Kentucky Basketball surges past No. 19 Texas Tech: 5 things to know and postgame cheers

Kentucky Basketball took the floor Friday night for the second of three scheduled exhibition games before the season officially tips off Tuesday, Nov. 3, against Manhattan. This time, they were playing in a top-25 matchup against the No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Not long ago, the idea of a Final Four contender like Texas Tech coming to Rupp Arena for an exhibition game would have been unheard of. But things are different now, and these kinds of marquee October matchups allow coaches to get an early pulse check on how their team responds to high-quality competition.

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Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland has led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first three seasons, including an Elite Eight run in 2025. Many have pegged Texas Tech as a national title contender when healthy.

As a college basketball fan, it’s hard to ask for a better pre-Halloween treat than watching the Cats take on a ranked Big 12 foe.

The first half was sloppy and painful to watch at times until the Cats flipped the script, stopped turning the ball over, and started forcing turnovers themselves. The result was a 15-0 run and the most beautiful stretch of hoops that we’ve seen this team play. Kentucky would take a 37-33 lead into the locker room.

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Neither team wanted to back down in the second half, and it was back and forth until a pair of Alex Wilkins 3-pointers busted things open, giving Kentucky a nine-point lead with under three minutes to play.

They’d hang on to win 76-65 in what became a solid team win and shouldn’t be dismissed because of the exhibition designation.

Kentucky will have one more chance to tune up via an exhibition contest versus UCF on Oct. 28 at 6:00 PM ET. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Here are five things to know for Kentucky’s fun exhibition win over the Red Raiders.

Cats look crisp during 15-0 first-half run

After the air was seemingly being sucked out of Rupp Arena, the Wildcats flipped the script, going on a 15-0 run over a…

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Publish date : 2026-10-24 01:17:00

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