Five things you need to know from No. 10 Kentucky’s 76-64 loss to Richmond
Five things you need to know from Kentucky men’s basketball’s 76-64 loss to the Richmond Spiders at Rupp Arena:
1. Don’t overreact to this loss. Richmond is a good team. The Spiders were ranked No. 22 in the country by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (the bible of college hoops previews) in the preseason and was picked to win the Atlantic 10.
A veteran team that started four seniors, Coach Chris Mooney’s Spiders could well be a dangerous team in March Madness.
2. This is not a surprise, but Kentucky’s guard play has a long, long way to go. Freshman point guard Devin Askew — who reclassified and should be a high school senior — did not make a field goal and had two assists vs. three turnovers.
Frosh wings Brandon Boston (8-of-20 field goals, two turnovers) and Terrence Clarke (four turnovers) also had offensive struggles.
UK’s only veteran guard, Creighton graduate transfer Davion Mintz, played only 10 minutes.
Overall, Kentucky had 21 turnovers.
Defensively, UK struggled to stay in front of diminutive Richmond guards Jacob Gilyard (six assists, five steals) and Blake Francis (18 points).
3. UK shooting was errant. The Wildcats missed all 10 of their three-point tries.
Interestingly, since Nov. 26, 1988, Kentucky has made at least one three-pointer in every game but two — both of those against Atlantic 10 teams.
UK went 0-of-6 on treys in its 78-73 win over Davidson in the 2018 NCAA Tournament round of 64, snapping what was then a streak of 1,047-straight games in which the Wildcats had made a three-pointer.
Meanwhile, peeling the John Calipari-era NCAA Tournament scabs off of every UK fan, the Cats clanked 13 free throws (making only 20-of-33).
4. Kentucky started Cam’Ron Fletcher in place of Isaiah Jackson at power forward.
Jackson, who “tweaked” an ankle in Wednesday night’s 81-45 win over Morehead State, was said by ESPN play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman not to have practiced Saturday.
Jackson, however, wound up playing far more than Fletcher. A 6-foot-10, 206-pound freshman, Jackson came off the bench to contribute six points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots in 26 minutes.
Fletcher, a 6-6, 215-pound frosh, had four points and six rebounds in 14 minutes.
5. Richmond had never beaten an AP top-10 team on the road before in school history. The Spiders were 0-25 against top-10 teams playing on the ranked team’s home floor before Sunday.
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 3:15 PM.
