late for the Wildcats this season.

entucky Wildcats guard Collin Chandler (5) walks down the court during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers. — Feb 7, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Collin Chandler (5) walks down the court during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky did well taking care of the ball during their big winning streak, but since, those numbers have inflated in the wrong direction. The Wildcats are now 13th in the SEC in turnover percentage through 14 conference games, including now 15th in steal percentage. But, there is a bright side, and that is the fact that outside of steals, Kentucky does not commit many miscues. The Wildcats are actually 10th in the country on the season in non-steal turnovers. Take away Chandler's big mistakes, and Kentucky would have had a much cleaner second half. But, that still happened and the Wildcats have now lost two games in a row against teams they just needed to take care of business against.

It seems like that streak of winning eight games in a span of nine has gone down in terms of value simply because of these back-to-back losses to teams who may have used Kentucky to save their NCAA Tournament hopes. The trend of costly turnovers in this losing streak is something the Wildcats obviously need to clean up. Now, they face a South Carolina team in a must-win of all must-wins on the road.