Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 81-80 loss to Arkansas
Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 81-80 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in an SEC college basketball game at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington:
1. The three ball gave Kentucky a chance. Down 72-60 with 6:11 left in the game, UK made a stirring run to wrest the lead away because of scalding-hot three-point shooting.
The Wildcats made five treys in the final 6:04.
The last of those three-point shots, Davion Mintz’s with 14 second left, fleetingly put the Cats ahead, 80-79.
Alas, two Jalen Tate free throws with 4.3 seconds left trumped UK’s late-game threes.
For the game, Kentucky hit a season-high 14 treys on 26 attempts.
What were the odds of UK hitting so many threes — and Dontaie Allen (0-of-1 on three-point attempts) not being part of the hot shooting?
2. UK finally executed offensively down the stretch — until it didn’t. A team that has struggled to close games all season, Kentucky actually made clutch shot after clutch shot under pressure.
Olivier Sarr had eight points down the stretch. Brandon Boston drained two crucial treys, Devin Askew hit a big shot in the paint, then Davion Mintz hit the bucket that put Kentucky ahead.
However, after Arkansas took the lead, UK had 4.3 seconds remaining to win the game — but, instead, reverted to form.
The Cats did not even get off a shot, with Sarr turning the ball over with one second left.
Afterward, Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin told the UK Sports Network’s Mike Pratt that the plan had been to inbound the ball to Boston and let him drive it.
“But he wasn’t open,” Toppin said.
In games decided by three points or less or in overtime, Kentucky is now 2-5 on the season.
How different is this season if that record in close games was reversed?
3. A triumphant return to Kentucky. Arkansas senior point guard Jalen Tate won the game for the Razorbacks by draining a cold-blooded pair of foul shots with 4.3 seconds to turn an 80-79 deficit into an 81-80 lead.
Tate is a graduate transfer who migrated to Fayetteville after a standout career for coaches John Brannen and Darrin Horn at Northern Kentucky University.
Last season in the Horizon League Tournament, the 6-foot-6, 180-pound Tate averaged 18.5 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists and was named MVP after leading the Norse to the tourney title.
For the season, Tate averaged 13.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.9 steals for NKU and was chosen Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year.
A Pickerington, Ohio, product, Tate came to Rupp Arena averaging 10.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and leading Arkansas with 85 assists (vs. 54 turnovers) while making 50.3 percent of his field-goal tries and 38.3 percent on three-point attempts.
Against UK, Tate went for 15 points, four rebounds and three assists, although he also turned it over four times.
Before his game-winning foul shots, Tate hit a clutch layup at 2:33 that put Arkansas up six, 76-70. Earlier, after UK had pulled within five, Tate hit a 15-footer with 7:37 left that, briefly, halted Kentucky’s momentum.
In retrospect, the NKU grad transfer is a player Kentucky probably should have recruited.
4. Another UK win streak bites the dust. Arkansas snapped an eight-game losing streak to Kentucky. After starting 2-4 as UK head man vs. the Razorbacks, John Calipari is now 10-5 against the Hogs.
Among SEC opponents, UK now has more active losing streaks than win streaks.
Current win streaks against: Mississippi State (15 straight) Mississippi (11), Vanderbilt (nine), Florida (five), LSU (two) and Texas A&M (two).
Kentucky has current losing streaks against: Alabama (two straight), Tennessee (two), Arkansas (one), Auburn (one), Georgia (one), Missouri (one) and South Carolina (one).
5. Unlucky 13. Kentucky’s record now stands at 5-13, 4-7 in the SEC. This is only the 10th time in UK basketball history (which began in 1902-03) that the Wildcats have lost as many as 13 games in a season.
Among UK coaches, Joe B. Hall and Billy Gillispie each had two seasons of at least 13 losses; Basil Hayden, Adolph Rupp, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and now John Calipari have each had one year with at least 13 losses.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 9:38 PM.
