Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 66-62 loss to Notre Dame
Five things you need to know from the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats’ 66-62 loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center:
1. Cats can’t close. After a 6-0 run had given Kentucky a 62-61 lead with 1:50 left in the game, UK had ample chances to close the game out — and failed.
Following Notre Dame’s Dane Goodwin tying the game by going 1-for-2 from the foul line with 1:31 left, Kentucky’s Kellan Grady had an open three that appeared to be dead center inside the rim — only to spin out.
The Fighting Irish turned the ball over, and UK got the ball to its star, Oscar Tshiebwe with another chance to seize the lead.
Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey sent a double team at the UK post player, but Tshiebwe — who led UK with 25 points on 11-for-14 shooting — got a good look at a baby hook off the glass.
It didn’t go.
After Notre Dame’s impressive freshman, Blake Wesley, gave the Irish the lead by cashing in a 10-footer in the lane over Davion Mintz with 12 seconds left, John Calipari eschewed calling a timeout.
UK freshman guard TyTy Washington rushed the ball down court and got the ball into the lane for a reasonably good look at a tying field goal.
It missed.
That made Goodwin’s final dunk just ahead of the buzzer academic.
After a season last year in which Kentucky went 4-8 in games decided by five points or less, this was not the start — or, more accurately, the finish — the Wildcats needed in their first true road test of 2021-22.
2. UK perimeter shooting ice-cold. The conventional wisdom in the offseason had been that Kentucky’s backcourt, reinforced with an infusion of veteran talent from the transfer portal, was going to give UK one of the best outside shooting teams of the Calipari coaching era.
So far, that is far from the case.
Kentucky was 2-for-19 on three-point attempts Saturday in South Bend.
Grady, the graduate transfer from Davidson, hit two of seven treys.
The rest of the UK team was 0-for-12.
More worrisome, bad three-point shooting is becoming a pattern for the Wildcats.
Over the past six games, Kentucky is shooting 24 percent (29-for-121) from behind the arc.
3. A struggle for Wheeler. UK point guard Sahvir Wheeler — the engine that makes the Kentucky attack run — had a tough go in South Bend.
The transfer from Georgia missed all five of his field-goal attempts, two of them three-point tries. He committed two of UK’s five turnovers, had only two assists and finished with three points.
With Notre Dame using guards that stood 6-foot-5, 6-5, 6-3, 6-5 and 6-6, the 5-9 Wheeler was not able to create in the lane in the manner in which he usually does.
Having contained Wheeler’s dribble-drive game, Notre Dame played off the point guard’s jumper — and the result was not good for Kentucky.
4. An unhappy trend re-emerging? With its defeat, Kentucky lost its first true road game for the second straight year. Last season, UK fell 65-62 at Louisville on Dec. 26 in its initial contest on an opponent’s home court.
Under Calipari, Kentucky lost its first true road game in six of the coach’s first eight seasons. However, UK won three straight such games from 2017-18 through 2019-20.
With the defeats the past two season, however, the Wildcats have fallen to 5-8 under Calipari in their initial road game of a season.
When UK plays its first true road game before Christmas, the Cats are now 1-7.
5. More struggles against a rival. Against Kentucky’s main men’s basketball rivals — Duke, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee and UCLA — UK began the 2021-22 season having lost its most recent game against all but the Volunteers.
And UT has beaten UK twice in a row in Rupp Arena.
For those Wildcats backers envisioning a Kentucky payback tour this season, the Cats’ are off to a brutal start.
UK began its season with a 79-71 loss to Duke in Madison Square Garden and now has fallen to Notre Dame for a second year in a row — and third straight time in South Bend.
Still ahead on the UK schedule are “rivalry revenge opportunities” vs. Ohio State (Dec. 18), Louisville (Dec. 22), Kansas (Jan. 29) and Florida (Feb. 12 and March 5).
Meanwhile, Kentucky will seek to turn the tables on Tennessee in games in Lexington (Jan. 15) and face the Volunteers in Knoxville on Feb. 15.
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 7:39 PM.
