‘We’ll get better’: What options are left for Kentucky basketball’s struggling offense?
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Game day: No. 16 UCLA 63, No. 13 Kentucky 53
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and UCLA at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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Long before Kentucky missed its final 11 shots against UCLA on Saturday night, the Wildcats’ worst offensive shortcomings were on full display inside Madison Square Garden in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.
Star senior forward Oscar Tshiebwe faced a barrage of Bruins in the paint, finding little room to operate with the ball or even receive entry passes.
The planned perimeter shooting presence of veterans CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves never materialized. Freshman Cason Wallace — an early-season surprise from behind the three-point line — had his worst shooting night from distance as a college player, as well.
Combined, these factors formed the final 4:31 of Kentucky’s 63-53 loss to UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic.
It was a period in which UK didn’t score a point, committed two fouls and turnovers each and saw an eminently winnable game against a ranked opponent slip away.
“We miss so many open shots, it becomes demoralizing,” Calipari said postgame. “The crazy thing is we still could have won the game.”
Through 10 games in the 2022-23 season, there has already been several examples of inconsistent and ineffective offense from Kentucky, now 7-3 on the season.
In the second overtime period of its Champions Classic matchup with Michigan State, UK sputtered after Tshiebwe fouled out, and the Cats scored just six points in that five-minute period.
A blowout loss at Gonzaga featured just eight first-half field goals.
Bellarmine — whose methodical style limits offensive possessions for both teams — restricted Kentucky to just 21 first-half points less than a month ago.
And only a week ago, the Wildcats needed a 28-point eruption from Tshiebwe to stave off Yale at home, with non-Tshiebwe players combining for just 16 made shots.
These moments built to Saturday’s closing-stretch crescendo, which itself represented UK’s game-long offensive slog.
Kentucky had four stretches of three minutes or longer without making a field goal against UCLA.
The Bruins hounded Tshiebwe in the paint, often double- and triple-teaming the reigning national player of the year.
With that primary option taken away, perimeter shooting failed to carry the scoring load.
UK is shooting 38.1% from three-point range this season, which is the 37th-best mark in the country, but it’s a misleading metric given what the Wildcats have done against quality teams.
Against only Michigan State, Gonzaga, Michigan and UCLA, the Cats are 28-for-86 (32.6%) from distance, which would rank 213th in the nation.
Fredrick — an expected sharpshooter who is still only 10 games into his UK career — hasn’t scored in roughly his last 17 minutes of game action.
This is to say nothing of Kentucky’s well-documented free-throw shooting struggles, which currently have the Wildcats languishing as the 304th-best team in the nation from the charity stripe.
So at this point, what’s left?
When the primary offensive weapon is neutralized and several members of the supporting cast fail to step up, where can Kentucky turn for offensive production, and what will that look like?
“Be aggressive getting to the rim from the guard spots,” UK freshman Chris Livingston said on Saturday, after he scored a career-high 14 points to lead the Cats.
“It’s tough. Floaters,” added junior forward Lance Ware, who was the only Kentucky player to have a positive plus/minus against UCLA, despite only scoring two points.
Earlier in the season, rational — if charitable — explanations came from Calipari about why the Kentucky offense wasn’t clicking.
These were mostly centered around a lack of practice time with the complete Wildcat team following Tshiebwe’s offseason knee procedure.
That’s out the window now.
Kentucky had a week to prepare for its trip to The World’s Most Famous Arena to face UCLA, and the Cats posted their lowest scoring total since March 2019.
The Wildcats didn’t score a single fast-break point against the Bruins.
“If you’re not making shots, there’s three people on (Tshiebwe). It is what it is,” Ware said. “Some go, some don’t. We made some shots at the end of the first (half) … but towards the end we didn’t really make any.”
Calipari’s team is still trying to establish a reliable night-in and night-out offensive plan, but it now must do so while the opponent quality level significantly increases.
After Wednesday night’s game against Florida A&M, it will be only major conference opponents until March for the Wildcats: 18 SEC games, plus home contests against Louisville and Kansas.
“I’ll tell you what, they made a bunch of floaters. We missed every one. I don’t think we made one. (It’s) something we work on, too,” Calipari said with the final words of his post-UCLA presser. “We’ll get better, folks. We’ll get better.”
Next game
Florida A&M at No. 13 Kentucky
What: Unity Series
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Florida A&M 2-7, Kentucky 7-3
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 96-76 on March 19, 2004, in the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio
