What have Kentucky fans done to deserve having to watch these rancid offenses?
For Kentucky Wildcats sports backers, these are the times that try a fan’s eyes.
In its three most-visible sports, the University of Kentucky is fielding teams so far in 2022-23 whose offenses are so painful to watch, they all but make one’s eyes bleed.
While going 1-3 vs. high-level competition so far in 2022-23, John Calpari’s men’s basketball Wildcats have shot 39.1 percent on field goals, 32.6 percent on three-point tries and 58.9 percent on foul shots in those four games.
Take out a 9-of-15 shooting day from behind the three-point arc in UK’s win over Michigan in London, England, and Cal’s Cats have shot 26.7 percent on three-point attempts in their other three games vs. major foes — losses to Michigan State, Gonzaga and UCLA.
Those grim numbers are only part of the reason that the stream of frustration being emitted by the Big Blue Nation is running hotter than molten lava erupting from a volcano. So far this season, Kentucky offensive execution under game-deciding pressure has been, mostly, absent.
Down only 55-53 Saturday against UCLA after Sahvir Wheeler drained a 15-foot jumper with 4:31 left, Kentucky failed to score again as the Bruins pulled away for a 63-53 victory in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.
UK’s late-game struggle vs. UCLA echoed the Wildcats’ performance against Michigan State in the State Farm Champions Classic when Kentucky could not close out the game in spite of holding a 58-54 lead with 3:36 left in regulation. MSU went on to win in double overtime.
The inability to finish games is becoming a worrisome Kentucky trend. Recall that in the stunning 85-79 overtime NCAA Tournament loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s that ended UK’s 2021-22 season, the Wildcats led 68-62 with 4:12 left in regulation and 75-71 with 3:24 remaining in OT.
Yet if you think the Kentucky men’s basketball offense is painful to watch, the UK women’s hoops team says, Hold our, well, soft drinks.
There are 350 teams that play NCAA Division I basketball. Among those, Kyra Elzy’s Cats stand No. 326 in the country in three-point field-goal accuracy. So far this season, Kentucky has made a horrid 24.06 percent of the shots it has attempted from behind the arc.
Over what was a lost eight days for UK Hoops that saw the Wildcats drop games to archrival Louisville and mid-majors Murray State and Florida Gulf Coast from Sunday to Sunday this past week, Kentucky shot 36.4 percent from the floor, a woeful 21.3 percent on treys and turned the ball over a combined 50 times in the three defeats.
The inability of UK to make outside shots and the penchant for turning the ball over are especially vexing because Elzy is starting four perimeter players. Not making jump shots nor taking care of the ball essentially undermines the rationale for playing “small ball.”
All this basketball offensive futility follows a football regular season in which Mark Stoops’ Wildcats ranked No. 88 (out of 131) in the FBS in passing, No. 108 in rushing, No. 107 in total offense, No. 105 in points scored, No. 107 in red-zone efficiency and No. 123 in sacks allowed.
In a year in which the Kentucky defense allowed only one SEC team to score more than 24 points in a game, all the UK offense would have needed to do to produce an 7-1 conference record is put at least 25 points on the board in every Southeastern Conference game.
Instead, Kentucky failed to reach 20 points four times in eight league games and never scored more than 27 points in a league tilt — and the Wildcats finished 3-5 in the SEC, 7-5 overall.
There can’t be many college fan bases that have had to watch uglier offenses from their most-visible teams in the same school year as Kentucky fans are doing in 2022-23.
Alas, there may be more to come.
UK’s Music City Bowl matchup with Iowa — another team with a stout defense but a puny offense — on New Year’s Eve in Nashville may produce the all-time postseason rock fight. (Anyone else sort of pining for the perverse thrill it would be if the Wildcats and Hawkeyes were to end regulation in the Music City Bowl tied 0-0?)
The paucity of points cost first-year Kentucky football offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello his job as Stoops moved decisively to address his team’s shortcomings before 2023.
Once the NFL seasons ends, it is expected that Stoops will be rehiring Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Liam Coen to return to Lexington. Coen oversaw a far-more-productive Kentucky attack in 2021 before returning to L.A.’s staff at the behest of Sean McVay.
If things continue to go this basketball season as they so far have, Calipari and Elzy may need to bring in new “offensive coordinators,” too.
One wonders: Does Liam Coen know anything about basketball?
This story was originally published December 19, 2022 at 12:52 PM.
