Kentucky collapses in 2nd half against Iowa State in NCAA Tournament loss
Even without its star player, Iowa State was just too much to handle.
On Sunday afternoon in St. Louis, (7) Kentucky’s 2025-26 season came to a disappointing end thanks to an 82-63 loss to the (2) Cyclones in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After jumping ahead 20-9 eight minutes into the game, the Wildcats began to fall apart, which quickly turned into a full-on collapse in the second half. Iowa State outscored UK by 18 points after halftime to advance to next week’s Sweet 16.
Turnovers were the story for Kentucky. 20 of them were the Wildcats’ most in an NCAA Tournament game since 1993 and easily the most of this season. Iowa State turned those miscues into 25 points. Otega Oweh managed 18 points and eight rebounds while Denzel Aberdeen chipped in 20 of his own, but no other UK player scored more than six points.
Iowa State was even down All-American forward Joshua Jefferson with an ankle injury he suffered Friday, but his presence wasn’t necessary. Tamin Lipsey posted 26 points and 10 assists, aided by 20 points from Milan Momcilovic. The Cyclones finished with only seven turnovers, shooting 63.3 percent from the field in the second half.
This was Kentucky’s worst NCAA Tournament loss since a 19-point beating by Florida State in 1972.
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Kentucky came out of the gates with one of its best starts of the entire season. It was a 10-2 lead for the Wildcats before the first media timeout as Iowa State struggled early and often to get shots to fall. UK was turning the ball over a few too many times, but made enough shots to maintain a comfortable lead. Kentucky led by as many as a dozen and was playing solid defense, forcing the Cyclones to miss their first 11 shots from deep.
But then Iowa State’s defense locked in. Questionable substitutions and delayed timeouts by Mark Pope only made the issue worse. The Cyclones were living at the free-throw line (10-15 in the first half) and creating plenty of turnovers. A 9-0 run by Iowa State was later followed by an 8-0 run to close the first half as outside shots began to fall. Kentucky turned the ball over 12 times in the first 20 minutes (a statistical rarity), leading to 12 points the other way. ISU only led for 18 seconds in the opening half, but was still in front 31-30 at the intermission.
The officials took over the game to start the second half, tagging Kentucky for five fouls within the first four minutes. All three of Oweh, Aberdeen, and Collin Chandler were dealing with three fouls. To boot, Iowa State hit a couple of early threes. But the referees weren’t the reason UK continued to turn the ball over and give up transition points. The Cyclones pushed their lead to 12 points by the second media timeout of the half. The wheels only continued to fall off as Kentucky went down by 18 points with 10 minutes still to go.
Iowa State led by as many as 23 points before Kentucky was finally put out of its misery with an 18-point defeat. A disappointing overall season for UK is now officially in the books.
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