It was a "not enough' night for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Not enough forced turnovers, not enough points off turnovers, not enough three-pointers made and simply too much Kentucky.
Kentucky's defense, and offensive rebounds for easy baskets, allowed the Wildcats to take a 36-24 halftime lead and basically coast to a SEC victory over the Hogs.
The Wildcats are the SEC's basketball equivalent to Alabama football.
Saying they have a target on their back would be like saying Donald Trump likes the sound of his voice, but unlike football, the Wildcats No. 1 rival in basketball is Arkansas.
Any UK fan who doesn't admit that isn't worth his big blue underwear.
When the Razorbacks joined the SEC for the 1991-1992 season they shocked the SEC, which always looked down its nose at the old Southwest Conference in most sports, if not all.
The first time the Cats and the Hogs squared off as conference foes was in front of a packed house in famed Rupp Arena on Jan. 25, 1992, and with less than 20 seconds left to play Nolan Richardson called a timeout to give his players one final instruction: Run to the locker room when the game ends.
He wasn't sure how the stunned crowd would react to a 105-88 whipping. The fans actually took it well, but were still not sure about the new member to the league and at the conference tournament in Birmingham, Ala., in March they received a shock they had never felt.
They were outnumbered at the tournament most referred to as the Kentucky Invitational. Hogs fans came by plane, car, bus and, of course, motor homes. They brought crime-scene tape to protect their new favorite watering holes and they called the Hogs from sunrise to sunset.
The Wildcats nation went to work, though, buying tickets for the tournament from every other school it could. Understand, many of those who find a way to the tournament aren't even on the decades-long waiting list for regular -season tickets.
A rivalry was born that first year, and it grew until the teams were so much a part of the national basketball scene they played on Super Bowl Sunday.
Over the years there have been memorable games, even a personal one. In 2004 during the second half of a 73-56 loss your trusty scribe had a stroke, but deadline was made and just one day of work was missed. It was medical and had nothing to do with the game or how bad the Hogs looked that night in Rupp.
It was hard times for the Hogs against the Cats between the time Nolan Richardson was fired and Mike Anderson was hired. The Razorbacks won once and lost six times. Stan Heath was 0-4, and John Pelphrey managed one victory against his alma mater.
The Wildcats were more guns and roses than a parade, though, as Tubby Smith won a national championship and then fell out of favor with the often fickle fans. Billy Gillispie was a round peg in a square hole.
Obviously, things have been much different under John Calipari, although Anderson was 2-2 as the Hogs' coach against the Cats going into Thursday night's game against Big Blue and the last home victory, Michael Qualls' rebound dunk as time ran out in overtime, has had more than its share of replays on television stations in Arkansas.
There wasn't a real highlight Thursday night for the Razorbacks against a better team. Oh, Dusty Hannahs had a good game, but the Hogs live and die by their defense and Thursday night it was the visitor that pressured the perimeter and pounded the paint.
The better team won on a night when the home team didn't have enough.
Sports on 01/22/2016