Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s closer-than-expected win against Colgate
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Game day: No. 5 Kentucky 78, Colgate 67
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Colgate in Lexington.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 78-67 win over Colgate on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
1. Kentucky nearly got trapped
Sandwiched between the overtime win at Gonzaga and Saturday’s rivalry game against Louisville, Kentucky’s midweek affair against a 2-8 Colgate team fit the definition of a trap game.
And Kentucky immediately breezed to a 17-0 lead over the game’s first 5:34. Easy peasy. Cats romp, right? Wrong.
“We got off to a sluggish start,” said Colgate coach Matt Langel, whose program has been to the last five NCAA tournaments. “We’ve been working on fighting no matter the circumstances. I was proud of my group.”
Indeed, Colgate scored the next 11 points. By halftime, the Raiders had cut Kentucky’s lead to 38-36. Less than two minutes into the second half, the visitors took a 41-40 lead. Colgate stretched it to 45-42 with 17:28 remaining.
“Then I think we ran out of gas,” Langel said.
“We had some weird energy,” Pope said, but added, “We rang the bell the way that we do and I was really proud of them.”
Not to make excuses, but the Cats were without point guard Lamont Butler (ankle injury) for the second straight game. They were also without his backup, Kerr Kriisa, who has undergone surgery for a foot injury suffered in Seattle. Pope indicated Wednesday night that Kriisa could be out for six weeks.
2. Just keep shooting and shooting
When Mark Pope arrived at Kentucky he said his goal is for his team to shoot anywhere from 30 to 35 3-point shots a game. The coach was asked: What if you’re not making your 3-point shots? “Keep shooting.” Pope replied.
That certainly played out Wednesday. Over its past four games, UK was just 29-for-107 from 3-point range for 27.1%. It made only four of its 15 3-point attempts in the first half on Wednesday.
Then, trailing 47-46 with 15:01 remaining, Kentucky suddenly went on a 3-point spree. Jaxson Robinson buried back-to-back triples. Freshman guard Trent Noah hit one. When Otega Oweh joined the party with the Cats’ fourth made 3-pointer in just over two minutes, Kentucky had completed a 12-0 run for a 58-47 lead.
By night’s end, Kentucky was 10-for-31 from long range for 32.3%. Robinson ended up just 2-for-11 from 3-point range. Freshman Travis Perry missed all three of his 3-point attempts. Take those two out of the equation and Kentucky was 8-for-17 from beyond the arc.
The good news was that Koby Brea appeared to rediscover his deadly stroke. Making his first start of the season, the Dayton transfer was 5-for-8 from 3-point range on the way to a team-high 17 points. A 49.8% 3-point shooter last season as a Flyer, Brea started this season 15-for-19 from 3 over his first three games but was 7-for-22 over his last four before Wednesday.
“Koby shot the ball pretty well tonight,” Pope said. “Pretty well, I guess it was his normal.”
3. Andrew Carr’s impressive consistency
Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr turned in an all-around impressive night, registering his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
This on the heels of a season-high 19-point performance in the win at Gonzaga. Of late, Carr scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Western Kentucky and was credited with five assists against Jackson State.
“I definitely was able to figure out the way that everybody likes to play on this team and be able to find where I fit in the best among the team and be able to take advantage of that,” Carr said Wednesday night. “A lot of the guys have been working really hard at continuing to get better each and every day. I feel like I’ve been able to figure out a little bit more how aggressive I need to be to impact the team in a positive way.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 11:33 PM.
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