Kentucky will look to regroup against Louisville on Friday. Photo: Andrew Bishop, CameronMillsRadio.com

It wasn’t easy down in New Orleans for Kentucky this afternoon as the Wildcats fell to the UCLA Bruins 83-75 at the Smoothie King Center. There were glimmers of promise but they weren’t able to sustain it. The Bruins hurt Kentucky with a big 21-2 run at the end of the first half and beginning of the second.

Aaron Holiday and Kris Wilkes paced UCLA with 20 points as they two-upped Virginia Tech from the behind the arc by knocking down 12 treys.

Thomas Welsh, who always does damage against the Cats, seemed to be a hair out of his range of his first few three-point attempts. He bounced back to go 3 for 6.

Welsh has owned UK for most of his 4 years. Mind boggling.

— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) December 23, 2017

Wenyen Gabriel showed a lot of fight and made some big plays throughout the course of the game which was good to see as he is the most veteran player on this year’s team.

Better today than Friday.

— BradSturgill (@BradSturgill3) December 23, 2017

There’s definitely truth to that with the Louisville Cardinals rolling into Rupp Arena on Dec. 29. This team has a long way to go and there will be more bumps along the way. Just got to sit back and see how they navigate the road.

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