Kentucky embarrassed in NYC again. Michigan State beats Cats by 17 points.

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov 18, 2025

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NEW YORK — Kentucky is now 0 for 2 against quality competition this season.

And the Wildcats were clearly outplayed in both of those losses.

The 17th-ranked Michigan State Spartans beat No. 12 Kentucky 83-66 on Tuesday night in the Champions Classic, another lopsided defeat for the Cats inside Madison Square Garden.

This loss came one week after Louisville led UK by as many as 20 points in an eventual 96-88 victory for the Cards inside the KFC Yum Center. And this one was even worse for the Wildcats.

Michigan State (4-0) led by 17 points at halftime and as many as 24 points in the second half, dominating the Cats on both ends of the floor and opening up an advantage that proved impossible to erase.

Kentucky (3-2) got no closer than 10 points in the second half. The Cats achieved that twice midway through the period. Both times, the Spartans answered with a bucket on the other end, and every momentum shift in UK’s favor turned out to be brief.

Otega Oweh led Kentucky with 12 points. Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler and Mouhamed Dioubate each had 10 points.

Jaxon Kohler led the Spartans with 20 points. Jeremy Fears Jr. had eight points, six rebounds, 13 assists and three steals.

The game got away from Kentucky midway through the first half.

Dioubate, a New York native, put the Cats ahead 17-14 with a fast-break dunk to cap a lightning-quick start to the night — that was the score at the first TV timeout — but UK went on to miss its next five shots from the field. The Cats went scoreless for nearly five minutes during that stretch, and by the time they ended that skid, Michigan State had taken a six-point lead.

Kentucky ultimately went 2 for 18 from the field to finish out the first half following that dunk from Dioubate, and the Spartans kept on scoring.

Michigan State came into the night shooting just 21.7% from deep, with only 13 made 3-pointers over its first three games of the season. The Spartans connected on four of their first five long-range attempts Tuesday night, and they were 7 for 13 on 3-pointers in the first half against the Wildcats. They also outrebounded Kentucky 24-14 before halftime.

UK was 4 for 14 on 2-pointers and 4 for 15 on 3-pointers in the first half. Michigan State led 44-27 at the break.

For the game, Michigan State shot 11 for 22 from 3-point range. UK was just 7 for 30.

Kentucky was playing without Jaland Lowe — the team’s starting point guard — who missed his second consecutive game and third this season with a right shoulder injury. Lowe did make the trip to New York, but there is no timeline for his return to the court.

The Cats have now lost four consecutive games in Madison Square Garden, which was the site of an 85-65 loss to Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic last season. UK is now 6-9 in the Champions Classic and dropped to 2-3 against the Spartans in this event.

Kentucky was a 3.5-point favorite before tipoff Tuesday night.

Next year’s Champions Classic

The 2026 Champions Classic will return to the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 10, 2026, it was announced Tuesday afternoon.

Kentucky will play Kansas in next year’s edition of the Champions Classic. The Cats and Jayhawks also played each other the last time the game was played in the United Center — that was two years ago — with UK nearly knocking off No. 1-ranked Kansas in the first big game of John Calipari’s final season as the Wildcats’ head coach.

UK will play Duke in the 2027 Champions Classic and Michigan State in 2028.

When is the next Kentucky basketball game?

The Cats will return to Rupp Arena on Friday night for a game against Loyola (Maryland), which is off to a 2-3 start to its 2025-26 schedule, with early losses to Towson, NJIT and Fairfield.

The Greyhounds, who play Duquesne on Wednesday night, came into Tuesday at No. 292 in the KenPom ratings. Loyola was picked to finish sixth in the 10-team Patriot League this season.

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