Thanks to a great overtime performance, Kentucky was able to take down the UCF Knights in Rupp Arena. Throughout regulation, Kentucky's offense just struggled to find consistency. The defense was very good for much of the first half, but it even took a hit and allowed UCF to climb back and go on to almost take down the Wildcats. It was an Alex Wilkins floater that saved Kentucky and that led to a dominating overtime.
In overtime, it was almost like we were seeing a completely different team. Kentucky's offense was moving the ball efficiently and guys like Milan Momcilovic and Alex Wilkins were being aggressive and were really hunting for shots, something that the offense struggled with in regulation. Kentucky went on to outscore UCF 19-5 in the four-minute overtime period on their way to a 90-76 win. What led to Kentucky putting together a much better performance in overtime? It may have been because of Malachi Moreno, who shared a message to his team in the huddle before the extra time began.
Oct 16, 2026; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats center Malachi Moreno (24) handles the ball during the second half against the Little Rock Trojans at Rupp Arena Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
"We do four-minute scrimmages all the time, and so we went into overtime and Malachi Moreno, who's taking on this leadership role, yelled in the huddle. He's like, 'Guys, we do this every day. This is our four-minute scrimmage. Let's go win it.'...It's just like I said, I couldn't have scripted a better lesson plan for our guys than what we saw tonight. We'll take so much from this and continue to grow and get better. For us, it's just a race to keep getting better."
Malachi Moreno was then asked about his message to the team after Pope brought it up and here was his response. "Just being one of the returnees from the team, I felt like coming into the preseason, I just had to set the standard from day oneand now that we're in the season, just reiterating that same standard, like, we do this every day, like, this is nothing new to us and it's time to go."
Moreno has been taking on a bigger leadership role and it showed against UCF on Wednesday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/kentucky as Malachi Moreno shared a message to his team before overtime against UCF .
