Kentucky simply could not keep up with the Arkansas Razorbacks on Tuesday night in Rupp Arena.
The biggest reason was the University of Arkansas was very good from the field, many times driving all the way to the rim for layups and dunks to drub the Wildcats 88-73.
Arkansas shot a season-high 62.7%, shredding the Wildcats' man-to-man defense as well as an occasional zone. That hot shooting clip was paced by a 72% effort (18 of 25) in the second half.
Makhel Mitchell made 7 of 9 shots, none bigger than a 16-foot jumper that just beat the shot-clock buzzer on a feed from Davonte Davis that put Arkansas up 74-60 with 5:00 left. The official reviewed the play to make sure Mitchell got the shot off and the replay showed it left his fingertips a fraction before the shot clock hit 0.
Milestones
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman won his 200th game as a college coach, improving to 200-69 in eight seasons at Nevada and Arkansas.
Musselman is 90-35 (.720) in his fourth year with Arkansas.
Davonte Davis scored 15 points, for his ninth consecutive game with 15 or more points.
More blocks
Arkansas forward Makhel Mitchell had his second big-block game in the last three outings, swatting five Kentucky shots.
Mitchell, who finished with 15 points and 4 rebounds, had 7 blocks in the Hogs' 81-70 win over Texas A&M on Jan. 31.
Jam time
Arkansas built a 47-40 lead early in the second half thanks to a rare Makhi Mitchell 16-footer and back-to-back dunks by guard Anthony Black.
Kentucky guard Cason Wallace began to drive on the other end but Black reached in to swipe the ball free. He scooped it up and was in prime position to scoop and drive for a two-hand slam.
Moments later, Chris Livingston made a lazy pass toward the left wing, which Black read and intercepted. No one got in his way as he went coast-to-coast for another dunk at the 18:41 mark, leading to a Kentucky timeout.
Touch-pass slam
The Razorbacks showed great ball movement to get a Makhel Mitchell dunk early in the second half. The play started with Davonte Davis driving through the lane and firing way out near the top of the circle for Anthony Black, who had already seen Kentucky defender Oscar Tshiebwe already starting to cheat off his man. Black swatted the ball immediately back to the paint for Mitchell who had inside positioning for an easy dunk.
Charity work
Arkansas finished 20 of 24 (83.3%) from the free throw line, while the Wildcats were 11 of 18 (61.1%).
The Razorbacks went 10 for 10 in the first half, including a make by Makhel Mitchell (after a Kentucky lane violation from Oscar Tshiebwe) when he entered the game at 50% from the line.
Cal tech
Kentucky Coach John Calipari's antics had seemingly been on the verge of drawing a technical foul call for parts of the first half when lead official Terry Oglesby finally had enough.
Oglesby whistled a technical on Calipari from across the court moments after the Razorbacks' Makhel Mitchell scored on a contested jumper in the lane with 37 seconds left in the half. Calipari, and the Rupp Arena crowd, felt Mitchell had shuffled his feet prior to the shot.
Anthony Black made both free throws to give Arkansas a 41-38 lead.
Stoppages
The game had a series of stoppages for strange reasons early in the second half.
Anthony Black had to come out of the game for a moment to change out his left shoe, which was giving him trouble.
A little later, officials stopped the game just to check on the healthy of Kentucky's Jacob Toppin, who seemed to be momentarily hobbled, but he did not come out of the game. Meanwhile, Black was limping around during that stoppage, possibly due to a sore knee he has been playing through.
Shortly thereafter, the officials took a couple of minutes to review a tie-ball play on the Kentucky end that featured Black and Davonte Davis wrestling for the ball with UK's Antonio Reeves.
Gimme 3
The Razorbacks notched three points on each of its first four scoring possessions to maintain an early lead.
Ricky Council opened the scoring for the Hogs with a three-pointer from the right wing at the 17:58 mark.
After the Wildcats had pulled into a tie, guard Anthony Black was fouled by Oscar Tshbiewe while scoring inside and he converted the and-one for a 6-3 lead at 15:44.
The Razorbacks were trailing 7-6 a little later when Black fed Makhel Mitchell for a layup while he was being fouled by CJ Frederick. Mitchell missed the initial free throw but the Tshiebwe committed a lane violation and he cashed in the second chance to make it 12-9 at the 14:20 mark.
Four-man game
Four Razorbacks touched the ball in rapid order leading to an acrobatic Anthony Black lob dunk for a 32-26 lead with 5:30 left in the first half.
After Antonio Reeves missed a driving jumper in the paint, Arkansas big man Makhi Mitchell went to the floor to gather in the loose ball off the right block. Mitchell threw backward to Jalen Graham who spied Ricky Council breaking down the right wing at midcoast.
Council took Graham's pin-point pass and after one dribble laid up a precise lob for Black to stuff to cap a 6-0 mini-run.
Wheeler out
Kentucky guard Sahvir Wheeler was not available for the Wildcats.
According to the Wildcats' radio broadcast, Wheeler was resting an ankle injury he initially suffered in a win over Ole Miss on Jan. 31 and tweaked on Monday in practice.
"It'll be a game-time decision, but he limped pretty good in there," Kentucky Coach John Calipari said on his pre-game radio interview.
Wheeler, who has led the SEC in assists each of the past two years, is doing it again with an average of 5.6 game. A 14-game starter this season, Wheeler had come off the bench in five of the last six games.
Pine time
Three key Arkansas players -- guards Antony Black and Ricky Council and wing man Jordan Walsh -- picked up two first half fouls. Black still managed to play 19 of the first 20 minutes, while Council played 15 and Walsh 8.
On the other side, the nation's leading rebounder Oscar Tshiebwe notched his second foul at the 3:48 mark and sat out the rest of the way. Makhi Mitchell hit two free throws after Tshiebwe's second foul to give Arkansas a 34-31 lead.
Collins contributes
For the second game in a row, a light-scoring big man burned the Razorbacks.
After South Carolina's Josh Gray scored a career-high 20 points on Saturday, Kentucky's Daimion Collins played above his averages.
The 6-9 sophomore, who entered the game averaging 2.1 points in 14 games, chipped in 7 first half points, exceeding his season high by one. Collins dropped in a 15-footer at the halftime buzzer to pull the Wildcats within 41-40 after Kentucky in-bounded with 2 seconds left following a 50-50 rebound that went out of bounds, the officials said, off Arkansas' Makhel Mitchell.
Series update
Arkansas won its third in a row over Kentucky including back-to-back meetings in Rupp Arena, following up an 81-80 victory on Feb. 9, 2021.
The Razorbacks are now 5-15 on the road at Kentucky and the Wildcats lead the series 33-14.
Arkansas won its first game at Rupp Arena 105-88 on Jan. 25, 1992, after joining the SEC.
Starting five
Arkansas started the same lineup of guards Anthony Black, Ricky Council and Davonte Davis and twin brothers Makhel and Makhi Mitchell at forward for the third consecutive game. Black has started all 24 games, while Council and Makhi Mitchell have started 23, Davis 19 and Makhel Mitchell 5.