In what was a heavily Wildcats-favored crowd at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, the No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats (5-4) put out an embarrassing performance from the still Final Four-caliber No. 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs (8-1). This was a well-worth trip across the country for the Pacific Northwest program.
After the shocking 40-point blowout disaster at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines in the Players Era Festival title game, the Zags came out angry and seeking vengeance while opening up on a 19-2 run. It took the Wildcats nearly nine minutes to get their first field goal of the game.
Kentucky finished with one of the worst shooting displays from a member of a Power Five conference that will be witnessed all season. 16-for-60 from the field (26.7 percent) and 7-for-34 from beyond the arc (20.6 percent). The fans let coach Mark Pope’s team have it throughout. Boos were raining in from everywhere.
Just nine games into the 2025-26 season, another notable starting lineup change came from coach Mark Few. Junior wing Emmanuel Innocenti switched out for graduate wing Tyon Grant-Foster. Grant-Foster has started the last four after Innocenti started the first four. Graduate wing Steele Venters also got his first start in a Zag uniform, in place of graduate guard Adam Miller (11 points on 3-for-5 three-pointers off the bench).
Gonzaga’s dynamic frontcourt duo pounded away inside the paint, helping beat Kentucky easily in that department 46-18. Graduate forward Graham Ike and redshirt junior Braden Huff combined for 48 points on 20-for-29 field goals and 12 rebounds. It looked like two high schoolers playing against five middle schoolers out on the playground. Bully ball at its finest.
Ike may have missed quite a few point-blank looks right at the rim, but he was still as assertive as ever. There was talk about him dealing with some sort of lower-body injury during his time in Las Vegas, seen limping against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and only scoring one point with zero rebounds against the Wolverines. Didn’t look like the case tonight after a week-long break for Ike to get healthy.
He has loved competing with Kentucky in his career, averaging 26.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in three contests against the SEC powerhouse (2-1 record from 2023-25). Ike’s no-word response during the postgame media availability tells it all.
It’s worth noting that the Wildcats aren’t at full strength, especially in the frontcourt. Sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance (still recovering from an ACL injury; has yet to make season debut) and junior forward Mo Dioubate (suffered a sprained ankle in 83-66 loss to the Michigan State Spartans on Nov. 18) were both unavailable. Not sure if even the addition of those two could fix the ho-hum interior defense and uninspired effort from their bigs as a whole.
Kentucky junior guard Jaland Lowe was made available against the Zags after missing his last six outings with a shoulder injury. After a season-low eight assists in their previous 67-64 defeat to the North Carolina Tar Heels, even his 14-minute presence off the bench didn’t make any difference. Lowe only contributed a single point on 0-for-5 shooting to go along with one assist/one turnover in his return.
The Wildcats’ starting senior backcourt of Otega Oweh (16 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals) and Denzel Aberdeen (eight points, two assists) played uninspired at times. Almost a “checked-out” feeling from the two supposed leaders. The whole unit just lacked energy, for that matter, and it starts with those two.
With Gonzaga freshman lead guard Mario Saint-Supery’s early foul troubles, redshirt junior point guard Braeden Smith had his name called upon by Few. The Colgate Raiders transfer added 11 points on 4-for-7 looks and six assists/two turnovers in 19 extended minutes off the bench.
He helped elevate an offense that had 24 assists on 36 made field goals (57 percent from the field, 50 percent from deep on 9-for-18 three-pointers). Smith has had his ups and downs this season, but it’s a nice feeling to know that he can step up if need be, especially with the Spaniard off the floor.
Few now holds a 12-2 head-to-head record over Pope dating back to 2016 (coach at Kentucky since 2024, BYU Cougars from 2019-2024, Utah Valley Wolverines from 2015-2019). Tonight, the Zags became the first team in Associated Press poll history with a 30-point loss and a 30-point win in back-to-back AP-ranked matchups. It was actually Kentucky’s first 30+ point loss since 2018 and only their eighth since 1950.
Even more craziness: This pummeling was Gonzaga’s second-largest win over a ranked opponent in program history and Kentucky’s second-largest defeat as a ranked team in program history. The Wildcats have now lost eight of their last nine matchups against AP Top 25 opponents. That’s six in a row and already four this season.
Kentucky’s group under Pope currently has no identity. This victory for the Zags proves that even without a $22 million Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) budget, this tiny Jesuit university can still be a dominant force to reckon with in college basketball. For some context, Gonzaga’s NIL is somewhere between $2-5 million coming into the season, well out of the Wildcats’ reach. The current roster did win approximately $1.5 million by finishing runner-up at the Players Era in Sin City.
The Zags’ leader lit a fire under his guys after the humiliating championship outing versus Michigan over the Thanksgiving holiday. He put the pressure on them to come back out in front of a national audience and to make a statement that they’re still in the picture. Few’s boys did exactly that.
Gonzaga heads back to the Kennel to host the North Florida Ospreys on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN+/KAYU Fox 28.
KenPom Update: The Zags have moved up to No. 3 overall (No. 3-ranked defense, No. 6-ranked offense) after handling the ’Cats.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho
