Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s SEC Tournament loss to Mississippi State
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 74-73 loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament on Thursday in Nashville:
1. Same old story, same old ending
Big Blue Nation has seen this movie before, over and over, and it doesn’t like the ending. That’s because the ending never changes. The plot: Cats fall behind, then rally and take the lead or are within striking distance in the final four minutes only to be sabotaged by their own lack of execution.
So it came to pass again at Bridgestone Arena. The final game of the season was emblematic of the entire 9-16 season. Down 14 points at the half and still trailing by 14 with 16:19 to go, Kentucky fought its way back to claim the lead and hold a five-point advantage, 71-66, with 4:30 left to go only to let it all slip away. Again.
After Dontaie Allen missed a three-pointer that would have put John Calipari’s club up by seven, Mississippi State’s Iverson Molinar took over. The sophomore hit a three-point with 3:05 left to cut UK’s led to 71-69. Then when Olivier Sarr missed a jumper from the right baseline, Molinar drilled another three to give State back the lead at 72-69 with 2:18 left.
Kentucky snatched the lead back at 73-72 on a Sarr bucket with 1:16 remaining. But after the teams traded empty possessions, UK’s Isaiah Jackson fouled Molinar with 7.1 seconds left. And Molinar calmly sank both foul shots to make the score 74-73 MSU.
After a timeout, Kentucky ran the play it wanted, setting up Allen, who had led the UK comeback with 23 points. And the redshirt freshman got an open look from the right wing. “I had it lined up straight,” he said afterward, “it just hit the back end.”
2. John Calipari: ‘We got punked
That’s not the first time the coach has reached back into his book of phrases to pull out that tried-and-true explanation, but this time it was a perfect fit for the situation.
Mississippi State dominated everything around the rim in the first half. The taller, stronger Bulldogs built a 44-30 lead at intermission on a ridiculous 36-12 points in the paint advantage and equally ridiculous 29-15 bashing of the Cats on the boards.
“I’ve never heard of that before,” Calipari said of the rebounding numbers at intermission, comparing it to what a Division I team does to a Division III team. “What, are we going to get outrebounded by 30?”
The Cats held their own on the glass in the second half, but still ended up outrebounded by 16. Final points in the paint: Mississippi State 46, Kentucky 22. State’s Tolu Smith, the transfer from Western Kentucky, grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his 13 points. Abdul Ado added nine rebounds to his 12 points. Guard D.J. Stewart scored just nine points — he averages 16 — but dished 10 assists and grabbed seven rebounds.
“Our teams are physically rough-house tough,” said Calipari, “but this team wasn’t that way.”
And the lack of that physical play put the Cats in such a tough hole that even an impressive second-half rally wasn’t enough for Kentucky to crawl completely out of and move to the next round.
3. Time to look in the mirror
In his postgame press conference, Calipari didn’t want to look back at the entire season. Not yet, anyway. He said he wanted to just talk about the game with Mississippi State and leave the season-ending reflection until later.
But there will be plenty to reflect on in what was an unthinkable 9-16 season. It was Calipari’s first losing season since his first season as a college head coach, at UMass in 1988-89, a 10-18 season he began at age 29. It was Kentucky’s first losing season since that same 1988-89 when the Cats finished 13-19 while being dogged by an NCAA investigation.
“We were not what we thought we would be in some different spots,” Calipari did allow after the game.
And indeed the head coach will have to take a look at his player evaluation process, at how some mistakes were obviously made in that area. When you go 9-16, everything goes under the microscope.
And the players will have to take a look in the mirror, as well. Is an NBA player really NBA ready when he did not score a single point in a second round game of his conference tournament. Or if he missed a majority of the season with an injury. Or if he continually finds himself in foul trouble.
The calendar now flips to the decision-making season, and tough choices face both coaches and players. COVID-19 made this season one like we’ve never experienced before, but Kentucky’s offseason will be a much different one, as well.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 4:04 PM.
