Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 65-62 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis on Tuesday night:
1. A second straight bad offensive game from the Cats
Kansas shot 29.9 percent for the game, including 28.1 percent the second half. Kansas made five of 21 three-point shots for the game. Kansas made 20 of 30 free throws for the game. And yet Kansas won the game.
Why? Here’s why. Up 35-29 at halftime, UK shot 26.7 percent the second half. It made just three of 21 three-point shots, including just two of 14 in the second half. It committed 16 turnovers compared to just eight assists for the game.
“Second half, we got punked,” UK head coach John Calipari said afterward.
UK’s offense got punked. After committing 21 turnovers compared to just five assists — zero in the second half — in the loss to Richmond on Sunday, the Cats again saw their assist-to-turnover get turned upside down. “Our point guards can’t have eight assists between them,” Calipari said as freshman Devin Askew was charged with four and grad transfer Davion Mintz with three. That’s seven, but who’s counting.
Both Sunday and again Tuesday against Kansas, the Cats appeared to have no clear understanding of what they were trying to do on offense. Too much one-on-one play. Too little cohesion. And too little Olivier Sarr, the 7-foot grad transfer from Wake Forest who has obvious offensive skills but who was limited to just 14 minutes because of foul trouble.
Of Sarr’s fourth foul with 12:46 left and UK up 38-37, Calipari said, “I told him after the game that was the dumbest foul I’ve ever seen.”
All this led to a prolonged drought that turned a 38-29 Kentucky lead into a 39-38 deficit as Kentucky went seven minutes and 28 seconds without a point early in the second half. After averaging a mere 0.835 points per possession against Richmond, UK averaged just 0.844 on Tuesday. That’s not going to win many games.
2. Is this a bad three-point shooting team?
We’ve asked that question before of Calipari teams that got off to shaky starts from beyond the arc. More often than not, however, those teams ended up shooting the ball well enough, or even better than that from three-point range.
Those teams, however, didn’t throw up a goose egg (0-for-10) from three-point land as the Cats did in Sunday’s loss to Richmond. And those Calipari teams rarely followed one horrid three-point shooting night with another horrid three-point shooting night as the Cats did Tuesday. After making just one of seven three-point attempts in the first half, Kentucky was two for 14 from three in the second.
On the night, Mintz was two of five. Dontaie Allen was responsible for UK’s only first-half made three and ended up one of two from three on the night. Brandon Boston and Terrence Clarke were both 0-for-4. Cam’Ron Fletcher missed a pair of threes. Jacob Toppin and Isaiah Jackson each missed a three.
Asked about the two straight games of struggles from three, Calipari said, “Let’s hope it’s not three.” The coach said he still thinks this will be a good three-point shooting team, but he admitted that hasn’t been the case so far. It’s early, but you have to wonder.
3. There were/are a couple of bright spots
Isaiah Jackson is one. The freshman forward ended up with 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots. The Cats blocked 12 Kansas shots on the night. Jackson is very active around the rim, but he was somewhat limited by foul trouble. He did end up playing 30 minutes.
The second bright spot is practice time. After playing three games in seven days, Calipari now has four days before Kentucky plays Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Sunday. That’s time to get in the Craft Center gym and go over the mistakes of the first two games, to figure out what needs to be fixed and how to fix it.
This is a very young team, even by Calipari’s standards. The early schedule has not been kind. Looking back, it was a stroke of bad luck that last Friday’s game against Detroit Mercy was canceled. That would have afforded the Cats two games under their belt before facing an experienced Richmond team. Then two days after that defeat, the Cats had to face a Kansas team that is, well, Kansas.
“This is all stuff that’s on me to get these kids to play right,” Calipari said. “They’re a little immature, but they’re 19 years old.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 1:50 AM.
