Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s pre-Christmas clunker against Ohio State
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Game day: Ohio State 85, No. 4 Kentucky 65
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Ohio State in New York City.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky’s 85-65 loss to Ohio State in college basketball’s CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.
1. This was easily UK’s worst performance of the season
Coach Mark Pope’s Wildcats hit New York with a 10-1 record, a No. 4 ranking in the AP Top 25 and tons of positive national vibes and promptly delivered a pre-Christmas clunker.
The 20-point loss was UK’s largest by margin since being blown out at Alabama 78-52 on Jan. 7, 2023. The Cats’ 29.8% shooting performance from the floor was their lowest since shooting 28.8% in that Alabama game two seasons ago. Their 4-for-22 showing from 3-point range (18.2%) was the worst in a game of 20 or more attempts since going 2-for-20 from 3 in a loss to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament on March 12, 2022.
It wasn’t any better on the defensive end. Ohio State shot 56.6% from the floor, the best percentage by a UK foe since Alabama shot 56.7% at Rupp last season. The Buckeyes were the first Pope opponent to shoot better than 50% this season. In fact, before Saturday, Gonzaga owned the best shooting night against the Cats by making 46.5% of its shots in that 90-98 overtime loss to Kentucky back on Dec. 7.
2. Ohio State slowed down the UK offense
Before the game, former Villanova coach and current CBS analyst Jay Wright predicted that Ohio State would try to apply the brakes to Kentucky’s offense. Wright remarked that UK’s offense had been excellent this season, but no one had tried to make the Cats play a grind-it-out game. He thought Ohio State coach Jake Diebler would.
Wright was right. Kentucky ended up mathematically with just 69 possessions, only one more than it had in the 70-66 loss at Clemson on Dec. 3. The Cats were limited to only seven fast-break points.
Even when the Cats got good shots, the ball refused to drop. The official stats had Kentucky missing 16 of its 23 layups. In one second-half possession, with UK trailing 66-51, the Wildcats got four shots at the rim. And missed all four.
After going 10-for-10 from the floor, including 6-for-6 from 3-point range in his 33-point performance against Louisville last week, Lamont Butler was held to four points before fouling out. Jaxson Robinson missed five of his seven 3-point attempts. So did Koby Brea. Otega Oweh went 0-for-4 from 3.
3. Kentucky’s defense wasn’t much better
While UK averaged a season-low 0.939 points per possession, Ohio State averaged 1.291, the highest PPP average against UK this season. And the Buckeyes entered the game 11th nationally in 3-point percentage at 40.6 but made just four of their 15 attempts from beyond the arc. And still scored 85 points.
How? Ohio State outscored Kentucky 36-24 in the paint. The Buckeyes did so by creating off the dribble and beating the Cats on the bounce multiple times for buckets. Ohio State made eight of its 13 layups and was 26-for-38 from 2-point range for 68.4%.
Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton scored a career-high 30 points. He was 13-for-14 from the foul line. And former UK forward Aaron Bradshaw scored 11 points in his first game since Nov. 19. Bradshaw was 5-for-6 from the floor, including 1-for-2 from 3-point range.
Give Ohio State tons of credit. The Buckeyes no doubt wanted to prove they were better than the 91-53 thrashing they took at the hands of No. 2-ranked Auburn last Saturday. Now 8-4, Ohio State did just that.
Meanwhile, Kentucky does not have another game until New Year’s Eve when it plays Brown at Rupp Arena. That’s a good thing. The trip to New York showed that despite his team’s 10-2 record, the Cats have plenty to work on.
This story was originally published December 21, 2024 at 9:23 PM.
