As long as he lives, Aaron Bradshaw might not ever have another game like Saturday. He certainly hopes not. And Kentucky couldn’t agree more.

Bradshaw, UK’s freshman big man who has been stout at times and spectacular at others since his midseason debut after a foot injury, had four fouls in four minutes of play Saturday.

His lack of production, along with similarly small returns from starting frontcourt mate Tre Mitchell, spelled doom against Texas A&M, one of the nation’s most rugged rebounding teams.

Relying so heavily on their perimeter players, the No. 6 Wildcats couldn’t do enough to stave off an upset, falling to the Aggies, 97-92, in overtime at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas.

Kentucky coach John Calipari blamed himself for the loss.

"We're not a team that just comes down and goes pick and roll," Calipari said during a postgame radio interview with UK's radio network. "That's not what we are. We move the ball. Everybody can play — they can make plays, and then we play.

"We didn't do that today. Obviously, I didn't communicate what I needed to to the guys. But I must say, they fought and tried."

Bradshaw did what he could. It just wasn't much given he was glued to the bench for 39 of the contest's 45 minutes.

Bradshaw’s first foul came 15 seconds into Saturday’s game. His second occurred barely two minutes later; he didn’t retake the floor for the remainder of the half, as UK (12-3, 2-1 SEC) went into intermission trailing 46-45.

Bradshaw resumed his place in the lineup at the beginning of the second half.

But it was nearly a carbon copy of the game’s opening minute: he picked up his third foul 28 seconds into the half and subbed out moments later. Foul No. 4 came with 10:17 remaining.

Bradshaw attempted just one shot — an off-the-mark 3 in overtime — in the five-point loss to the Aggies (10-6, 1-2). He finished with zero points, one rebound and two assists in six minutes.

Mitchell wasn’t much better.

A senior who had averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds in his past two outings, Mitchell still posted a game-high rebound total (13). But he could barely buy a basket. Mitchell had eight points but missed 10 of his 13 shots from the field, including a 1-for-6 effort beyond the 3-point arc. And he capped UK’s final possession by throwing the ball out of bounds with less than four seconds remaining in overtime.

Fatigue likely was a factor. Mitchell played all 40 minutes in Tuesday's win over Missouri. He only subbed out for one minute Saturday.

"I'm probably playing him too many minutes without Adou," said Calipari, referring to the absence of sophomore Adou Thiero, who sat out his fourth straight game with what the program has called "general soreness."

The loss wasted a career-best performance from sophomore 7-footer Ugonna Onyenso, who posted personal bests in a trio of categories: points (seven), rebounds (10) and blocks (five).

"I thought he played a lot of minutes — more than he needs to really play," Calipari said of Onyenso, who was on the floor for 31 minutes, more than double his previous high (14 last week versus Florida). "But he played good. He did some good stuff."

With Bradshaw and Mitchell scuffling along against the Aggies, offense was left to the Wildcats’ electric guards. Senior Antonio Reeves (22 points) and freshmen D.J. Wagner (18), Rob Dillingham (15) and Reed Sheppard (13) accounted for almost 75% of UK’s offense Saturday.

"We were fighting the whole game to get back up, get the lead, and we were taking shots we needed to get the lead," Sheppard said, "and then we got the lead and we probably have four possessions where we shot bad shots — 'hero shots.' ... You especially can't do that in a close game."

It didn't help that Kentucky had no answers defensively for A&M’s deadly dynamic duo of Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford.

Taylor poured in a game-high 31 points — just ahead of Radford’s 28.

What made their epic offensive outburst all the more frustrating for the Wildcats: they were the only Aggies to post double-digit point totals Saturday.

"People talking about (our) defense, (the Aggies) ran downhill. They were physical," Calipari said. "They were grad students. They were older. They got into the body. We made some errors."

Sheppard said the defensive miscues represented a lack of discipline.

"We all can guard," he said. "We just have to stick to the game plan and just do what the coaches are telling us to do. They give us a great scout. ... We can't not want to be on the defensive end. We have to have fun.

"Instead of (scoring) a basket, we should rather get a stop."

Not surprisingly, Calipari's biggest takeaway was that his team still needs to learn "how to finish off a game."

He pointed to Mitchell's game-ending turnover as Exhibit A.

"I love Tre, but to pass? Why would you do that?" Calipari said. "That was a big play."

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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball, Aaron Bradshaw come up short in loss at Texas A&M