Kentucky had a tremendous start to the Mark Pope era this season. Unfortunately, the Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season due to an impressive performance from unranked Clemson.

During Tuesday’s ACC-SEC Challenge action, the unranked Tigers built a 37-30 lead at halftime. Clemson couldn’t pull away in the second half, but the team managed to make key plays in the final period.

After the 7-point lead dwindled to 61-58 with five minutes to play, the Tigers got back-to-back throws from Chauncey Wiggins and Jaeden Zackery, including an and-1 from Zackery, to punctuate a quick 5-0 run.

Within the final two minutes, Chase Hunter made all four free throw attempts to end any hopes of a comeback attempt by the Wildcats. Clemson secured the 70-66 win, giving the Tigers their fourth straight win against a top-five opponent.

The Tigers became the first team since the expansion of the AP poll in 1989/90 to win four times in a row against top-five teams as unranked opponents:

Last 4 @ClemsonMBB Games vs. AP Top 5:

Clemson Def. without rank. #3 Duke
Clemson Def. without rank. #5 Louisville
Clemson Def. without rank. #3 UNC
Clemson Def. without rank. #4 Great Britain

Since the poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989-90, no one else has won 4 straight against AP Top 5 opponents without being ranked.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) December 4, 2024

Zackery finished the game with a team-high 13 points, while Clemson had four different Tigers score in double figures. Every starter for Clemson scored at least 9 points and 7 different players scored 6+ points for the Tigers.

Kentucky’s Otega Oweh led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Lamont Butler added 16 points and 5 assists. Bench points proved crucial in this game as Clemson outscored the Wildcats 15 to 7 while scoring from the bench.

The loss leaves Kentucky at 7-1 on the young season, but it’s still a strong start to Pope’s tenure. The Wildcats are coming off a win over Duke to start the season and will get another chance to secure an outstanding win against Gonzaga on Saturday.

Clemson is not ranked, but could break through in the near future. The Tigers are 8-1, with their only loss coming in a game against Boise State.