Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss to Gonzaga
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Game day: No. 2 Gonzaga 88, No. 4 Kentucky 72
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Sunday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 88-72 loss to the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Sunday night in Spokane.
1. This Kentucky team has a long way to go
Late-game execution errors defeated John Calipari’s Cats in that double-overtime loss to Michigan State in last week’s Champions Classic at Indianapolis. Sunday night, against No. 2-ranked Gonzaga, Kentucky lost from start to finish.
The Cats fell behind early and stayed there. They trailed 10-2 just over three minutes into the contest; 19-6 at the 12:42 mark; 39-21 with 3:01 left at the half and 41-25 at the break. It was the largest UK halftime deficit in an non-COVID season game since Duke led the Cats 59-42 on the way to that 118-84 rout in the 2018 Champions Classic.
Simply put, Kentucky just did not look ready to play. It appeared intimidated by the environment, surprised by Gonzaga’s quickness and totally confused on offense. UK missed 24 of its 32 first-half shots, including all 10 of its three-point tries. It was outrebounded 24-14. Meanwhile, it did little to keep Gonzaga from shooting 55.2 percent from the floor.
2. Another bad shooting night against a good team
After shooting 22 of 43 in its first two games against inferior opponents, the Cats were 7 of 25 from beyond the arc in that 86-77 double overtime loss to Tom Izzo’s Spartans up in Indy.
After making 10 of 24 three-pointers against South Carolina State last Thursday, the Cats were 6 of 25 from downtown against Mark Few’s Zags.
We’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but we can see a pattern developing here.
Against bad teams, Kentucky has been red-hot from the perimeter. Against good teams, however, Kentucky has gone ice cold. CJ Fredrick was 1 of 6 from three on Sunday night. Sahvir Wheeler was 1 of 4. Antonio Reeves made just 2 of 7 three-point attempts. And Jacob Toppin was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc.
The Cats did make six of their 15 three-point attempts in the second half, but it was too late. That 0-for-10 showing from three in the first 20 minutes led to a hole much too steep for the Cats to climb.
By night’s end, UK had shot just 39.1 percent from the floor overall, making 27 of 69 shots.
3. Kentucky was lacking on defense, too
Gonzaga’s shooting stats tell the story. The Zags were 15 of 26 for 57.7 percent the second half; 31 of 55 for 56.4 percent for the game. All-American center Drew Timme was 9 of 13 from the floor. Rasir Bolton was 8 of 14, including 4 of 8 from three-point range. Anton Watson was 5 of 8. Julian Strawther was 5 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 4 from three.
Telling stat: Kentucky did not block a Gonzaga shot all night.
When the Cats made a brief run in the second half to slice the Gonzaga lead to 61-55 with 9:49 remaining, the Zags responded on the offensive end with easy buckets off drives or baskets off offensive rebounds.
A follow jam by Watson took the Zags lead back out to 63-56. Two possessions later, a drive by Strawther resulted in an and-one which he finished by sinking the free throw for a 68-55 Gonzaga lead. It was pretty much over from there.
Points in the paint: Gonzaga 44, Kentucky 24.
Yes, Tshiebwe’s foul trouble hampered Kentucky’s chances of a completing a second-half comeback, but other than Toppin (16 points) and Cason Wallace (20 points), the Cats didn’t exactly rally to the cause with Tshiebwe on the bench. Oscar ended up with 20 points and 15 rebounds and UK still fell to 3-2.
Yes, we know it’s early. We’re just five games into Kentucky’s 2022-23 season. We’re not even to Thanksgiving yet. But Calipari’s club is 0-2 in the four biggest non-conference tests before SEC play, including a missed opportunity against Michigan State and a beatdown in Spokane.
There’s a lot to figure out, probably more than we or the head coach expected. Simply put, this is not the way Kentucky wanted to start its season.
This story was originally published November 20, 2022 at 10:36 PM.
