Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 17-point loss to Georgia Tech
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 79-62 loss to previously winless Georgia Tech on Sunday night:
1. Kentucky is a bad basketball team right now
I know, I know, there’s a long way to go. But man, there are bad starts and then there is this Kentucky basketball start to this 2020-21 season. A loss at home to Richmond. A loss to Kansas in which you make just three of 21-three pointers. Now a loss to a Georgia Tech team that entered the game 0-2 with losses to Georgia State (in four overtimes) and Mercer. Pull the emergency switch.
John Calipari’s Cats turned it over 21 more times in State Farm Arena. There were passes out of bounds. There were balls fumbled away out of bounds. There were passes to the other team. There was a play early in the second half in which Terrence Clarke apparently thought the ball went out of bounds. So the freshman just stood and watched as Georgia Tech scooped up the loose ball and continued on for a fast-break basket.
“We’ve been through this before,” Calipari said afterward.
He hasn’t at Kentucky. The last time UK started 1-3 was Tubby Smith’s 2000-01 team, which lost to St. John’s and UCLA in New York, beat Jacksonville State at home, then lost 73-68 to the Crispin Brothers and Penn State. That team ended up 24-10, losing to Southern Cal in the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia the same day that Rick Pitino took the head coaching job at Louisville.
That team had veterans. This team does not, at least outside of Olivier Sarr and Davion Mintz, both of whom are newcomers to the Kentucky program. The unfamiliarity has shown. Sarr turned it over four times Sunday. Isaiah Jackson and Dontaie Allen each were credited with three turnovers. Allen’s came in just four minutes on the floor. Brandon Boston also committed three turnovers.
2. UK did shoot the ball better, but …
After going 0-for-10 from three against Richmond and the previously mentioned 3-for-21 against Kansas, the Cats were 8-for-19 against Georgia Tech. Boston, who had not made a triple the first three games, hit on three of seven. Clarke, who also entered the game without a made three, went three of four. Overall, the Cats shot 44.9 percent from the floor.
But Georgia Tech shot 51.7 percent for the game, including 62.1 percent the second half. The Jackets made 18 of 29 shots in the second half, including five of 12 three-point attempts. UK had no defensive answer for Moses Wright, the 6-foot-9 forward who finished with 21 points and eight rebounds. Wright made nine of 14 shots.
Afterward, Calipari said he thought UK’s defense was fine. Instead, he kept coming back to the points off turnovers (33), Georgia Tech’s small lineup and how the Yellow Jackets played 40 minutes of zone. All true. Still, even in half-court settings, the Cats showed a low-energy lack of intensity on the defensive end. It’s hard to say you were playing good defense when the other team makes 63 percent of its shots.
3. John Calipari: ‘I’m not cracking’
The Kentucky coach repeated that he made a mistake by making the schedule too difficult. Too many Power Five games to start an abbreviated schedule that saw UK’s non-conference games cut from 11 to seven because of COVID-19. He said he should have known his young team would not be ready to handle that.
Richmond is not a Power Five conference team, but the Spiders were picked to win the Atlantic 10. Kansas is not a juggernaut — the Jayhawks had to hold off North Dakota State on Saturday — but it’s Kansas. Georgia Tech was 0-2 but Josh Pastner does have plenty of veterans on his team. Tech’s experience, and hunger for a win, showed.
Besides, there is nothing Calipari can do about the schedule now. Notre Dame comes to Rupp Arena on Saturday. Before Sunday, the Irish had played just one game so far, losing 80-70 to Michigan State. After that comes a surprising Detroit Mercy team that gave Michigan State fits before losing.
“This should make us better,” Calipari said Sunday night. “Everyone of these games we’re learning. But we need to start winning some games. Hopefully we can do that.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 8:02 PM.
