Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Bellarmine
As Kentucky beat St. John’s on Saturday in Atlanta, the story of the game was the UK debut of Jayden Quaintance. The big man from Cleveland had been rehabbing a knee injury and had not played until Saturday.
Quaintance made the most of his first game as a Cat. He played 18 minutes, scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots. His presence was felt inside as Kentucky turned up the defense against the Red Storm. Quaintance was happy with his first game back.
“I actually felt really good during the game,” Quaintance said. “I didn’t feel crazy out of shape. Obviously, I didn’t play too many minutes but I felt like my knee recovered well. I felt like everything went well.”
Quaintance brings a defensive presence and a rim protector on the inside. He believes that this Kentucky team can still be one of the best defensive units in the country.
“I’ve been saying this since the summer, I feel like we have a chance to be one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Quaintance said. “I feel like we still have a chance. We had a couple of rough games to begin and I feel like a couple of people forgot about us. People push us to the side. We still stand on everything we said before. We have the same team, we have the same guys, we have the same confidence. I feel like we’re going to be everything that we said we’re going to be and more.”
With Quaintance back on the floor, Kentucky finally had its full roster available to play on Saturday. And in the second half, it really showed. UK rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to score 53 points in the second half to top St. John’s.
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Bellarmine at Rupp Arena (1 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus). It will be Kentucky’s final game of 2025, as the Cats will be off until a Jan. 3 matchup at Alabama to open Southeastern Conference play.
Last Time Out
Kentucky won its third game in a row – and earned its first over a top-25 foe – beating No. 22 St. John’s, 78-66
• It was the first win over an AP Top-25 opponent this season, and the ninth such victory for the Cats under Mark Pope
• Kentucky played at full-strength for the first time this season as Jayden Quaintance made his UK debut
• The Wildcats overcame a seven-point halftime deficit for the second-consecutive game. It marked the first time in school history UK has comeback to win from a halftime deficit of at least seven points in consecutive games
• UK overcame a 10-point deficit for the first time since Jan. 4, 2025 against Florida
• Kentucky held St. John’s to 33.3 percent shooting. UK is 7-0 this season when the opponent shoots less than 40.0 percent
• The Cats are 15-0 under Coach Mark Pope, including 7-0 this season, when keeping the opponent to 66 points or fewer
• Jaland Lowe led UK in +/- with a +20, despite only playing seven seconds in the first half due to injury. He returned in the second half to log 13 points, three boards and three assists in 14 minutes of action
• Jayden Quaintance scored 10 points, had eight rebounds and two blocks in his first appearance as a Wildcat
Oweh! Oweh! Oweh!
Kentucky senior Otega Oweh was selected as the Southeastern Conference Co-Player of the Week, it was announced by the league office on Monday. Oweh shares the award, the first weekly honor for UK this season, with Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
• Oweh scored a game-high 20 points as the Wildcats picked up their first win over an Associated Press Top-25 opponent, defeating No. 22 St. John’s, 78-66, in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta on Saturday
• UK’s star guard also contributed five rebounds and three steals in the winning effort, marking his seventh-consecutive game with multiple steals, the longest streak of his college career
• Oweh’s defensive prowess was paramount in holding the Red Storm to a season-low 33.3 percent field-goal clip, while his 20-point effort was his second outing reaching the 20-point threshold this season. He also made 8-of-9 free throws in the contest and is shooting a career-best 81.5 percent from the charity stripe thus far
