Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss to Ohio State
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 71-65 loss to Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic:
1. John Calipari still insists he has a good shooting team
As I wrote in my column, you’d have a hard time proving that, however. Thanks to Nate Sestina, who made five of eight three-point shots, the Cats were not the total embarrassment behind the three-point line — 27.5 for the season before Saturday — they were in Wednesday’s 69-66 loss to Utah.
The problem Saturday was that no one else stepped up to join Sestina when it came to putting the ball in the basket. Take out Sestina’s three-point barrage and the Cats were two of 15 from behind the stripe. Tyrese Maxey was 1-for-6. Immanuel Quickley was 1-for-5.
UK shot the ball well enough in the first half, making 15 of 30 shots for an even 50 percent. But when Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann made a halftime adjustment — “We spent the entire halftime talking about how to guard the ball screens with Sestina,” said the Jessamine County native — the Cats made just 10 of 29 shots overall in the second half for 34 percent. UK ended up at 42.4 percent for the game.
Particularly disturbing were three awful possessions with started with just over three minutes to go and UK trailing 62-57. Maxey missed a forced drive. Quickley drove into traffic and had his shot blocked. Next possession fell apart to the point where Quickley tried to save an errant pass by hurling the ball back in bounds to a Buckeye.
“We didn’t pass the ball,” Calipari said. “I called a timeout at one point just to tell them to pass the ball.”
2. Kentucky did fight against the Buckeyes
Effort was not the problem. (The officials were not the problem.) After Wednesday’s upset loss to the Utes, you figured the Cats would come out determined to make amends. And if UK did not quite match Ohio State’s intensity, the Cats came close.
“If this is who we are, we’ll be fine,” said Calipari.
Still, this team needs much more out of its two bigs — junior center Nick Richards and sophomore forward EJ Montgomery. Richards was limited to 12 minutes by foul trouble, but did not have a single rebound in those minutes. He scored two points. Montgomery had four points and five rebounds in 27 minutes. There are times when you have to remind yourself he is on the floor.
Defensively, Kentucky saw the Buckeyes shoot an even 50 percent for the game. And after turning the ball over 11 times the first half, Ohio State committed just three turnovers in the final 20 minutes. Ohio State was 6-for-19 from three-point range and led 33:23 of the game’s 40 minutes.
One quick note on Ohio State freshman guard D.J. Carton. He was a huge difference in the game, scoring 15 points and grabbing five rebounds off the bench. Carton was five of six from the floor and made all four of his free throws. His left-hand basket on a drive through traffic in the lane to give Ohio State a 64-59 lead with 1:16 left was a huge play.
3. For Kentucky, it’s Christmas then Louisville
As usual, Calipari is giving his team four days off. Nine of the players left Las Vegas to head home and spend time with their families. The others were returning to Lexington before splitting up. Cal has always given his players Christmas off, long before the NCAA made it mandatory.
So the Cats will carry a two-game losing streak into Saturday’s annual showdown with Louisville. The Cardinals improved to 11-1 with a 70-46 victory over Miami of Ohio last Wednesday. The Kentucky game is U of L’s first chance against a major team to make amends for the Cards’ loss to Texas Tech in New York on Dec. 10.
The Cats have plenty work on when they return from Christmas break. Offense should be first on the list. Whether it’s shooting, or lack of passing, or not hitting the offensive boards hard enough — UK was outrebounded 33-25 on Saturday — Calipari has to find a way to fix the problem of not getting the ball in the basket.
This story was originally published December 21, 2019 at 10:18 PM.
