Kentucky suffer historic 19-point loss to Iowa State in tourney exit - ESPN

ST LOUIS — Kentucky coach Mark Pope spent the weekend in St. Louis questioning some of the numbers that were attached to this year's team.

On Sunday, there was one that couldn't be easily dismissed — the margin of defeat. The Wildcats' 19-point loss in an 82-63 defeat against Iowa State was Kentucky's largest defeat in an NCAA tournament game since 1972.

The seventh-seeded Wildcats were hoping to reach the Sweet 16 for the second-straight year since Pope was hired to replace John Calipari. Instead, they exited in the second round in a year that never truly came together for them.

«These guys won games in the NCAA Tournament back-to-back years, and at any other school, that would be good,» Pope said after the game. «At Kentucky, the uniqueness of Kentucky, that's not the answer.»

The Wildcats (22-14) have one of the most storied programs in college basketball. Kentucky has 17 Final Four appearances in the men's tournament, the fourth-most of any program in the country (excluding appearances later vacated by the NCAA). But Sunday's loss at the Enterprise Center ensures that 2015 remains as Kentucky's most recent trip to the tournament's final weekend.

Iowa State (29-7) was without senior forward Joshua Jefferson, who watched from the end of the bench while he nursed a sprained left ankle. Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger said Jefferson will have an MRI on Monday morning to determine his status moving forward.

But the No. 2-seed Cyclones were able to easily handily Kentucky without Jefferson. After missing their first 11 3-point attempts, Iowa State found a rhythm at the end of the first half. Senior guard Nate Heise drilled a corner three at the end of the half that capped an 8-0 run and gave the Cyclones a 31-30 lead at