Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win over Texas A&M-Commerce
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Game day: No. 16 Kentucky 81, Texas A&M-Commerce 61
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Texas A&M-Commerce in Rupp Arena.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 81-61 win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday night in Rupp Arena.
1. Kentucky can’t start this slow vs. Kansas
Despite its 0-2 record coming in, with losses to Texas A&M and Texas Tech, Texas A&M-Commerce scored the first eight points Friday night. Actually, the Lions’ Tommie Lewis scored the game’s first eight points. That prompted UK coach John Calipari to call timeout just 2:12 into the contest to see if he could wake his team up.
That didn’t work so much at first. Following the timeout, the visitors outscored the Cats 11-6 to grow their advantage to 19-6 and then 21-8 with 12:44 left in the first half.
“Loved it,” said Calipari when asked about the Lions jumping to such a quick lead. “The problem we had was we were getting beat off the dribble.”
Kentucky recovered and eventually assumed control, but the Cats can’t afford to begin stuck in the starting gate on Tuesday when they face top-ranked Kansas in the Champions Classic in Chicago.
Calipari pointed out that his team started fast in the exhibition game against Kentucky State. On Friday, against a team that was playing its third game in five days, Kentucky started out, “missing shots,” said the coach.
2. Kentucky’s strength is not numbers
Calipari played just seven players. He didn’t have much choice. A starter in last Monday’s opener, Adou Thiero missed Friday’s game. Thiero is in concussion protocol after leaving the New Mexico State game with a headache. Plus, as we all know, the Cats are still without their trio of 7-footers — Aaron Bradshaw, Ugonna Onyenso and Zvonimir Ivisic.
Justin Edwards ended up playing 33 minutes. Tre Mitchell and D.J. Wagner each played 32. Rob Dillingham played 30. Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard each played 29. Jordan Burks played 15.
The Cats aren’t just thin, they’re on the short side minus the towers. Kentucky outrebounded Texas A&M-Commerce by just three, 36-33. How much is that a concern when Kansas is the opponent?
“We’ve got a lot of concerns coming up Tuesday night, not just that,” Calipari said. “If you can’t come up with balls, you can’t play.”
After leading the team with nine rebounds Monday, Mitchell was again UK’s leading rebounder Friday with eight.
The hope is Thiero will be back Tuesday. “And he gets balls,” Calipari said.
3. Kentucky had another ridiculously low turnover game
After committing just six turnovers Monday, the Cats cut that total in half Friday. That’s right. UK committed just three turnovers in the 20-point win. The guilty parties were Dillingham, Wagner and Sheppard.
That’s the fewest number of turnovers since UK committed just two against Vanderbilt on Jan. 5, 2021, at Rupp. The Cats beat the Commodores 77-74 that night. It was just the fourth time in Calipari’s time at UK that the Cats have committed three turnovers or fewer.
“Would you say we were playing pretty fast?” Calipari said. “Folks, we had just three turnovers. Now I wonder if we’re not being aggressive enough.”
Kentucky had 12 assists on its 32 made field goals. Dillingham led the way with four. UK shot 47.8 percent from the floor. It hit 32 of 67 shots. That included 8 of 23 from three-point range for 34.8 percent.
What’s the key to the low turnover number?
“Making the easy play,” Edwards said afterward. “We’ve been working on advancing the ball and not trying to do too much.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 9:56 PM.
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