Kentucky
How first challenge of the season went terribly wrong for Ole Miss football, Lane Kiffin
Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin press conference after Kentucky
Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin met with reporters after Rebels’ 20-17 home loss to Kentucky
OXFORD − There’s a downside to 11 a.m. kicks for Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin. When games start in the morning, it’s harder to move on from a loss.
“It’s 3 o’clock, so you’ve got all day to sit around and deal with this,” Kiffin said. “It could have went our way so many different ways and we didn’t make the plays. We didn’t close them out.”
Ole Miss lost 20-17 to Kentucky at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday. It was a cool, overcast homecoming game with a record crowd of 67,616 on hand to watch. That record wasn’t announced midgame on the videoboard.
As nervousness turned into dread, there weren’t many times where the fans were ready to celebrate. After four weeks of decimating teams, No. 6 Ole Miss (4-1, 0-1 SEC) played poorly in offense, defense and special teams. Kentucky (3-2, 1-2) took advantage.
That’s what made Saturday especially long for Kiffin. The loss was a result of team-wide scuffling.
“All three phases had chances to win the game, or at least tie the game, and didn’t do it,” Kiffin said. “Credit (Kentucky). Big win for them. But very discouraging, disappointing.”
Ole Miss special team’s chance was evident with 48 seconds to go. Senior kicker Caden Davis’ potential game-tying field goal sailed wide left. There was more to it than that, though.
The Rebels’ offense entered the game averaging 582 yards per game. On Saturday they gained 353. Third downs were especially problematic. Ole Miss moved the chains just once in 10 third-down snaps.
“We got caught in too many ‘third-and-longs’ and we play in the SEC and that’s really hard to convert,” quarterback Jaxson Dart said. “There’s a lot of things that we need to look at on tape and find ways not to be in that situation again.”
A season-low offensive output combined with lackluster defensive play. The Rebels defense did come up big at times, especially the defensive front that sacked Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff five times. Surrendering late big plays and penalties, though, doomed the Rebels defense.
With Kentucky in desperation mode facing fourth-and-7 on its 20-yard line, the Wildcats hit a 63-yard pass down the left sideline with 3:49 left. Vandagriff stood in the pocket against pressure and sailed a deep ball to Barion Brown that beat man coverage with a go route. It led to the eventual game-tying touchdown.
“There’s good moments and there’s bad moments, we have to do a better job of relating to routes and making plays on the ball,” safety Trey Washington said. “We just have to get better overall as a team.”
Kiffin said all three phases playing poorly simultaneously was too much to overcome.
“Those things just aren’t going to add up very well,” Kiffin said.
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
Kentucky women’s basketball went 1-1 last week and suffered its first SEC loss this season.
The Wildcats lost to host Texas A&M, 61-55, on Thursday. They shot under 40% for the second time this season. The Cats are now 0-2 when they score fewer than 60 points.
They bounced back with an 89-69 home victory over Arkansas on Sunday. They are 11-0 at home, their best home record to start the season since 2018-2019.
All five Kentucky starters scored in double digits against Arkansas, and the Wildcats held the Razorbacks to a 36.1% field-goal percentage. In 14 of 18 games, the Wildcats have held their opponents to under 40% shooting.
The Wildcats (17-2, 6-1 SEC) dropped one spot to No. 12 in the AP Top 25.
UK will host Alabama at 7 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Coliseum.
This story will be updated with the USA TODAY Coaches Poll on Tuesday.
Reach sports reporter Prince James Story at pstory@gannett.com and follow him on X at @PrinceJStory.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — — Georgia Amoore scored 19 points, Clara Strack and Teonni Key had double-doubles, and No. 11 Kentucky defeated Arkansas 89-69 on Sunday.
Strack had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Key contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats (17-2, 6-1 SEC). Dazia Lawrence and Amelia Hassett each scored 14 points as all five starters scored in double figures. Amoore had eight assists and Hassett had seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks.
After leading 44-28 at halftime, Strack scored Kentucky’s first nine points of the third quarter to help maintain the 16-point lead. The Wildcats then blew it open when Hassett and Lawrence each went 3 for 3 from deep en route to a 77-53 advantage heading to the fourth period.
Izzy Higginbottom, the nation’s fifth-leading scorer at 22.8 ppg coming in, scored 14 of the Razorbacks’ final 19 points in the third quarter. She opened the fourth quarter with four more, but Arkansas (8-14, 1-6) never got closer than 19 points.
Higginbottom finished with 32 points. Off the bench, Carly Keats scored 14 points and Jenna Lawrence had 13.
Kentucky shot 64% and made eight free throws in the first quarter, building a 29-10 lead. The Wildcats scored the first 11 and the last 12 points of the quarter.
Kentucky stretched the lead to 25 points when Lexi Blue and Lawrence hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 42-17 lead before Arkansas regrouped and finished the half on an 11-2 run.
It was Kentucky’s annual We Back Pat game, promoting research, care and education surrounding Alzheimer’s disease.
Kentucky hosts No. 19 Alabama on Thursday when Arkansas hosts Texas A&M.
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Kentucky trailed Vanderbilt 41-27 at halftime on Saturday after being outscored 23-11 during the final 10 minutes of the first half.
The Wildcats would waste no time closing that gap in the second half, but the run by the Commodores to close the first 20 minutes proved to be too much for Kentucky to come back against in the end. Head coach Mark Pope explained what went wrong for the Wildcats down the stretch.
“Credit to Vanderbilt for turning up the heat,” Pope said of the first-half stretch. “Kind of in the flow of the game, we were really solid with (Vanderbilt guard Jason Edwards) going early, aside from that we were really solid both ends of the floor. The game had a flow to it, and then we started getting punished a little bit on the offensive glass.
“Disappointing that that happened. And then, their pressure kind of kicked in. The second 10 minutes of the first half was a debacle. But I wasn’t disappointed with how our guys started. I was good focus … I wish we had an answer to (Edwards) earlier, but still the flow of the game was okay.”
Edwards finished the game with 18 points, 11 of which came in the first half. He was complemented by Devin McGlockton‘s 14-point, six-rebound performance, along with a combined 21 points from Tyler Nickel and Jaylen Carey. The duo combined for five of Vanderbilt’s 12-made 3-pointers against the Wildcats.
The loss continues more than one negative trend for Kentucky. Their struggled on the road continue and are now 1-3 in such matchups. Also having totaled 69 points during the matchup — it’s just the fifth time this season that Mark Pope’s squad has scored less than 70 points during the 2024-25 season. With a 14-5 record overall, Kentucky is 0-5 when they fail to reach that 70-point threshold.
Kentucky has now lost its last two matchups and will not have tasted victory in two weeks by the time they travel to Knoxville on Tuesday night to take on a No. 6 Tennessee. The Vols are undefeated at home so far this season.
Regardless of the outcome, the Wildcats will have to get their minds right in short order, and John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks are headed to Rupp Arena for a highly-anticipated reunion between the two parties.
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