Why didn’t Mintz take UK’s late clutch shots? Blame/credit Louisville.
His four three-point baskets against Louisville were one short of a career high for Davion Mintz and the most by a Kentucky player in a game this season.
But Mintz did not score nor take a shot in the final four-plus minutes in UK’s 62-59 loss Saturday.
That wasn’t intentional, UK Coach John Calipari said. With U of L leading 60-59, Kentucky set up a play for either Mintz or Olivier Sarr to shoot.
Two Louisville defenders discouraged a pass by sticking with Mintz, so the ball went to Sarr.
“Would I have liked him to shoot it?” Calipari said of Mintz. “Yeah. Yeah.”
Calipari saluted Mintz, and not simply because the player’s 19 points were two shy of the career high he scored for Creighton against Marquette in January of 2019.
“Davion is one of the guys I’ve been really proud of,” Calipari said. Without mentioning Cam’Ron Fletcher’s disgruntlement about playing time on display last weekend, the UK coach said of Mintz, “he never said a word early in the year. Kind of like Immanuel Quickley. He is so appreciative of this opportunity.”
Mintz acknowledged taking on a leadership role. “Right now, it’s kind of a necessity for me to be that guy that comes out there and will be the voice,” he said.
Fuggedaboutit
With UK’s record at 1-6, Mintz was asked what words of advice he would have for the freshmen.
“At this point, we just kind of throw away the record in our minds,” he said. “And we just go out there and play basketball. Like coach says, refuse to lose at this point.”
Rare occurrence?
As Louisville Coach Chris Mack saw it, the game was a rarity in addition to a sixth straight Kentucky loss and a 1-6 record to start a UK season.
“Not many times that you can not play very well and beat Kentucky,” Mack said. “But I thought that’s what happened today.”
Louisville had more turnovers (13) than assists (nine).
Of course, so did Kentucky: six assists and 11 turnovers. The six assists were not a season-low. The Cats had five assists in the loss to Richmond.
UK came into the game ranked No. 302 out of 329 Division I teams in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Shooting woes
UK made five of 17 three-point shots, including Mintz’s four. His teammates made one of 11 attempts.
Kentucky entered the game ranked No. 322 with an average of 4.2 three-pointers per game and also No. 322 in three-point shooting accuracy (24.3 percent).
UK’s shooting woes extended to all shots and free throws. The Cats entered the game ranked No. 229 in field-goal shooting and made only 34.5 percent of their shots (20 of 58).
UK’s free-throw accuracy, which ranked No. 233, dipped from 66.7 percent to 66.2 percent after making 14 of 22 from the line at Louisville.
Stark contrast
In encouraging fans to keep believing, Calipari pointed out that Kentucky has not even played its first conference game yet. That comes next Saturday at Mississippi State.
For perspective, Kentucky’s 1-6 record going into SEC play is in stark contrast to previous seasons in Calipari’s time as coach. Until this season, Kentucky had not lost more than four pre-conference games. That came in a 9-4 start to the 2012-13 season. UK lost two or fewer pre-conference games in eight of the 11 seasons since he became coach in 2009.
Calipari’s overall pre-conference record entering this season was 123-21, a winning percentage of .854.
Streak snapped
Kentucky was seeking a fourth straight victory over Louisville. That would have matched the longest streak for either team since the series was revived in 1983-84. In that time, UK had won four straight against U of L three previous times.
“We know about it with Kentucky winning the last few,” U of L guard Carlik Jones said before the game. “But I wouldn’t say we talk about it a lot. I know we want to win. I know we’re going to prepare. I know we’re going to be ready for it.”
Assists
Carlik Jones came into the game needing three assists to reach 500 in his college career. He was credited with two assists.
For perspective, only two players have amassed 500 career assists for Kentucky: Dirk Minniefield (646) and Anthony Epps (544).
Roger Harden and Wayne Turner came close with 498 and 494, respectively.
Rankings
Saturday marked only the fifth time since the UK-U of L rivalry was renewed with the so-called “Dream Game” in the 1983 NCAA Tournament that both teams came into the game unranked. Kentucky had won three of the previous four such games.
It might be surprising that both teams were ranked in less than half of the games (19 of 42). Kentucky was the only ranked team 12 times and Louisville six times.
