Kentucky pulled off a huge upset on Saturday night, beating Arkansas 85-77 in Fayetteville to earn one of the biggest victories of the Mark Pope era.
The Wildcats led for the vast majority of the game and pulled away late thanks to some elite defense down the stretch.
Arkansas took the lead midway through the second half following a barrage of technical fouls called on Kentucky. The Wildcats were hit with three techs over a 38-second span, but responded well even in a hostile environment.
After the Hogs took a 57-53 with 12:19 remaining, Kentucky was able to tie the game with an Otega Oweh dunk with 9:51 left. As turns out, Arkansas never had the lead again. Kentucky built its lead to 10 with just over 2 minutes remaining and was able to coast to a victory from there.
Oweh finished with 24 points on the night. The Wildcats shot 54% from the field and 46% from 3-point range in the win.
For Pope, this is a huge win. The Wildcats got off to a slow start in SEC play have responded with wins in six of its last seven games. It’s also significant given that Kentucky lost to John Calipari and Arkansas in Lexington last season.
Kentucky will be in action again on Wednesday night against Oklahoma.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
