Last week, we learned a lot about this Kentucky Basketball team. This is a very resilient group. Playing without Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance, the Wildcats came back from 18 and 17 points against
LSU and Tennessee to win two huge, massive road games. Slow starts are still an issue, but these wins give Kentucky a shot, believe it or not, to vault to the top of the SEC.
That opportunity comes this week against Texas on Wednesday night and Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon. First up, a really solid Texas team that will test the Wildcats’ defense. While this is a game that feels like the Wildcats should win, this won’t be a walk in the park.
Sean Miller is a really good head coach, and the Longhorns are firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. They need this game just as much as the Wildcats.
Let’s look at the Longhorns, players to watch, keys to the game, and score prediction for Wednesday night.
Players to watch on the Texas Longhorns
1. No. 3: Daylin Swain — 6-8, 225 lbs. Jr. Guard/Forward; Columbus, Ohio (Xavier Transfer)
Stats: 15.7 pts, 7.2 rebs, 60 ast.-48 TO, 30 stl, 55.7 FG%, 26.2 3-PT FG%, 75% FT, 29.5 mpg
Swain followed Sean Miller to Texas after two seasons with him at Xavier. In those two seasons, Swain played in 63 career games (36 starts) and registered totals of 505 points (8.0 ppg), 274 rebounds ( 4.3 rpg), 125 assists (2.0 apg), and 83 steals (1.3 spg) in 1,517 minutes (24.1 mpg).
In his first season at Texas, Swain has scored in double figures in every game but two. He has three games with 20+ points, including 34 against Mississippi State in the Longhorns’ SEC opener.
Seven times in his last nine games, Swain has shot over 50% from the field.
Swain also has three double-doubles.
2. No. 8: Matas Vokietaitis — 7-0, 255 lbs. So. Center; Marijampole, Lithuania (Florida Atlantic Transfer)
Stats: 15.2 pts, 6.4 rebs, 15 blk, 65.1 FG%, 68.6 FT%, 24.1 mpg
Vokietaitis was. the 2025 AAC Freshman of the Year with Florida Atlantic, a season where he shot nearly 70 percent from the floor. He has two double-doubles this season at Texas, including four games with 20+ points.
The key thing about Vokietaitis is his efficiency. He’s only taken 10 shots in a game just once this season.
Prior to Florida Atlantic, Vokietaitis was a member of the Lithuanian Under-20 National Team that competed at the 2024 FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament. He also played for Lithuania at the 2023 FIBA U20 European Championship and the 2022 FIBA U18 European Championship.
3. No. 12: Tramon Mark — 6-5, 210 lbs. Gr. Guard; Dickinson, Texas (Dickinson HS); Arkansas Transfer
Stats: 13.4 pts, 3.2 rebs, 48.6 FG%, 33.3 3-PT FG%, 72.4 FT%, 27.3 mpg
Mark is in his sixth season playing college basketball, and he has played on several really good teams. His first season was with Houston in 2020-21, a season that ended with the Cougars playing in the Final Four.
In his first season at Texas, Mark ranked fourth on the team in scoring and rebounding and third in minutes played. Taking over as the primary point guard during Texas’s three games at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Mark averaged 14.0 ppg, 3.3 apg, and 2.7 rpg in 33.4 mpg. When he scored 15+ points, the Longhorns went 7-1.
Mark has multiple three-pointers in five of his last seven games, and he has three 20-point games in his last five overall.
4. No. 0: Jordan Pope — 6-1, 180 lbs. Sr. Guard; Oakley, Calif. (Oregon State Transfer)
Stats: 13.2 pts, 2.1 rebs, 41.5 FG%, 37.7 3-PT FG%, 85.7 FT%, 27.9 mpg
Pope led the Longhorns in steals last season, his first season in Austin. In addition, Pope ranked third in scoring and tied for third in assists, while also ranking fifth in minutes.
This season, Pope has three games with 20+ points, including two with 28 points. Pope also has five games with at least four three-pointers, including a game with seven against NC State in late November.
5. No. 7: Simeon Wilcher — 6-4, 200 lbs. Jr. Guard; Plainfield, N.J. (St. John’s Transfer)
Stats: 8.1 pts, 2.3 rebs, 36.8 FG%, 35.9 3-PT FG%, 95% FT, 20.3 mpg
Wilcher comes to Texas from St. John’s, where he played for Rick Pitino’s team that won the Big East regular-season and tournament titles. The Red Storm were a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
This season, Wilcher has seven games with double-digit points. Wilcher has played 20+ minutes 11 times this season.
6. No. 5: Camden Heide — 6-7, 215 lbs. Jr. Forward; Wayzata, Minn. (Purdue Transfer)
Stats: 6.5 pts, 3.1 rebs, 53.4 FG%, 48.1 3-PT FG%, 7-10 FT, 21.6 mpg
Heide played on Purdue’s Sweet 16 team last year and was a redshirt-freshman on their team that played in the National Championship in 2024. Last season, Heide played in all 36 games (eight starts) and ranked third on the team in rebounding (3.6 rpg), fourth in minutes (19.6 mpg), and seventh in scoring (4.7 ppg). He averaged 8.3 ppg and 5.7 rpg in 23.3 mpg while hitting 6-of-11 (.545) from three-point range during Purdue’s three NCAA Tournament games.
Five times this season, Heide has scored in double figures. He had 20 points and six three-pointers in a game against Rider in November. Heide has started 13 games this season.
Head Coach: Sean Miller (1st Season, 11-7; 21st Season Overall, 498-203) — 57 years old
Sean Miller is a really good head coach. He’s two wins away from 500 in his career, and everywhere he has been, he has won. Most impressive, though, is his track record of development. Miller ranks second only to current Arkansas coach John Calipari in the number of NBA players produced over the last 20 seasons. Miller has developed 27 players whom he signed and/or coached that have seen action in the NBA. Of those 27 individuals, 12 were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, including six lottery picks. Included in the lottery picks are DeAndre Ayton (No. 1 overall pick in 2018), Derrick Williams (No. 2 overall pick in 2011), and Aaron Gordon (No. 4 overall pick in 2014). In addition, Miller has had 11 different players named as finalists for one of the five Basketball Hall of Fame’s prestigious positional awards. Stanley Johnson won the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year in 2015, while DeAndre Ayton won the 2018 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year. Four times, an Arizona player won the Pac-12 Player of the Year, and five times, an Arizona freshman won the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
Texas is firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, a similar position Miller’s team at Xavier was in last year. Xavier got into the Tournament and beat Texas in the First Four before losing to Illinois in the First Round. Had the Muskeeters won that game, they would have played Kentucky in the Second Round in Milwaukee.
In 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament as a head coach, Miller’s teams have been to the Sweet 16 eight times and the Elite Eight four times. While he hasn’t been to the Final Four, that is remarkable consistency.
Miller was the head coach of the Musketeers for the previous three seasons, which was his second stint with Xavier. The Musketeers went to the Sweet 16 in 2023, where they ironically lost to Texas. In his first stint from 2004 to 2009, the Musketeers went to the Elite Eight in 2008 and the Sweet 16 in 2009. Xavier won three Atlantic 10 Regular-Season titles and the 2006 Atlantic 10 Tournament. Miller was named the 2008 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.
Sandwiched in his two stints at Xavier, Miller was the head coach at Arizona for 12 seasons. Those Wildcats’ teams were so good, so consistent, and so potent. In the Pac-10 and Pac-12, the Wildcats won five regular-season titles and three tournament titles. Miller was a three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and the 2015 USA Basketball National Co-Coach of the Year. Arizona went to five Sweet 16s and three Elite Eights in seven NCAA Tournaments.
Prior to becoming a head coach, Miller was an assistant on Thad Matta’s Xavier teams from 2001 to 2004. Xavier went to the Elite Eight in 2004. Miller has also been an assistant at NC State, Pittsburgh, Miami (OH), and Wisconsin.
As a player at Pittsburgh, Miller played in 128 career games (124 starts) and recorded 1,282 points and 744 assists while converting 41.6-percent (239-574) from three-point range and 88.5-percent (317-358) from the free throw line over his four seasons. Miller was the 1988 Big East Freshman of the Year and Third Team All-Big East in 1992. He helped Pittsburgh advance to three NCAA Tournaments (1988, 1989 and 1991) and was selected to the school’s All-Centennial Team in 2005. Miller still ranks in the top 20 on the program’s career scoring chart (1,282 points) and ranks in the top 30 on the NCAA Division I career free throw percentage list (.885). He also ranks fourth in career free-throw percentage in BIG EAST games (.909) and fourth on the BIG EAST career assists chart for league games (401).
Keys to the game
1. Rebounding
The Longhorns are a really good rebounding team, averaging 41.2 rebounds per game. They’re also +10.2 in rebounding margin.
Kentucky did an excellent job on the boards against Tennessee, especially in the second half. In the final 20 minutes, Kentucky out-rebounded Tennessee 17-16 and 13-8 on the offensive glass.
That kind of effort is going to have to be present again Wednesday against a tenacious Texas team.
2. Get off to a fast start… maybe.
While the Wildcats have played great second halves in the last two games, falling behind by significant margins in the first half is still something that needs to be eradicated. Texas is a team that can easily make you pay for getting behind by at least 12 points. This is a game where Kentucky has to get off to a good start in the first half, and that’s going to start on the defensive end.
3. Three-point shooting
Believe it or not, Kentucky leads the SEC in three-point shooting in conference play at 38.8 percent. This is the same team that couldn’t make a shot for 10 minutes against North Carolina or couldn’t hit the ocean against Gonzaga.
Carrying over an 11-24 performance from beyond the arc against Tennessee will have the Wildcats in position to outlast Texas. The Wildcats are going to have to make some shots against a Texas team that can score and shoot efficiently from the floor.
4. Limit the turnovers… in the first half
Turnovers are a major reason why Kentucky falls behind in the first half. Against Tennessee, the Wildcats had eight turnovers in the first half. In the second half, they had just one, and that was in the first minute of the second half.
Taking care of the ball in the first 20 minutes will help set the tone and enable the Wildcats to weather the offensive storm Texas could unleash early.
Score Prediction: Wildcats 83, Longhorns 73
This is a game the Wildcats should win. If they get off to a good start and play up to their standard defensively, they can win this game by 10 points. There are no days off in the SEC, and Kentucky knows that. As long as the Wildcats don’t fall behind by a significant deficit and don’t let the Longhorns get hot offensively, they should win their fourth straight game and garner some real momentum.
