Kentucky
Aggies turn in 2nd upset of SEC quarterfinals, downing No. 9 Kentucky 97-87
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Texas A&M Aggies improved their candidacy for the NCAA Tournament at Kentucky’s expense, and coach John Calipari got another reminder that his Wildcats must defend better to finish this season in a winning fashion.
Wade Taylor IV scored 32 points as Texas A&M upset ninth-ranked Kentucky 97-87 Friday night for the second biggest upset of the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
“He just has an elite level IQ off the floor,” Aggies coach Buzz Williams said of Taylor. “But he has just as high of an IQ as a player. And he understands time scoring momentum arguably as well as anybody I’ve ever been around. He obviously has the ability to score, but he kind of has a vibe for, ‘Should I score? Should I shoot?’”
Calipari noted Texas A&M’s eighth Quad 1 win, saying the Aggies are fine for an NCAA berth. Williams wouldn’t answer when asked about that prediction.
The seventh-seeded Aggies won their fifth straight to reach Saturday’s semifinals for the third time since joining the SEC and second in three seasons. The Aggies, who lost the final in 2016 and 2022, will play Florida, a 102-88 winner over No. 19 Alabama as the SEC’s top three seeds all lost their openers Friday.
Texas A&M lost the 2022 title game to Tennessee, the regular season champs who were ousted in Friday’s first game by Mississippi State.
Tyrece Radford added 23 points, Manny Obaseki had 17 and Solomon Washington 11 for Texas A&M (20-13). The Aggies beat Kentucky for the second time after needing overtime on Jan. 13.
Not Friday night.
The loss snapped Kentucky’s five-game winning streak that had been the SEC’s longest coming into this tournament. Now the Wildcats (23-9), whose 31 titles have set such a standard this event is often called the Kentucky Invitational, are going home still looking for their first tournament championship since 2018.
Calipari said his Wildcats didn’t pass the ball the way they had been doing during their streak.
“When the ball stops, we’re not the same team,” Calipari said. “Go 1-on-5, you can’t make a play that way. We haven’t for weeks. Today we kind of did. … But they deserved that game the way they played. Again, I mean, we give up 97. How many games you going to win giving up 97 points?”
Antonio Reeves, Kentucky’s leading scorer averaging 22.2 points, was limited to 18 minutes before fouling out and finishing with 13 points. Rob Dillingham led Kentucky with 27 points, and Reed Sheppard added 14.
The Aggies jumped out with eight of the first nine points to help quiet the Kentucky faithful that filled much of Bridgestone Arena. Then they kept knocking down 3s, shooting better outside the arc than inside.
Taylor led the way in a game that felt much more like a tennis match with both teams sprinting up and down the court. Texas A&M led 48-42 at halftime.
Kentucky last led when Sheppard finished off a steal with a fast-break layup for a 16-15 edge at 13:15. Washington answered with a 3, and the Aggies never trailed again.
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Which teams need to nail the NBA Draft the most?
Listing the teams that can least afford to mess up this year’s NBA draft.
LEXINGTON — Otega Oweh will begin his NBA career on the move.
The Miami Heat drafted Oweh in the second round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Wednesday, June 24. Oweh was the No. 41 overall pick (and the 11th selection of the second round).
But he won’t remain in Miami: Oweh reportedly is part of a trade that will send him to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Oweh starred for Kentucky basketball the past two seasons. He was a primary component of the first and second squads of coach Mark Pope’s tenure at UK.
Here’s what to know about Oweh, the Wildcats’ newest draft selection:
Oweh began his time as a collegian at Oklahoma, where he spent two seasons. He played in 32 games (28 starts) for the Sooners in 2023-24, averaging 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1 assist per outing.
But he was a revelation at Kentucky, inarguably the team’s top player the past two seasons.
During his debut in 2024-25, Oweh paced the Wildcats in points per game (16.2) and double-digit efforts (33 times in 36 games). He started the season scoring 10 or more in the team’s first 26 games, which was the longest streak by a Kentucky player since Malik Monk did so 30 times in a row in 2016-17.
After going through the draft process and returning to UK, Oweh entered the 2025-26 campaign as the SEC’s preseason Player of the Year.
He wound up being every bit as consistent as in Year 1, scoring 10-plus points in 35 of the Cats’ 36 games. Oweh, who was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the league’s coaches, averaged a team-high 18.6 points per game.
He finished his Kentucky career with 1,255 points, the most ever by a player in his first two seasons with the program.
Along with his scoring prowess, Oweh also set single-season personal bests for rebounds (4.8), assists (2.7) and steals (1.8) per game.
Despite his standout two-year career with the Cats, Oweh was not a highly touted transfer portal prospect following the 2023-24 season. He was 31st according to 247Sports, while ESPN ranked him 59th and On3 didn’t even include him in its top 100.
Hailing from Blair Academy in New Jersey, Oweh was unanimously rated as a four-star prospect in the 2022 class, earning that ranking from Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN.
Oweh was slightly taller than 6-foot-4 (without shoes) at the NBA Draft Combine. During that testing, he weighed 216 pounds. That’s nearly identical to Oweh’s figures on Kentucky’s official 2025-26 roster, where he was listed at 6-4 and 220 pounds.
NBAdraft.net wrote that Oweh’s most logical pro comps are the Harrison twins — ex-UK greats Aaron and Andrew — and Josh Okogie.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
Kentucky
Top knee doctor confident Jayden Quaintance’s injury not a long-term concern, but clean-up procedure possible
One of the nation’s top knee doctors shared a positive diagnosis with former Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance going into the 2026 NBA Draft, revealing that his knee is not expected to be a long-term concern, KSR has learned.
That may include a second procedure to officially put the injury suffered in February 2025 behind him, however.
Dr. Riley Williams III — head team physician and orthopedic surgeon for the Brooklyn Nets and famous for performing surgery on Paul George’s gruesome open tibia-fibula fracture with USA Basketball in 2014 — gave a second opinion on Quaintance’s injured right knee that limited him to four games in Lexington and recommended a follow-up procedure that could keep him off the floor for six months. The 6-foot-11 prospect’s ACL remains fully intact and his knee can be maintained at its current state, but a clean-up is preferred for a permanent resolution.
Medical concerns led to his slide in final mock drafts — he was projected to go No. 27 overall to the Boston Celtics, according to ESPN — before ultimately landing with the San Antonio Spurs at No. 20. This procedure could lead to a delayed start to his rookie season, but the long-term reward of a healthy 15-year career in the NBA is the prize on the table. It kept teams in the lottery and late teens intrigued, despite rumors of a potential fall to the second round. Sources close to Quaintance felt San Antonio at No. 20 was a backstop for the talented forward going into draft night, an educated hunch that proved to be accurate.
Quaintance worked out for the Dallas Mavericks (No. 9, No. 30), Milwaukee Bucks (No. 10), Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 12, No. 17), Chicago Bulls (No. 15), Toronto Raptors (No. 19), San Antonio Spurs (No. 20) and Boston Celtics (No. 27) ahead of the draft, but the Thunder and Spurs were the most aggressive throughout the predraft process, sources tell KSR. Once OKC snagged Michigan’s Aday Mara at No. 12 overall, it opened the door for a move to San Antonio for the former Wildcat.
There was disappointment in Quaintance’s absence on draft night after failing to receive a green room invite, but receiving confirmation of no long-term knee concern was the biggest priority — and that came after meeting with arguably the nation’s top knee doctor before the 2026 NBA Draft began in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
Quaintance was not the top-five pick he was expected to be going into his lone season at Kentucky, but he found himself in a perfect winning situation in San Antonio next to the future face of the NBA in Victor Wembanyama, even if that includes a short-term setback.
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