Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss to Notre Dame
In addition to my column, three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 64-63 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday:
1. Terrence Clarke is your new point guard
If John Calipari said it once, the UK coach said it twice, three or maybe even four times in his postgame Zoom conference with the masked media. He likes Terrence Clarke at the point. Not the D&D combo we’ve been seeing at point guard. Not freshman Devin Askew. Not graduate transfer Davion Mintz. Instead, Calipari likes his long, lean wing handling the ball.
Have to admit, after watching Clarke at the point for much of Saturday’s second half, I have to agree. Clarke can make some bad plays, but at least he makes plays. He’s active. He’s aggressive to a fault. After that debacle of a first half, in which the Cats trailed by 22 points when the halftime horn mercifully sounded, Kentucky looked better for the most part in the second half.
That doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Mintz or Askew. After coming off the bench the first three games, Mintz started Saturday. And he appeared more comfortable playing off the ball, which fits in line with some of what the Creighton folks were saying after Mintz transferred to Kentucky in the summer. Same for Askew. Not only is he a freshman, he’s a ridiculously young freshman, one who would have been a high school senior right now had he not reclassified.
Going forward, look for Calipari to sink-or-swim with Clarke the same way he did with Tyreke Evans back during his Memphis days. Evans was 6-foot-6. Clarke is 6-6. If he’s going to run the offense, the latter needs to control his emotions better. If he can do that, he can make things happen for an offense that desperately needs to consistently make things happen.
2. UK’s offense starts at the defensive end
For all the talk — rightfully so — about Kentucky’s problems on the offensive end of the floor through the Cats’ first four games, there was more to it than that. It was not as if Calipari’s young club was playing up to the Calipari standard on the defensive end of the floor, either.
That trend didn’t just continue, but grew much through Saturday’s dreadful first 20 minutes. Notre Dame’s sharpshooters made six of 11 three-point shots on the way to an incredible 22-point lead at halftime. Most of those were open three-point attempts by the Irish. Some were wide-open. Some were wide, wide-open.
Calipari blamed an unnamed UK culprit who didn’t follow the scouting report, who kept going the wrong way and thus leaving someone in a blue jersey open for a three. That was often Nate Laszewski, a 6-10 junior who looked like Larry Bird in the first half, going 5-for-6 from three on the way to 19 points.
Second half, Laszewski was held to two points. Notre Dame was held to 16. How? Start with effort. No doubt red-faced over the first half, the Cats actually appeared to try on the defensive end in the second. Calipari’s move to “pick it up” or apply a full-court press helped jump the dead battery and one empty Irish possession led to another and another. The visitors went nearly 9:30 without a point.
It’s amazing how effort on defense translates into better offense. The Cats shot 46 percent the second half. They ended up forcing 16 Notre Dame turnovers on the game, compared to nine Irish assists. Kentucky scored 37 points the second 20 minutes, which is like an offensive explosion for this team. Much of that started at the other end of the floor.
3. There are plenty of curves in the road ahead
Calipari said afterward the second half gave him hope. But hope is not the same thing as confidence. And UK is now a 1-4 team with a couple of non-conference opponents up ahead before the Cats dive into SEC play.
Next Saturday brings a matchup with UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic in Cleveland. After losing to a good San Diego State team in their opener, mighty Mick Cronin’s Bruins have ripped off four straight victories. They held off visiting Marquette 69-60 on Friday night.
After UCLA comes Louisville in Louisville — despite Chris Mack’s protests — the day after Christmas. The Cardinals were off to a 4-0 start before COVID-19 caused the program to hit the pause button yet again. U of L’s game Wednesday against North Carolina State remains up in the air, but you would hope the Cards would have matters straightened out by Dec. 26 at noon.
The SEC schedule kicks in after the first of the year. The grind starts with a home game against South Carolina on Jan. 2. Ken Pomeroy, college basketball’s numbers guy, currently ranks UK as the sixth-best team in the nation’s fifth-best conference.
That’s the same Pomeroy that projects UK’s record out to finish 12-14. Luckily, we have a long way to go between now and then. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s going to get much easier.
This story was originally published December 12, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
