Lack of assists, abundance of turnovers help identify UK’s biggest ‘issue’
A review of the loss to Richmond led John Calipari to settle on what Kentucky needs to improve going forward.
“It wasn’t defense,” he said on a Zoom teleconference Monday. “It wasn’t rebounding.”
Yes, Richmond made 59.4 percent of its second-half shots in defeating Kentucky 76-64 on Sunday. But Calipari saw a problem in need of fixing at the other end of the court.
“You have to play better offensively,” the UK coach said. “Better screens. You have to create better shots for each other. You can’t just go to get your own.”
That’s especially true early in the shot clock, he added.
Calipari made clear that an improved offense will be an objective going into a future that begins with a game against No. 7 Kansas in Indianapolis on Tuesday night.
With No. 20 Kentucky’s annual collection of five-star recruits, Calipari acknowledged surprise that offense would be the problem.
“I never thought our issue would be offensively,” he said. “But when I think back, just about every year I’ve done this, it’s been the same.”
UK missed every one of its 10 three-point shots against Richmond, which moved into the Associated Press Top 25 this week at No. 19 (just ahead of Kentucky).
“We have good three-point shooters,” said Calipari, who repeated a familiar refrain about not wanting to rely on three-pointers but needing to take, oh, 17 to 21 a game.
Calipari identified the problem on offense as taking bad shots and playing as five individuals. He seemed to cite misplaced confidence as leading to more solo efforts.
“Against Morehead, they weren’t sure, so they passed to each other,” he said of UK’s opening-night victory. “Then, they became sure, and they’re, like, ‘I’m going to do this.’ ‘I can do this.’ Versus we’ve got to do this together.
“It’s all part of the process here. And I’ve got to do a better job teaching.”
Two glaring statistics made it clear that Kentucky’s offense against Richmond was not efficient. UK had no assists in the second half.
“I never coached a team that had no assists in a second half,” Calipari said.
The five total assists were the fewest by a Kentucky team since getting five against LSU on Feb. 22, 2014. Perhaps even worse for that Kentucky team, the game went into overtime before UK won 77-76.
Calipari likened the current Cats to the 2013-14 edition. “It was March before we clicked,” he said.
Kentucky has not had fewer than five assists in a game since getting credit for four against Indiana on Dec. 10, 2005.
Of a review of the tape with players, Calipari said. “We showed them all the extra passes they could have made to get other guys open (shots).
“Hopefully, that’s the dregs of, ‘OK, it’s my time to do my thing.’ And you get one or two guys doing it, it leads to four or five or six guys doing it.”
Turnovers were another problem for Kentucky’s offense against Richmond. The Cats committed 21, which equaled the fourth-most in a game during Calipari’s 12 seasons as coach. UK had 24 turnovers against Morehead State on Nov. 13, 2009, and 23 turnovers six days later against Sam Houston State. The other game with more turnovers came against East Tennessee State on Nov. 17, 2017, when UK turned it over 22 times.
Calipari singled out a two-minute stretch of the second half against Richmond as decisive. In that time, a 36-30 UK lead became a 39-36 deficit. Kentucky’s two turnovers, two missed shots and two missed free throws changed the momentum to Richmond’s favor.
“You’ve got to know how to stop the bleeding,” Calipari said. “I’ve got to teach them to play winning basketball. We’ve got good players. But they’re not ready to play winning basketball the way they’re playing right now.”
In a separate Zoom teleconference, Kansas Coach Bill Self suggested the key words in that sentence might be “right” and “now.” When asked about the zero assists in the second half and 21 turnovers, he said, “It’s obviously not the norm. I’d probably say the law of averages will catch up and they’ll definitely make shots.
“I do think this: sometimes numbers can be so skewed.”
Kansas will bring a 1-1 record into Tuesday night’s game. The Jayhawks lost to No. 1 Gonzaga before beating St. Joseph’s 94-72. The two opponents shot with 48.2-percent accuracy against Kansas and averaged 87 points.
Whatever the significance of those numbers, Self cautioned against premature judgment.
“The reality of it is we won’t be the team we will be,” the Kansas coach said. “And Kentucky is not the team they will be. …
“We’re both really a little bit wounded animals. Usually wounded animals are really dangerous. We know they’ll play well.”
Tuesday
No. 20 Kentucky vs. No. 7 Kansas
What: Champions Classic
When: 9:30 p.m.
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
Records: UK 1-1; Kansas 1-1
Series: UK leads 23-9
Last meeting: UK won 71-63 on Jan. 26, 2019, in Rupp Arena
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1, WLXG-AM 1300
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 4:04 PM.
