Kentucky’s past with Oklahoma and Texas has included both triumph and heartache

The University of Kentucky does not have an extensive sports history with its soon-to-be-new SEC rivals Oklahoma and Texas.

In 2024-25, the Sooners and Longhorns will make their long-awaited debuts as full-scale Southeastern Conference competitors.

In football, UK and Texas have met only once before — a 7-6 victory for the No. 11 Longhorns over Bear Bryant’s No. 6 Wildcats on Sept. 22, 1951, in Austin.

Head-to-head, Kentucky is 2-0 vs. Texas in men’s hoops.

Oklahoma holds a 2-1 all-time edge over UK in football. The Wildcats are 3-0 vs. the Sooners in men’s basketball.

Yet, even with so few meetings in the most-visibile sports, Kentucky has nevertheless shared some consequential moments, of both triumph and heartache, against Texas and Oklahoma.

UK’s past vs. Oklahoma

▪ Greatest triumph vs. the Sooners: On Jan. 1, 1951, Bear Bryant’s No. 7 Kentucky football team upset Bud Wilkinson’s No. 1 Oklahoma squad 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The victory snapped a 31-game Oklahoma winning streak.

It was the shining moment of coaching strategy for Bryant during his eight-season UK tenure. Bryant took Oklahoma by surprise by inserting an extra lineman into the Kentucky defensive front. That additional D-lineman, Walt Yowarsky, proceeded to:

1. recover a fumble that set up UK’s first touchdown;

2. hit OU star Billy Vessells for a 5-yard loss on third-and-goal from the UK 2-yard line, the key play in a crucial Wildcats goal-line stand;

3. recover a fumble at the Oklahoma 32 to seal Kentucky’s win.

To this day, UK’s streak-snapping victory over Oklahoma in a major bowl game remains the greatest win in Wildcats football history.

▪ Most-wrenching defeat vs. the Sooners: On a Cinderella run in search of Kentucky women’s basketball’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament Final Four, Matthew Mitchell’s No. 4 seed Wildcats began their 2010 round-of-eight meeting with No. 3 seed Oklahoma on a 15-2 run.

In that moment, the Wildcats were closer to a Final Four appearance than they had ever been before — or have ever been since.

From that point, Oklahoma, led by star guards Nyeshia Stevenson (31 points, five steals) and Danielle Robinson (16 points, five rebounds, six assists) uncorked an 86-53 rampage to end the game and deny UK a trip to the women’s college basketball promised land with an 88-68 win.

For Kentucky, the magnitude of not being able to take advantage of an Elite Eight shot against a No. 3 seed only became fully apparent in retrospect. In the only two times since 2010 that UK made it back to an NCAA Tournament region final (2012 and 2013), the Wildcats were in against top-seeded Connecticut during Geno Auriemma’s “high dynasty” period and got rocked.

UK’s past vs. Texas

▪ Greatest triumph vs. the Longhorns: In the 2020 women’s volleyball NCAA Tournament national championship game, Kentucky’s star players took command of the biggest stage in their sport and led UK to its first national title by prevailing 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22) over Texas.

After UK dropped the first set, the Wildcats All-Americans took over the match. Outside hitter Alli Stumler recorded 26 kills off of 51 swings, including the championship-clinching kill; setter Madison Lilley had 53 assists and a career-high 19 digs; and the outside-hitting Skinner sisters, Avery (14) and Madisen (19), combined for 33 kills.

Most-wrenching defeat vs. the Longhorns: In what was an elimination game from the 1993 NCAA Baseball Tournament Central Regional for Kentucky, the Wildcats took a 3-2 lead over home-standing Texas into the bottom of the sixth inning.

However, Tim Harkrider hit a two-run home run as part of a five-run inning that propelled the Longhorns to an 8-3 victory and ended the season for coach Keith Madison’s Wildcats.

Familiar faces

With the Longhorns and Sooners, there are some current sports figures who will be familiar to Kentuckians.

TEXAS

▪ Former UK volleyball standout Madisen Skinner is a junior outside hitter for the Longhorns. Skinner played a big role in helping Kentucky win the 2020 NCAA championship. After transferring to her home state, the Katy, Texas, product helped Texas win the 2022 NCAA title.

▪ Edrick Floreal, Kentucky track and field head man from 2012 through 2018, assumed the same position at Texas when he left Lexington. Floreal has since led the Longhorns to two NCAA team championships — in men’s indoor in 2022 and women’s outdoor in 2023.

OKLAHOMA

▪ Jacob Lacey, a former Kentucky high school star at South Warren, is a defensive lineman for the Sooners. In OU’s first two games, the 6-foot-1, 282-pound Lacey, a transfer from Notre Dame, had two tackles and shared in a tackle for loss.

▪ Sooners volleyball player Taylor Preston, a 6-2 sophomore outside hitter, is an alumnus of St. Henry High School and a product of Union, Ky., in Boone County.