UK gets test of nerves Calipari said it needed, but Louisville prevails
Earlier in the week, Kentucky Coach John Calipari said his team had to learn to execute better in the final minutes of a possession-by-possession game. He got his wish at Louisville on Saturday.
But Kentucky came up short again as the Cardinals won 62-59.
Kentucky’s wrong kind of history making continued. UK fell to 1-6, which matched the second-worst start to a season in program history. UK began the 1911 season by losing six of its first seven games.
The only worse start to a UK season was 1-8 in 1926-27.
A sixth straight defeat happened for only the fourth time in Kentucky basketball history. It happened in Eddie Sutton’s final season as coach (1988-89), in 1910 and in 1923 (the latter a nine-game losing streak).
Kentucky trailed 52-45 with less than six minutes left. The Cats got points on seven straight possessions to reduce the deficit to 59-58 with 2:34 left.
Louisville stumbled down the stretch. The Cards had one basket in the final 6:04.
After UK tied it at 59-59 with 1:05 left on an Isaiah Jackson free throw, U of L took a 60-59 lead with 18.9 seconds left on a Dre Davis free throw.
After a Louisville timeout, Kentucky chose to have Olivier Sarr take a shot nearly identical to his miss in the final seconds against Notre Dame. Again, Sarr missed, this time the ball spinning off the rim.
Fouled on the rebound, U of L guard Carlik Jones made two free throws with 5.1 seconds left. He led all scorers with 20 points.
Davion Mintz led UK with 19 points. Brandon Boston added 11 and Jacob Toppin 10.
The first half saw a continuation of Kentucky’s poor shooting. But UK committed only five turnovers.
Louisville led 28-27 at halftime after an opening 20 minutes that saw neither team lead by more than five points.
Louisville had that advantage — 26-21 going into the final two minutes. Back-to-back three-pointers by Mintz, which capped a team-high eight-point half — gave UK a 27-26 lead.
But Jae’lyn Withers’ layup in the final seconds gave Louisville its halftime lead.
Besides poor shooting (11 of 30 overall and two of six on free throws), Kentucky had another obstacle to overcome in the first half.
Sarr went scoreless (missing the three shots he took) and did not grab a rebound.
Askew, who returned to the starting lineup in place of Terrence Clarke, gave Kentucky a lift. He scored seven points in the half.
Toppin (six points) and Lance Ware (four points) sparked UK off the bench.
Louisville was the sloppy team early in the second half. The Cardinals turned the ball over three times in their first seven trips downcourt.
UK cashed in with seven points in transition.
Then Kentucky went without a basket for more than five minutes. But Louisville failed to build more than a three-point lead during this span.
The basket-less span reached nine minutes before Toppin posted up for a score with 9:15 left.
Kentucky went to a zone defense with less than nine minutes left. It yielded a corner three, but U of L missed. However, a putback while being fouled put Kentucky behind 50-43 with 8:07 left. It was UK’s largest deficit to that point.
Kentucky still trailed by seven with less than six minutes left.
Two three-pointers by Mintz helped make it a one-possession deficit (57-54) at the final television timeout. That set up another possession-to-possession finish.
Next games
Kentucky at Mississippi State: 6 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network)
Louisville at Boston College: Noon Saturday
This story was originally published December 26, 2020 at 3:28 PM.
