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LEXINGTON, KY — Taking the floor beneath the yells of more than 20,000 fans in Rupp Arena Saturday afternoon, Missouri did not appear intimidated. Slow starts plagued the Tigers at times during non-conference play, but in its SEC opener, Missouri got a steal on the first possession of the game and freshman Kobe Brown made a three-pointer on the other end. The Tigers led No. 17 Kentucky 5-2 even before perhaps their most important player, center Jeremiah Tilmon, checked into the game for the first time.

Tilmon, who missed the team’s win over Chicago State on Monday due to a lingering foot injury, entered the game after the first media timeout. Exactly 10 seconds later, the whistle blew. Tilmon, guarding Kentucky forward Nick Richards, had picked up his first foul.

It was a sign of things to come for Missouri. The Tigers hung in the game for about 25 minutes before foul accumulation and a dominant performance by Richards — who drew many of those fouls, and feasted on reserve big men as the starters left the game — led Kentucky to pull away. The Wildcats won 71-59, ending Missouri’s four-game winning streak.

Missouri had a chance to take a commanding lead early, but Richards kept Kentucky in the game. He scored the Wildcats’ first nine points. It wasn’t until nearly 10 minutes into the half that another Kentucky player scored, at which point Missouri led by eight. But after freshman Tyrese Maxey finally became the first non-Richards Wildcat to find the bottom of the net, the Wildcats embarked on a 12-0 run and seized the lead for good.

Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin called Richards “the difference in the game.” That’s not a new label for Richards; the Wildcats are now 9-0 this season when he scores 10 points or more and 6-0 when he records double-digit rebounds. Saturday, he finished with 21 points, 12 boards and four blocks.

“I think he was the difference-maker,” Martin said of Richards. “... They got more from their bigs than we did from our bigs. Simply that.”

Missouri center Reed Nikko, who started in place of Tilmon, said the Tigers planned to limit Richards’ touches around the rim, and he blamed himself for not doing a better job defending and boxing out Richards in the low post. But Nikko admitted he was surprised to see Richards make a few jumpers from 15 feet and further. Once Richards saw a few shots go through the net, he found a rhythm, and his confidence soared.

“Our game plan was we had to just try to box him out and just keep him out of the paint,” Nikko said. “Obviously he hit some jump shots that we weren’t as ready for, but we gotta do a better job of keeping him off the glass, especially me.”

Meanwhile, on the offensive end, Missouri got little from its post players. Tilmon played just four minutes in the first half before his second foul sent him to the bench. He played eight total minutes in the game, finished with seven points and three rebounds. As a result, Nikko and Mitchell Smith had to shoulder heavy workloads, and both players looked largely overmatched against Richards and his frontcourt mate E.J. Montgomery.

Nikko scored four points in 18 minutes, his second-most playing time of the season, and had three rebounds. Smith scored two points, shooting 0-6 from the field, and grabbed just one board before fouling out in 28 minutes. By contrast, Kentucky’s starting frontcourt duo combined for 24 points and 16 rebounds. As a team, the Wildcats out-rebounded the Tigers 36-31.

“You have to get more production in my opinion from Reed, Mitch and Jeremiah,” Martin said. “They have to be productive around the rim.”

The performance wasn’t all bad for Missouri. Martin praised Dru Smith, the only Missouri player to reach double figures, and Javon Pickett for getting to the rim. Missouri won the turnover battle 13 to 11 and actually scored more points from the field than Kentucky. The Tigers made six three-pointers to Kentucky’s four and made 21 total field goals while the Wildcats made 20.

But the glaring difference on the stat sheet, aside from the mismatch down low, was free throws. Due to 28 fouls on Missouri, Kentucky shot 30 free throws and made 27. Seven Missouri players finished the game with at least three fouls, and four had four or more. The Tigers, meanwhile, drew 19 fouls and went 11-17 from the free-throw line.

No one from Missouri’s camp complained about the foul discrepancy after the game; instead, both Martin and Nikko said Missouri needed to do a better job of keeping Kentucky players out of the lane in order to avoid having to choose between fouling or surrendering an easy basket.

“We have to do a better job of just not letting them get into the paint in the first place,” Nikko said. “A lot of those fouls, they got attempts at the rim. I think we do a better job limiting them on those drives, not letting them get to the rim in the first place, that will alleviate a lot of those fouls.”

In his postgame press conference, Martin said this isn’t the type of loss that sends him “back to the drawing board.” That said, he’s not making any excuses either. Asked whether Tilmon was limited by his foot injury, he dismissed the question, saying “he was on the floor, he’s fine.” At the end of the day, Martin said, his frontcourt players simply need to be better.

“We felt like as a staff going into the game that the difference would be who would get interior production,” Martin said, “and they won the battle.”