Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss to Georgia, a game it couldn’t lose
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Game day: Georgia 75, Kentucky 68
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Georgia in Athens, Ga.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 75-68 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum:
1. Kentucky did what it could not do
In his postgame press conference Saturday, Kentucky head coach John Calipari sarcastically said he was sure that everyone across the nation would mention that UK was without two players on Saturday, that Sahvir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick both sat out the game with injuries.
OK, so consider it mentioned.
And it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that the Cats hit Athens short-handed. Kentucky could not lose this game. Not when it is fighting for its NCAA Tournament life. Not when it was facing a Georgia basketball team that was ranked 129th in the NCAA NET rankings and 123rd by Ken Pomeroy. Not when it was facing a Georgia team that had lost six of its last seven games, including a 78-74 loss to Ole Miss at home on Tuesday. The same Ole Miss that was previously 1-9 in conference play.
Kentucky could not afford to lose Saturday but lose it did. It opened the game missing 13 of its first 14 shots. It trailed at halftime (42-32) for the seventh time in 12 SEC games and for the second time this season to Georgia. When Kentucky fought back to take a 52-48 lead with 11:52 left, it gave up consecutive baskets to Georgia center Braelen Bridges, then an open three-pointer for Justin Hill that put the Bulldogs in front 55-52. Kentucky never led again.
Without Wheeler and Fredrick, it saw guard Cason Wallace pick up two fouls within the first four minutes of the game. The freshman did not score his first points until there were 52.8 seconds left and the Cats were in full desperation mode. On an afternoon when it needed everyone playing well, one of if not UK’s best players finished with five points on 2-for-8 from the floor, including 0-for-5 from the three-point line.
Nor did it help that after scoring 15 points to help UK stay afloat in the first half, Antonio Reeves scored just five in the second.
“I played him too many minutes,” Calipari said afterward. “I had no choice.”
And Kentucky could not lose Saturday. But it did.
2. It’s what the players know, not the coach
What’s frustrating to the coaches, the fans and even the players is that it is Feb. 11 and this Kentucky team continues to make the same execution errors it made early in the season.
Example 1: With the game tied at 52 with 8:49 left, UK sophomore Daimion Collins was called for a moving screen right in front of the bench. Calipari was furious. Not with the official. With Collins. He quickly yanked the 6-foot-9 forward out of the game and back to the bench, where the coach acted out what the player should have done. Meanwhile, at the other end, Georgia soon celebrated that aforementioned three-pointer by Hill.
Example 2: With 5:23 left and Georgia up 56-54, the Bulldogs went to Bridges again down low. After all, the 6-11 Atlanta native had repeatedly scored over Oscar Tshiebwe in the second half. This time, UK freshman guard Adou Thiero was supposed to trap the post. He didn’t. Bridges scored. Oscar fouled. And Cal erupted. To the bench went Thiero.
Example 3: Georgia was up 61-58 coming out of the final TV timeout, less than four minutes to play. Despite the opportunity to diagram a play in a crucial moment in the game, Kentucky could not or did not get a shot off. Shot clock violation at the 3:15 mark. Twenty seconds later, Georgia’s Jabri Abdur-Rahim nailed a three-pointer from the right corner.
“Execution errors,” said Calipari, a Hall of Fame coach with more than 700 wins, a national championship and multiple Final Fours to his credit.
There’s an old saying that it doesn’t matter what the coaches know, it matters what the players know. And for whatever reason, too often this season the coach has not been able to get what he knows across to his players.
It’s at least one reason why Kentucky is 16-9 overall and 7-5 in the SEC.
3. It’s difficult to have faith in a fantastic finish
Afterward, Calipari said the good news is that this team still has some opportunities left. It plays at Mississippi State on Wednesday before returning home to face Tennessee on Saturday. Vanderbilt and Auburn at home and Arkansas on the road remain before the SEC Tournament in Nashville starts March 8.
At this point, it is hard for even the bluest of the Big Blue Nation to have faith that, outside of Alabama, this Kentucky team can win any of those games, much less all of them.
True, injuries have played a role. Not having Wheeler and Fredrick certainly did not help the Cats’ cause on Saturday. But even when those two have been healthy, Kentucky has struggled all season long against teams. Without them, UK lost to a not-so-good team on Saturday.
Remember, Kentucky beat Georgia 85-71 at Rupp last month behind 37 points and 24 rebounds from Oscar Tshiebwe. Saturday, he scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He was not the reason Kentucky lost the game, but he wasn’t enough to help his team win it.
Simply put, he is not the dominant force he was a season ago. His mistakes and ability to defend have been a sore spot. And opponents have figured out how to play him with traps, double-teams and hard block-outs around the rim. And UK’s perimeter shooting has not been consistent enough to bring defenders out from the post.
“I’m physically good,” Tshiebwe said Saturday. “I hear some coaches say, ‘We’re going to let everybody beat us but we’re not letting Oscar beat us. There’s nothing I can do with that. The one thing I got to do, I got to fight. I just got to come in and fight.”
After Saturday’s outcome, is there fight left in this team? Is this team capable of the skill and execution required to somehow finish the regular season the way a desperate team will need to finish to reach the NCAA Tournament?
At this point, I haven’t seen anything to make me think that’s possible.
This story was originally published February 11, 2023 at 3:54 PM.
