Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss at Auburn
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 66-59 loss at Auburn on Saturday:
1. We’ve seen enough to know this team’s identity
The cold hard truth: Kentucky is just not a good offensive basketball team. Oh, we’ve seen a flash here or there. The second half and two overtimes at Mississippi State. Almost all 40 minutes at Florida. Remember the 76-58 win over Florida? That was when it looked like these Wildcats had it all figured out. That was just a week ago. Seems longer. The Cats are 0-2 since. They scored 65 points in a 20-point home loss to Alabama; 59 points in a seven-point road loss at Auburn.
Saturday was the eighth time in 12 games the Cats have failed to score 70 points. Twelve games is a substantial sample size. And John Calipari and Kentucky are not Tony Bennett and Virginia, where a team plays at a super-slow tempo and relies on great defense and stellar fundamentals to win games. Kentucky is trying to score points. It just can’t. Not enough, anyway.
The Cats shot 40.4 percent on Saturday, just about their average on the year. Brandon Boston missed seven of his nine shots. Olivier Sarr made three, but took just five. Devin Askew was 2-for-6. Davion Mintz was 5-for-12. After making just four of 18 three-point shots in the loss to Alabama, UK was 4-for-17 from three-point land at Auburn. The final 20 minutes, the Cats launched 10 three-pointers. They missed nine.
“I wish we had taken 35 threes, then we probably would have made three,” Calipari said with more than a hint of sarcasm.
Dontaie Allen made shots. The redshirt freshman was 3-for-7 for the game, including 2-for-6 from three-point territory. But after playing 15 minutes in the first half, he played just eight in the second. Asked about Allen’s PT, Calipari said UK ran plays for the former Pendleton County star, but Allen turned down shots. He then later hinted that Auburn was going right at Allen on the defensive end.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. UK was just 9-for-16 from the foul line and committed 18 turnovers compared to just seven assists. The latter stat is a broken record. After getting stops on the defensive end, the Cats continually stopped themselves on offense. We’ve seen that for the better part of 12 games now. It’s why this team is 4-8.
2. Kentucky actually lost the game in the first half
Calipari said that his team did play with enough effort to give itself a chance, but didn’t make the “mano-a-mano” plays it needed to make at key junctures to win the game. Not to argue the point but, truth be told, Kentucky blew it much earlier in the game.
“We should have been up big at the half,” Calipari said of UK’s 25-21 lead. “I couldn’t believe we weren’t.”
Actually, Kentucky lost the game in the first 10 minutes. It was in those minutes that Auburn could not make a shot. The Tigers started a frigid 1-for-15 from the floor, including 0-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc. With 7:34 left in the half, Bruce Pearl’s club had improved to 3-for-21.
Problem was, Kentucky couldn’t make many shots either. The way both teams were throwing up bricks, you wondered if ESPN wanted to throw the game back to ESPN News, where the telecast began as Florida State-North Carolina was finishing up.
The Cats missed six of their first seven field-goal attempts and 14 of their first 19. With 11:08 left in the first half, UK led 9-2, but given Auburn’s offensive struggles, the Kentucky lead should have been 22-2.
To be fair, the visitors did an outstanding job early containing Auburn’s terrific freshman point guard Sharife Cooper. But you knew sooner or later the law of averages would take over and Cooper would begin making plays and Auburn would start making shots. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.
The Tigers made 15 of 27 shots in the second half for 55.6 percent. They scored 45 points over the final 20 minutes. Cooper ended up with eight of Auburn’s 11 assists. After Kentucky took a 43-41 lead with 11:19 left, the Tigers reeled off nine straight points on what would ultimately be a 15-3 run. Given UK’s offensive ineptitude, that was pretty much ballgame.
One more thing, Auburn ended up with 16 offensive rebounds out of 39 opportunities for 41 percent. Kentucky collected 15 offensive rebounds out of 40 opportunities for 37.5 percent. And Kentucky’s 18 turnovers led to Auburn scoring 20 points, compared to 12 for the Cats.
3. It’s a long, uphill road from here
Afterward, given the hole the Cats have dug for themselves, Calipari was asked if the team was in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament?
“We still have our chances,” Calipari said. “We can go on a run and be fine.”
There are going to be a lot of obstacles in their path. UK still has two games left with Tennessee, a top-10 team. It has to play LSU. Alabama, the same Crimson Tide that spanked the Cats last Tuesday, welcomes UK to Tuscaloosa on Jan. 26. Calipari’s club plays Texas, another top-10 team, on Jan. 31 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. There’s a trip to Missouri left on the schedule.
Did we mention that Auburn has a return date in Rupp Arena? Or that Florida will be looking for revenge when it visits Lexington on Feb. 27? And who knows what to make of South Carolina, considering all of its COVID-19 issues.
Given this team’s offensive struggles, it is not a sure bet to beat anyone. After all, Auburn was 1-4 in the SEC before Saturday, albeit three of those losses came before Cooper was granted eligibility.
“I’m not giving up on anybody,” Calipari said. “We’re trying to figure this thing out.”
But the road isn’t getting any easier.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 6:12 PM.
