Kentucky basketball’s great mystery: What is going on with Olivier Sarr?
Olivier Sarr had gone 79 minutes and 50 seconds in back-to-back games against two teams Kentucky fans yearn to defeat — North Carolina and Louisville — without making a field goal.
That was not what anyone expected when the 7-foot Frenchman transferred to UK after a break-out season last year at Wake Forest.
Yet, with one shot Saturday in the KFC Yum Center, Sarr had a chance to erase his AWOL showing in two straight games.
With Louisville clinging to a 60-59 lead over Kentucky and the clock ticking under 10 seconds remaining, Sarr was lined up to be a Big Blue hero.
Rising for a 15-foot baseline jumper, Sarr had almost the identical shot he attempted earlier this season that would have given the Wildcats a last-gasp victory against Notre Dame.
Against the Fighting Irish, Sarr’s shot bounded off the rim. This time, the hoops gods were even crueler. Sarr watched his potential game-winning shot vs. U of L hit dead-center inside the basket, dip down inside the goal — and spin out.
“I’d say (Sarr’s last shot) was the definition of buzzard’s luck,” Kentucky sophomore forward Jacob Toppin said afterward. “The ball was in the basket — and it came out. You can’t do anything about that.”
So Louisville (6-1) scored a 62-59 victory over Kentucky on Saturday before a socially distanced KFC Yum Center crowd of 3,281.
The win got Chris Mack on the rivalry board with his first victory as Cards’ head coach vs. UK. It dropped Wildcats head man John Calipari to 11-3 vs. U of L as UK coach — and, of more pressing concern, the Cats fell to 1-6 on the year.
In a Kentucky season that has obviously gone off the tracks, one of the biggest mysteries has been how Sarr has now gone two straight games without a made basket.
After not even attempting a field goal in Kentucky’s 75-63 loss to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic two Saturdays ago, the big man went 0-of-4 from the field and finished with one point, one rebound and two turnovers in 21 minutes vs. Louisville.
That, obviously, is nothing close to the production Sarr generated last season playing for Danny Manning at Wake Forest. For the Demon Deacons in 2019-20, Sarr averaged 13.7 points and nine rebounds a game — and ended the year on a tear.
In his final five contests last season, Sarr averaged 20.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and made 64.5 percent of his field goals.
Where has that guy gone?
Sarr was not one of the players UK made available on its postgame, video news conference, so theories on what is going on with the Bordeaux, France, product were offered by others.
Calipari said Kentucky entered the Louisville game with a game plan that called for feeding Sarr “as many times as we can throw him the ball.”
The UK coach said U of L’s defense foiled UK’s plan. “They did a good job of fighting, fronting and doing some things,” Calipari said of the Cardinals.
However, the Kentucky head man acknowledged that a player can lose confidence when they do not see the ball going through the hoop.
“(Sarr) missed some shots. He missed a couple of easy ones,” Calipari said. “When you start missing shots, it starts playing with your confidence. It’s not like we’re not trying to go to him — we are.”
Slender in appearance with a listed 237 pounds on his 7-foot frame, Sarr has been on the receiving end of considerable physicality from opposing defenders.
He has not seemed especially comfortable counteracting that.
Meanwhile, UK’s overall offensive dysfunction is also not doing Sarr any favors. It’s hard for a post player to find an offensive rhythm when there are few reliable outside shooters to draw defenders out of the paint and few dynamic drivers to create open looks near the rim.
That, so far, is pretty much Kentucky’s situation.
Therefore, Sarr is suffering.
“He’s working really hard. Olivier is really trying,” said UK guard Davion Mintz (19 points, seven rebounds). “Right now, it could be (he feels) a lot of pressure at the moment. ... We’ve got to find a way to keep him involved in our offense. We’ve got to get him going early, especially when there (are) mismatches for him.”
Through seven games, Kentucky is making all the wrong types of history. The Cats have lost six in a row for the first time since 1988-89. UK has started a season 1-6 for the first time since 1926-27.
If you are wondering, no Wildcats team has lost seven in a row since the 1922-23 squad endured a nine-game losing streak.
To have any hope of turning around what could become a lost season, Calipari and Co. will need to figure out how to get Sarr untracked.
Said Calipari: “This has been hard, missing a couple of (potentially game-winning) shots. I am going to have to get with (Sarr) before we get on the bus just to say, ‘I love you, man. You’re fine.’”
This story was originally published December 26, 2020 at 5:44 PM.
